Terrence and Barbara Caster Institute for Nursing Excellence
Sharp nurses are a diverse team, working in roles from bedside care to administration. Our nurses are the front line of The Sharp Experience and are central to our accomplishments as an organization and for the patients we care for every day.
Transforming lives through caring, innovation and leadership
Recognizing the important role that nurses play in transforming the lives of patients and their families, the Terrence and Barbara Caster Institute for Nursing Excellence was created to provide nurses with resources and opportunities for enhanced collaboration, best-practice sharing and lifelong learning.
Making health care better
The institute ensures optimal patient outcomes throughout the organization and gives nursing professionals access to unprecedented opportunities for collaboration, community involvement and lifelong learning.
The Caster Nursing Institute aims to advance nursing practice and patient outcomes through four centers of excellence — each with a unique focus.
The James and Mary Jane Wiesler Center for Professional Growth reflects the value of lifelong learning and provides opportunities for nurses to continually grow and acquire new knowledge and life skills.
We encourage a collaborative environment with state-of-the-art facilities and advanced clinical practices, so you can learn, feel empowered to have a voice and be inspired to follow your passions wherever they take you.
Our initiatives include:
Philanthropy supported scholarship program
Pre-licensure (BSN) and advanced nursing degree support (MSN, PhD/DNP)
Nurse Transition
NRP Program - ANCC PTAP accreditation with distinction
Transition in Practice
Preceptor and mentor programs
Specialty certification
Nursing Leader
Nursing Leadership Academy
Team Mentoring
Leaders4Leaders Mentoring
Career coaching
The Sharp HealthCare Center for Inquiry and Innovation promotes the value of a questioning attitude to advance evidence-based practice, research and innovation.
Our initiatives include:
Grant writing
Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN)*
*Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN)
The American Academy of Nursing (Academy) serves the public and the nursing profession by advancing health policy through organizational excellence and effective nursing leadership. The Academy and its more than 2,900 members, known as Fellows, create and execute evidence-based and policy-related initiatives to advance health care.
Academy Fellows are nursing's most accomplished leaders in education, management, practice and research. Fellows include association executives; university presidents, chancellors and deans; state and federal political appointees; hospital chief executives and vice presidents for nursing; journal editors; nurse consultants; researchers; and entrepreneurs.
Fellows have been recognized for their international influence and extraordinary nursing careers and are among the nation's most highly educated citizens: more than 90% hold doctoral degrees and the rest have completed master's programs. Invitation to the fellowship represents more than recognition of one's accomplishments within the nursing profession.
Academy Fellows also have a responsibility to contribute their time and energies to the Academy and to engage with other health leaders outside the Academy in transforming health systems by:
Enhancing the quality of health and nursing care
Promoting healthy aging and human development across the life continuum
Reducing health disparities and inequalities
Shaping healthy behaviors and environments
Integrating mental and physical health
Strengthening the nursing and health delivery system, nationally and internationally
The James S. Brown Simulation Center embraces the value of reflective practice and promotes learning through simulation, technology, and innovative strategies.
Our initiatives include:
Simulation center and specialists
Innovative learning
Outcome evaluation
The Center for Community Engagement reflects the value of collaboration and works to advance partnerships and the health of those served in the region.
Our initiatives include:
Academic service partnerships — Through the Center for Community Engagement, Sharp partners with nursing schools to provide on-site clinical education to nursing students, yielding graduates with top qualifications. In 2021, 1,852 nursing students spent 37,148* hours in Sharp facilities for on-site clinical education.
Sharp has provided learning opportunities for nursing students from the following schools:
*Sharp HealthCare Community Benefit Plan and Report, 2021, p. 19; includes both group and precepted hours
Innovative clinical placements and student experiences
Professional symposiums
School of nursing advisory boards
Equity, diversity and inclusion
Supporting San Diego’s nurses
Through the Caster Nursing Institute, Sharp partners with prestigious nursing schools to provide on-site clinical education to more students, yielding graduates with top qualifications. The institute's Educational Excellence Fund was established to offer scholarships that support continued education and certification classes for Sharp’s nurses, developing future health care leaders, educators, researchers and policy makers.
Contact us
Laurie Ecoff, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CNL Vice President, Caster Nursing Institute 8695 Spectrum Center Blvd., San Diego, CA 92123 laurie.ecoff@sharp.com
