We are proud to announce that in November 2018, Shea N. Lues, NP was nominated by her peers, and after an extensive evaluation process selected, to receive the UW Health Advanced Practice Providers (APP) 2018 Excellence in Leadership Award.

The UW Health APP Excellence Awards were created to recognize nurse practitioners and physician assistants throughout UW Health who demonstrate excellence in the areas of clinical practice, teaching, and leadership.

Shea came to the University of Wisconsin in 1997 – 9 months after graduating nursing school. She has been an NP at UWMF since 2003, and came to the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation in January 2011. “I have been with the department for 8 years and have witnessed many changes as we have opened a new hospital and added more residents, fellows, and inpatient APP’s.  I love working as a team with everyone and that the physicians we work with encourage us to work to the full scope of our license,” she explained.

Shea has served as a leader on multiple quality improvement committees within the Department and system-wide. For the past 3 years, she has been the co-chair for the Inpatient Advanced Practice Provider Collaborative, a committee designed to serve as a centralized inpatient APP practice group working together with other multidisciplinary teams/staff to improve inpatient clinical care processes and outcomes.

Most recently, Shea and another APP colleague have been co-leading a major system-wide effort to improve the identification, documentation/disclosure, and follow-up of incidental findings requiring follow-up.

Shea has been referred to as “a leader,” “a role model,” “devoted,” “motivational,” “a mentor,” and “a great listener,” by her peers, and is an invaluable asset to the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation.

When asked what this nomination means to her, Shea explained:

“It was a huge honor to be nominated. I wasn’t expecting to win. Often times I think our work outside of our clinical role isn’t widely known. I think that made it more special. It acknowledged work I have been a part of to advance inpatient APP practice across the organization. I wanted to help inpatient APP’s get a seat at the table where decisions are made. I think we had an untapped voice that wasn’t being represented or heard. We now have the organization asking for us to be part of the conversation and solutions when we were not 3-4 years ago. I am the proudest of being part of the first APP lead initiative supported by leadership at UW Health without needing a physician co-sponsor. It has been a much bigger project than I ever anticipated but, in the end, it will make a big impact on patient safety and I think as APP’s we were the perfect people to do the job.  I hope that it will open the door for other APP’s to lead projects in the future. I can credit some of my leadership success to the surgeons I work with. They have taught me how to stand up for myself and let my voice be heard. This has helped me to be more confident when I have to walk into a room with organizational leaders who have more systems experience than I do. But I know that I bring with me the clinical background and that we are equally important to drive solutions and provide the best care possible to our patients.”