Sarasota Memorial Advanced Specialty Program Coordinator Receives Magnet Nurse of the Year® Award

SARASOTA, Fla. (Nov. 5, 2024) - Sarasota Memorial Health Care System's Advanced Specialty Program Coordinator for Acute Pain Service, Diane Scheb, MSN, RN, AP-PMN, PGMT-BC, has been awarded the prestigious 2024 Magnet Nurse of the Year® Award for Exemplary Professional Practice by the American Nurses Credentialing Center at the organization's annual conference in New Orleans.

Held each year, the Magnet Nurse of the Year Awards highlight five clinical nurses across the nation, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to one of the five Magnet® Model components: Transformational Leadership; Structural Empowerment; Exemplary Professional Practice; New Knowledge, Innovations, and Improvements; and Empirical Outcomes. Scheb received this year's award for Exemplary Professional Practice in recognition of her actions taken at the height of the opioid pandemic, finding new ways for clinical nurses to safely and effectively manage neuropathic pain without opioids, and for championing the innovation in the years since.

"Diane's unwavering compassion and dedication to improving care for patients with complex, multifaceted pain conditions demonstrates her outstanding commitment to the profession," said the ANCC in a statement. "She has 28 years of experience in pain management, earning the reputation of being a leader in advancing innovation, professional risk-taking, and excellence in leadership."

A chief architect of the Acute Pain Service team at Sarasota Memorial, Scheb started the program in 1996 in collaboration with the Pharmacy Director, acting as the sole acute pain nurse. Today, the program includes eight acute pain nurses who see 250-300 patients each month. In 1998, Scheb created the Pain Resource Nurse Team, which has since grown to 87 clinical RN with advanced pain management training, followed by the Pain Management Stewardship Program a decade later.

Founded in 1925, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a regional medical center offering Southwest Florida's greatest breadth and depth of care, with more than 2,000 physicians and advanced practice providers and nearly 2 million patient visits a year across its network of care. Sarasota County's largest employer, the health system includes two full-service hospitals in Sarasota and Venice, a freestanding ER in North Port, and a comprehensive network of outpatient centers, urgent care clinics and physician practices that stretch from Manatee County to North Port. As the region's only public health system and not-for-profit health care provider, SMH serves as a critical safety net for the uninsured in Sarasota County. Visit smh.com for information.