Anna Alder

Anna M. Alder, MS, RN, PCCN, CCRN, NPD-BC is the honored recipient of the Margaret Gould Tyson Scholarship. Anna earned her Associate of Science in Nursing in 2008 and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2009, both from Brigham Young University-Idaho. She received her Master of Science in Nursing Education in 2021 from the University of Utah and is currently completing her Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Organizational Leadership, also through University of Utah.

Since she was in sixth grade Anna knew she wanted to pursue nursing. After starting her first nursing job, she quickly realized that the nursing profession was a good fit for her. Anna’s interest in nurse well-being can be traced back to the two years she spent as a nurse manager in a cardiovascular intensive care unit. It was during this time that she began to notice the toll taking care of the sickest of the sick had on nurses. She noticed struggles with moral distress, compassion fatigue, and burnout in her staff and in herself. This experience solidified her desire to be a nurse educator and influence nurses at the beginning stages of their career.

While pursuing her graduate degree, Anna began findings ways to connect with nurses and talk about well-being by speaking at national conferences and creating a blog and social media presence, The Burnout Book. She co-authored an article for Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America with one of her mentors, Dr. Karen Stutzman, on the topic of moral resilience for critical care nurses. She is actively involved as a member, ambassador, and volunteer with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) at a local and national level. She is also a member of the Utah Organization of Nurse Leaders (UONL) and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Her devotion to lifelong learning is demonstrated by her involvement in these organizations and by obtaining three nursing specialty certifications: Progressive Care Certified Nurse (PCCN), Critical Care Certified Nurse (CCRN), and Nursing Professional Development Certification (NPD-BC).

After fourteen years of working with patients in acute and critical care settings, Anna accepted a role in academia as an instructor and now works with students at the University of Utah College of Nursing. Upon completion of her doctorate degree, Anna plans to continue her professional advancement as a faculty member of the University of Utah’s College of Nursing. She hopes to prepare nursing students for the realities they face at the bedside, but also help maintain the spark of joy and excitement for nursing that they carry with them.