Kathryn Keller

Biography

Dr. Keller obtained her PhD in Nursing in 1997, MSN in 1985, and BSN in 1978 from the University of Miami. Her first position as a registered nurse was in the Emergency Department at Jackson Memorial Hospital (JMH) in Miami, FL. Following that experience, she worked in the Surgical ICU at Grady Memorial in Atlanta and then back to JMH to the Coronary Intensive Care Unit where she found her niche. This was the beginning of her interest in electrocardiographic nursing concepts. Eventually she went back to school and obtained her master's degree in nursing as a clinical specialist in adult health/critical care. Her last position at JMH was as an instructor in the school of nursing teaching critical care concepts.

After leaving Miami she taught acute care nursing at Shadyside Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, PA. Next was New Mexico where she worked as a critical care clinical nurse specialist. Finally, she and her family returned to Miami. There she accepted a critical care educator/organization development position and remained at Mercy Hospital (from 1988-1997) where she coordinated Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) courses, taught 12-lead EKG and arrhythmia interpretation courses, along with Open Heart Recovery and Critical Care courses. In 1990, Dr. Keller began to publish in the Cardiology Casebook a permanent feature in the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ official research journal along with her lifelong mentor, cardiologist, Dr. Louis Lemberg. They published together for nearly 2 decades. The aim of the cardiology casebook section was to disseminate research findings and guidelines to nurses using a case study format/teaching approach. These evidence-based articles have been cited in the literature over 460 times.

While obtaining her PhD she taught for the University of Miami as a teaching assistant and eventually as clinical faculty. In 1998, she moved to Palm Beach County and began teaching at Florida Atlantic University. In 2007 Dr. Keller was awarded the Distinguished Teacher of the Year for Florida Atlantic University. She considers this one of her greatest achievements and continues to be excited and humbled every day that she interacts with students. An additional accomplishment that has shaped her teaching is that she was certified in critical care nursing (CCRN) for over 20 years.

Dr. Keller is currently a Professor Emeritus. During her 25 years at FAU she taught in both undergraduate and graduate programs.  She was the Graduate Coordinator for the Nurse Educator concentration in the master's program and is credentialed as a Certified Nurse Educator (CNE). Additionally, she was an advisor in the PhD program. 

Dr. Keller's interest in simulation led to her work in formulating acute care-focused simulation experiences grounded in a caring framework. During her work in simulation, an interest in interprofessional education & practice (IPE&P) emerged and she was the Associate Director of IPE&P from Nursing. She is a TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer.

For many years she has been the lead author of cardiac-related chapters in Dunphy, L.M., Winland-Brown, J.E., Porter, B.O., & Thomas, D.E. (Eds.). Primary Care: The Art and Science of Advanced Practice Nursing-An Interprofessional Approach. Philadelphia, PA: FA Davis. In this endeavor, she has finally been able to link all three of her areas of interests--caring science, interprofessional team science, and cardiac nursing concepts.

Dr. Keller's research interests are related to electrocardiographic nursing concepts, interprofessional communication and teamwork as well as incorporating caring science into simulated teaching/learning scenarios. Her doctoral research was the Development of an Instrument to Assess Critical Care Nurses' Arrhythmia Knowledge. Her instrument the Cardiac Arrhythmia Recognition Tool is currently being used both nationally and internationally and exploring electrocardiographic nursing concepts remains an important area of interest. This work along with her cardiac-focused simulations grounded in caring science and other cardiac-related dissemination endeavors have resulted in Dr. Keller being inducted in September 2022 as a Fellow into the NLN Academy of Nursing Education.