Karen O’Connell Schill, DNP, APN-C, FNP-BC, ENP-C, CEN, CFRN, NRP, of New Jersey

Nursing Education Award

Recognizes a nurse who has made significant contributions to the education of colleagues, nursing students, EMS personnel, patients, families or the community through the publication of articles, formal or informal courses or the development of a specific emergency nursing program or curriculum. Karen O’Connell Schill, assistant professor and program director for the Family Nurse Practitioner and Emergency Nurse Practitioner Program Director at Rutgers University, is a creative educator committed to advancing trauma care in her vicinity and beyond. She led an international disaster simulation engaging U.S. pediatric and emergency nurse practitioner students alongside Japanese undergraduate nursing students. This initiative fostered global collaboration, enhanced cultural competence and strengthened disaster response readiness. She also played a pivotal role in establishing the Trauma Nurse Core Group at a Level I trauma center. Through leadership, innovation and commitment to education, she advanced trauma care, created standardized training for critical procedures and mentored at least 10 trauma nurses. Her work resulted in strengthened EMS-hospital collaboration and ongoing education and outreach programs that continue to improve communication, practice readiness and the quality of trauma care. She was an alternate member of the ENA EMS Advisory Committee in 2023, and she has been active in the New Jersey ENA State Council, for which she is currently president-elect. Her other state council committee work has included conference planning, disaster preparedness and injury prevention.