USU Alumnus Awarded Army Nurse of the Year Honors
By Sharon Holland
Army Lt. Col. Christopher Stucky looked out over the crowd of more than 3,000 of his peers gathered at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall for DAR’s 153rd Continental Congress in Washington, D.C. The Uniformed Services University Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing (GSN) alumnus, clad in his military finest, was there to accept an award.
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| Army Lt. Col. Christopher Stuckey was named the 2022 Army Nurse of the Year as the recipient of the 2022 Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee Award. Stucky is a 2017 PhD. alumnus of USU's Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing. (U.S. Army Photo) |
Stucky, who is deputy chief of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center’s Center for Nursing Science and Clinical Inquiry (CNSCI), and Perioperative Consultant to the Army Surgeon General, was there as the recipient of the 2022 Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee Army Nurse of the Year Award for his significant contributions to the nursing profession. The recognition is named for the gynecologist who founded and directed the DAR Hospital Corps, where she trained volunteer nurses for service in the Army and Navy after the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, and later led the establishment of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps.
Army Col. Jodelle M. Schroeder, chief nurse officer, and Col. William J. Brown, chief of CNSCI, at Landstuhl, nominated Stucky for the honor, calling him a “a visionary leader” who has sustained outstanding performance and whose strategic impacts on the Army Nurse Corps “unequivocally” supported his receipt of the award.
“Dr. Stucky is universally regarded as a brilliant nurse scientist and a master clinician whose perioperative program of research, executive leadership, and volunteer service to specialty nursing organizations is widely recognized,” they wrote in the award nomination.
In his acceptance remarks, Stucky credited the Army Nurse Corps with providing him “a profoundly rewarding and enriching career, whether caring for patients as a perioperative nurse or contribution to Army Medicine as a nurse scientist.” He also acknowledged the collective contributions of military nurses to the nation, specifically citing their achievements during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the recent Afghanistan humanitarian efforts, Operation Allies Refuge and Operation Allies Welcome.
Stucky’s roots as a nurse scientist officially began at USU, where he earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Nursing Science in 2017. Since then, he has embraced the nurse scientist community wholeheartedly.
“Our robust nurse scientist community is engaged in lifesaving medical research to improve healthcare quality and safety for all those entrusted with our care, and to improve warfighter readiness on the battlefield,” he told the audience. “Our nurse scientists are pioneering advances in combat casualty care, surgical safety, women’s health, resuscitative care, biobehavioral research and many other areas. I am proud to be a part of this important scientific community, leading healthcare innovation within military medicine.”
Among the innovations Stucky was lauded for was his role in the development of Ready Reliable Care, the Military Health System-wide approach to improving healthcare access, quality, safety, transparency, and patient engagement. He also helped shape the Safety Communication Bundle, six standardized communication practices designed to increase leadership engagement, improve communication and teamwork, and reduce burnout with the goal of reducing preventable harm.
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| Army Lt. Col. Christopher Stucky (left), USU class of 2017 alumnus and deputy chief, Center for Nursing Science and Clinical Inquiry and Army Maj. Albert Knight, a perioperative clinical nurse specialist, discuss Stucky's latest research on best care and practices for perioperative nurse care at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. (Photo by William Beach) |
“My military service has been unique in that I served for 10 years as an enlisted operating room technician and, for the last 20 years, as a perioperative nurse. These two vastly different roles provided me with a unique perspective on how communication, teamwork, and interprofessional relationships drive performance and impact patient safety in the operating room,” he says. “Since graduating from USU, I have been heavily involved in conducting research and publishing science that improves surgical safety, performance, and military readiness.”
Stucky is also active in his pursuit of policy advancement and advocacy for the perioperative community in both military and civilian settings. As a researcher, he created a diverse portfolio of 16 federal and civilian-funded studies that encompass network science, healthcare quality, interprofessional relationships, surgical team performance, and communication. His research garnered awards at eight national and regional conferences, including first place for original research in consecutive years at the 2020 and 2021 Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Global Surgical Conference & Expo, one of the largest nursing conferences in the nation. Last year, Stucky was awarded the Army Nurse Corps Association Nursing Research Award for sustained contributions to grant funding, publications, mentorship, coaching, and service and earlier this year, he received the 2022 AORN Research Award for research that has global implications on perioperative nursing practice.
As Stucky looked back over the audience to conclude his acceptance speech, he thanked “the many great leaders” who mentored him and supported him throughout his career. Stucky says that includes those at USU.
“Over the past 50 years, USU faculty, staff, and alums have been at the forefront of innovation and improvement and played a crucial role in advancing military medicine on the battlefield and in garrison environments. I am very fortunate to have attended the USU Graduate School of Nursing to earn a PhD,” he states. “As I desired to be a military nurse scientist, the military-specific USU curriculum created a unique learning experience that I could not have received at a civilian university. The rigorous instruction, mentorship, and personal connections I made at USU have greatly impacted my career and set me up for early success as a researcher. Two of my USU dissertation committee members have been associate investigators and mentors for my last three funded grants and are now professional colleagues.”
One of his mentors includes GSN Dean Dr. Carol Romano, who had a few remarks of her own for the GSN alum.
“We are so proud of you and of this well deserved recognition,” Romano told Stucky. “You bring honor to yourself, USU and the Army. Well done!”
