2011 Immediate Past President
Diane L. Gurney, MS, RN, CEN, is currently serving as the immediate past president of the Emergency Nurses Association board of directors, the specialty nursing association serving the emergency nursing profession through research, publications, professional development and injury prevention. Gurney’s term ends in December 2011.
Gurney has been an emergency nurse for more than 35 years, working as a staff nurse, clinical educator, trauma coordinator, nurse manager and pre-hospital educator, most recently as the nurse manager for the Emergency Center at Cape Cod Hospital, Hyannis, Massachusetts. She has been an ENA member and a Certified Emergency Nurse since 1983, and during that time served as a General Assembly delegate for more than 15 years. In addition to various officer positions, Gurney served as 2003-2004 state council president in Massachusetts and 1992 state council president in Connecticut.
In 1995, Gurney was the recipient of the ENA Distinguished CEN Award and she was honored with the National ENA Education Award in 2004. In 1991-1992, she served on the Emergency Nursing Orientation Task Force for the development of Orientation to Emergency Nursing: Diversity in Practice. She was also a contributing author for the CEN Review Manual (3rd edition, 2001) and has published several articles in the Journal of Emergency Nursing, serving as the section editor for JEN Triage Decisions from 2002-2006. Gurney researched, wrote, and developed the “Pediatric Injury Control” resolution that was presented, defended, and passed at the ENA General Assembly in 1991. She co-authored the poster presentation titled, “Why Nurses Do or Do not Join ENA” which was presented at the national ENA Symposium in 1988.
Gurney received her nursing diploma from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut, and her Master of Science degree in nursing from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. She is a Certified Emergency Nurse, a Trauma Nursing Core Course and Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course instructor faculty. She has also been a Course in Advanced Trauma Nursing-II director and a American Heart Association Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support instructor.
For more information, please contact the ENA Executive Services Office at 1-847-460-4095 or ExecOffice@ena.org.