Senior Nurse Practitioner at South Nassau Awarded Prestigious AANP Fellowship

Oceanside, NY, October 09, 2014 --(PR.com)-- The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) recently announced that it has inducted Margaret (Peg) O’Donnell, DNPs, FNP, ANP, B-C, FAANP, as a Fellow of the association. Just 485 of the more than 189,000 nurse practitioners in the US are recognized Fellows of the AANP.

Established by the AANP in 2000, the Fellows of the AANP (FAANP) impact national and global health and enhance the mission of the AANP by engaging recognized nurse practitioner (NP) leaders who make outstanding contributions to clinical practice, research, education, or policy. In addition to hosting invitational Think Tanks and an intensive Mentorship Program, FAANP is dedicated to strategizing about the future of nurse practitioners and health care outside the confines of traditional thinking.

A resident of Baldwin, Ms. O’Donnell is a primary care provider and preceptor, providing comprehensive health care at South Nassau Communities Hospital (located in Oceanside, NY), where she became one of the first NPs named to its medical staff. She serves as Senior NP at South Nassau and organized its Advanced Practice Nurses Innovative Care Committee, which engages in peer review, case presentations, strategic planning, and coordinating efforts between inpatient and outpatient services.

The New York State representative of the AANP, Ms. O’Donnell has served in numerous leadership roles for the AANP, Nurse Practitioners Association of New York (NPANY) and Nurse Practitioners Association of Long Island (NPALI), most notably in grassroots efforts to effect policy changes affecting NP practice. As a result of her steadfast leadership, she is a recipient of the NPALI NP of the Year Award and AANP New York State NP Advocate Award.

Ms. O’Donnell has been a healthcare provider for more than 30 years. She started her career as an RN in 1981, and has served at some of the Northeast’s most prestigious hospitals including the Hospital for Joint Diseases in Manhattan; Long Island Jewish-North Shore University Healthcare System; and University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Ms. O’Donnell has extensive experience in many disciplines including emergency services, intensive care, stem cell transplantation, and electrophysiology. She was also involved in clinical research trials at South Nassau. She is currently a doctoral student at SUNY Stony Brook.

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who are prepared, through advanced education and clinical training, to provide a wide range of preventive and acute health care services to individuals of all ages. NPs complete graduate-level education preparation that leads to a master’s degree/and are often Doctoral-trained. NPs take health histories and provide complete physical examinations; diagnose and treat most common acute and chronic problems; interpret laboratory results and X-rays; prescribe and manage medications and other therapies; provide health teaching and supportive counseling with an emphasis on prevention of illness and health maintenance; and refer patients to other health professionals as needed.

The AANP is the largest professional membership organization for nurse practitioners (NPs) of all specialties. It represents the interests of over 189,000 NPs, including more than 50,000 individual members and 203 organizations, providing a unified networking platform and advocating for their role as providers of high-quality, cost-effective, comprehensive, patient-centered and personalized health care. The organization provides legislative leadership at the local, state and national levels, advancing health policy; promoting excellence in practice, education and research; and establishing standards that best serve NP patients and other health care consumers.