Elsa Murdoch, DNP, MSN, BSN, CLNC, CPHRM

Elsa Murdoch, BSN, CLNC, CPHRM, brings 37 years of varied nursing experience including nursing leadership and administrative experience. Most recently she was employed as the Director of Clinical Quality Improvement at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, CA. She consults as an expert witness for the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) in the area of emergency department standards of care and CA nursing practice act. She is a certified health care risk manager (CPHRM) and a certified legal nurse consultant (CLNC). She also teaches at the University of CA Riverside (UCR) extension program for the legal nurse consulting program. Her research focus is the negative effects of ED throughput strategies to reduce ED crowding on the inpatient population. Simply stated, there are "Unintended Consequences" on inpatient outcomes secondary to ED throughput strategies shifting crowded states onto the inpatient side;thus decreasing patient safety outcomes. While the original aim of the ED Surge plan was to enhance ED throughput as measured by timed metrics, there has been limited research to evaluate inpatient outcomes post implementation. Furthermore, her core values revolve around the following statement: "We are merely visitors in a patients' life when they are the most vulnerable." Thus, I believe it to be a privilege and honor to be a nurse. As a Christian, the ethics of love, compassion, empathy, and justice integrate both the nursing and teaching paradigm.