Connie Barden, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, FAAN, is AACN’s chief clinical officer. As AACN’s first chief clinical officer, she provides strategic leadership that drives the development of clinical practice resources, products and programs that reflect state-of-the-art acute and critical care practice. She also ensures standards and guidelines that meet the rigors of a rapidly changing healthcare environment, especially when AACN addresses current and emerging practice needs. In addition, she is the co-lead of AACN’s Strategic Advocacy and Voice Team.
As an advanced practice registered nurse, Barden served for many years in the role of clinical nurse specialist (CNS) in various critical care settings. More recently, while a teleICU CNS and then director of telehealth initiatives for Baptist Health South Florida, she co-led the task force that developed “AACN TeleICU Nursing Practice Consensus Statement.” She was previously director of clinical safety and innovation at Miami’s Mercy Hospital, with prior staff nurse and CNS positions at other Miami hospitals.
Barden received her undergraduate nursing degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She holds CCRN-K certification and CCNS certification as an advanced practice nurse, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Barden also served as AACN president in 2002-2003 and led the task force that framed the landmark 2005, “AACN Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments: A Journey to Excellence” and the second edition, which was published in 2016.