Dr. Katherine Jones and NeRHA President Laura Meyers

This award recognizes individuals for leadership and noteworthy initiative in promoting the development of community-oriented, rural healthcare delivery.

This year the award was presented Dr. Katherine Jones of Omaha, NE. Dr Jones is an Assistant Professor in Physical Therapy Education at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She was the Primary Investigator for an AHRA funded Partnership in Implementing Patient Safety Grant – Implementing a Program of Patient Safety in small rural Hospitals. Her team developed a rural adapted version of the AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS) to accurately categorize employees in small hospital s. They have administered and interpreted this version of the SHOPS in 62 Critical Access Hospitals across the country.

Dr. Jones is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association, Academy Health and a board member of the Nebraska Coalition for Patient Safety and the Nebraska Stroke Advisory Council. She has disseminated her work though nine peer-reviewed articles and presentations at 20 regional or national conferences since 2005. She received a Patient Safety Leader in Action Award from Texas Medical Institute of Technology in 2006.