AMSN Committee Chair Nelson Tuazon Receives ANA’s Luther Christman Award
Nelson Tuazon, DNP, DBA, RN, NEA-BC, CENP, CPPS, CNE, FNAP, FACHE, FAAN, a longtime member of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) and chair of AMSN’s Awards, Grants, and Scholarship (AGS) Committee, was recently awarded the Luther Christman Award from the American Nurses Association. Get to know Dr. Tuazon, including his contributions to nursing and his work to continue advancing the profession, here.
AMSN: What does winning the Luther Christman Award mean to you?
Nelson Tuazon (pictured on left with ANA President Jennifer S. Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN): It is truly a humbling experience to receive the Luther Christman Award! Dr. Christman was involved in the founding of the American Assembly of Men in Nursing, previously known as the National Male Nurse Association. He was a professor of nursing, university administrator, and the first man to serve as dean of a nursing school. He is well-known for his advocacy for gender and racial diversity in nursing. As a visionary and influential nurse leader, Dr. Christman implemented the Rush Model of Nursing — a model that emphasized the clinical expertise of faculty members. He advocated for the advancement of education, and after his retirement, he remained active in nursing organizations, serving multiple terms as president of the Michigan Nurses Association. He also proposed the idea that led to the founding of the American Academy of Nursing.
Receiving the Luther Christman award is equally a privilege and personal responsibility to continue to advocate for nursing students and nurses, advance the agenda for health equity, and advance the nursing profession. Throughout my career, especially as a medical-surgical nurse, I am honored to emulate the vision and ideals of Dr. Luther Christman.
AMSN: Could you speak about your contributions to the nursing profession in the areas of practice, research, education, public policy, and/or community service?
NT: When I reflect on what I have aspired to achieve for the past 43 years of my career, I am reminded that Dr. Luther Christman served the nursing profession for 65 years! I often say that my current job is being a nurse executive, but my work is with nurses and the nursing profession. My work has revolved around the service of others. My significant contributions in the areas of practice and service focus on promoting healthcare system excellence and exemplary nursing practice. Utilizing the Forces of Magnetism and domains of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses Competency Framework, I have promoted staff empowerment and created a healthy work environment. The empirical outcomes that have been achieved by my staff have been recognized nationally through various awards, including the Magnet Recognition Program, the AMSN PRISM Award®, and the Beacon Award. As a task force member and hospital-based Magnet Program director, I contributed to the development and implementation of the Magnet Program during its early transformation from the original 14 Forces of Magnetism to the new empirical Magnet model. I have also participated in the review and revision of AMSN’s PRISM Standards.
As the editor The Philippine Nurses Association of America: A Tapestry, I collaborated with over 40 contributors in writing and memorializing the Philippine Nurses Association’s (PNAA’s) 40-year history. This book offers an analysis and synthesis of evidence on acculturation, legislation and regulations affecting immigrants, and the integration of foreign-educated nurses into the U.S. workforce. I also pioneered PNAA's efforts in developing its official international publication and subsequently served as the inaugural editor of the Journal of the PNAA (JPNAA) in 2009. JPNAA evolved into the Journal of Nursing Practice Applications and Reviews of Research (JNPARR) in 2013. I continue to serve on JNPARR’s Editorial Board. As member of the PNAA Legislative Committee and PNAA Taskforce on Ethical Recruitment, I contributed to the development of standards for the ethical recruitment of foreign-educated nurses.
My impact on advocacy and policy is evidenced by my service on regional, state, and national boards. As president of the New Jersey Board of Nursing, I advocated for the successful re-integration of impaired nurses into practice through the New Jersey State Nurses Association Recovery and Monitoring Program. As a board member of the New Jersey Initiative on Nursing Faculty Shortage, I participated in overseeing the implementation of $13.5 million in grants for the Faculty Preparation Program supporting 46 scholars. In 2019, I founded the San Antonio Nursing Consortium, an alliance of several professional nursing associations, including minority nursing organizations such as the Philippine Nurses Association of San Antonio, the Black Nurses Rock — San Antonio, and the San Antonio Indian Nurses Association. I currently serve as president of the Texas Nurses Association, District 8, and member of the Nomination and Elections Committee of the American Nurses Association. For the past four years, I have served on AMSN’s AGS Committee and will complete my term as chair at the end of 2024.
