Mayo Clinic nursing leader receives Nursing Spectrum Excellence Award: Advancing and Leading the Profession

Friday, December 01, 2006

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Debra K. Pendergast, M.S.N., R.N., C.N.A.A., chair, Division of Nursing Services/Associate Administrator at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, has been awarded a 2006 Nursing Spectrum Excellence Award for "Advancing and Leading the Profession" by NurseWeek magazine. This award recognizes exceptional careers of nursing leaders in six categories: Advancing and Leading the Profession, Clinical Care, Community Service, Management, Mentoring and Teaching.

Pendergast is recognized for establishing innovative programs to strengthen nursing and improve patient outcomes. A proponent of nursing autonomy, Pendergast collaborated with physicians to develop and implement a groundbreaking program called, "Nurse Plus One." The program allows nurses to request a second opinion from a nursing colleague and assertively and quickly elevate a patient's concern without fear of retribution or intimidation.

She earned a B.S. in Nursing at the Hampton University, Hampton, Va., and an M.S. in Nursing Administration from the University of Wisconsin. She has held multiple faculty positions throughout her career, is a former board member of the Arizona Organization of Nurse Executives, member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, Sigma Theta Tau and a member of the American Nurses Association. She is an active member of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association's efforts to address the nursing and allied health care worker shortage in this state.

In addition to her role at Mayo Clinic, Pendergast served in the Naval Reserve Nurse Corps, holding multiple leadership positions and retiring as a commander after 20 years of service.

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 65 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The 208-licensed bed hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

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