MOBILE, Ala. – Following successful initiatives to improve patient access and care, Becker’s Hospital Review has named USA Health’s Vicki Curtis, MSN, RN, to its list of Chief Nursing Officers to Know for 2024. Curtis was named chief nursing officer at Children’s & Women’s Hospital in 2023.

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“We are extremely proud Vicki has been recognized nationally for her role here,” said Debbie Browning, MSN, RN, CENP, CEO of Children’s & Women’s Hospital. “She is an exemplary leader who understands how evidence-based nursing practices and patient-centered care optimizes better outcomes for mothers and infants. Plus, she knows how to positively motivate her team to ensure our patients benefit from those practices every single day.”

With more than two decades of experience in women’s healthcare, Curtis has driven key initiatives at USA Health, including a partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to reduce perinatal and maternal morbidity, according to the Becker’s article.

Under her leadership, Children’s & Women’s Hospital was one of only five sites nationwide chosen for IHI’s program targeting postpartum care inequities for Black mothers, Becker’s noted, adding that Curtis also spearheaded new initiatives like the AdaptX data collection program and an at-home blood pressure monitoring system for new mothers at risk for pre-eclampsia.

The innovative “I Gave Birth” medical bracelet program, designed to improve postpartum care, has also been launched as a statewide pilot in Alabama following its implementation at Children’s & Women’s Hospital.

“Vicki cares deeply about the underserved and underinsured, and recently worked to create two new positions at Children’s & Women’s Hospital to fill gaps in community education, outreach, and behavioral health,” Browning said. “I know that our patients, their families and our hospital staff will benefit from her leadership for years to come.”

About USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital 

USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital – part of the University of South Alabama, the flagship of the Gulf Coast – is the only stand-alone inpatient facility in Alabama dedicated to providing the most advanced and comprehensive healthcare to the region’s children and women. Services range from the region’s only pediatric emergency center open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, staffed with specially trained emergency medicine physicians and other providers to the region’s only level III neonatal intensive care unit, small baby unit and pediatric intensive care unit, where the area’s sickest children receive the most advanced care. The highly trained staff delivers more babies annually than any other hospital in the Mobile area and includes the region’s only high-risk obstetrics program.