As a graduate of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Executive Nurse Fellowship and member of NurseTRUST, I continue to leverage my leadership skills, strategic agility, and risk-taking competencies in advancing the nursing profession. My contributions to practice, service, advocacy, and policy are aligned with AMSN's mission as a dynamic community of medical-surgical nurses that is committed to quality patient care through professional development, certification, scholarship, and advocacy.
NT (pictured on right with his wife, Ella Tuazon): My friends and colleagues know me well by the mantra on which I base my professional aspirations: the African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
As a past fellow of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments and a current member of the board, I advocate for the preparation and engagement of nurses to assure environmental health of all people, overcome environmental health disparities, and heal our communities and the Earth for present and future generations. I am excited to be a part of a group of nurses as we advance our Nurse Heroes for Zero campaign as part of our fellowship with the Cambridge Health Alliance. We are organizing nurses nationwide to promote clean air, which we know will save lives and generate massive health benefits across the nation. Lower-income communities and communities of color are often the most over-burdened by pollution sources due to decades of inequitable land use decisions and systemic racism, and this needs to be fixed.
Early this year, I was asked to serve as president of the newly formed Global Nursing Accreditation & Certification Council (GNACC). Under the auspices of the Society of Internationally Educated Nurses in North America, GNACC is a pioneering nonprofit organization committed to fostering transparency, ethics, and professionalism in nursing recruitment globally. With a vision to ensure the competency and qualification of healthcare professionals while promoting fair and transparent recruitment practices, GNACC aims to enhance the quality of patient care on a global scale.
I am also very proud to be an inaugural member of the Coalition for Nurse Well-being. This coalition is an association of healthcare systems, hospitals, professional organizations, nurses, and other like-minded individuals and entities committed to promoting the well-being of nurses. We advocate for the personal and professional well-being of nurses through networking, research, advocacy, and learning.
AMSN: What makes you most excited about the future of nursing?
NT: I want to share another African proverb that sums up my excitement about the future of nursing: “I am because we are.” I am excited about the future of nursing on many levels, and I will summarize these under three buckets: Communication, Collaboration, and Co-creation. I am excited about the future of nursing because I have been given the opportunity to witness the communication that is constantly occurring among nurses and nursing organizations. Through joint efforts and partnerships, I see increasing collaboration among nurse leaders, legislators and regulators, and community stakeholders. The emergence of technology and innovation promotes co-creation among nursing and healthcare executives and industry leaders as we promote access to care and address the various social determinants of health.
Our priorities remain the same:
- Workforce development, including increasing the capacity for faculty and student recruitment and retention.
- Healthy work environment, including addressing the nursing shortage, mandatory overtime, workplace violence and bullying, and nurse well-being.
- Racism, climate health, and environmental justice, which impact health equity and health disparities.
- Emerging technology and innovations, such as virtual nursing, that impact access to healthcare.
- Value-informed nursing to include the contributions of nurses in the delivery of healthcare.
AMSN: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
NT: As nurses, we have received the distinction of being the most trusted professional, year after year! Our opportunities to serve others go beyond the spheres of nursing. I am happy to share that I have been a member of two chambers of commerce: The Alamo Asian American Chamber of Commerce and the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce. As a nurse, I can contribute my experience and knowledge of healthcare to a larger segment of the community. I have chaired the Humanitarian and Health Care Committees of both chambers. I was able to share my expertise, especially during the recent pandemic. In collaboration with other professional nursing organizations and healthcare facilities, I also coordinate community events on Stop-the-Bleed and Active Shooter Training for community members. As a nurse, I can impact the health and well-being of the communities we serve.
Finally, I am extremely proud to share that this year, I have been asked to serve as a member of the board of trustees of a university with over 20,000 students! This opportunity came about because I was a member of the university’s nursing advisory council. When a board of trustee member position that required healthcare background opened, I was asked to apply. I feel honored to represent nursing at the highest level of governance of an academic institution where I can continue to advocate for nursing students and nurses, the nursing and healthcare professions, and the community and society at large.