School of Nursing:

faculty

Welcome to the Ohio Valley General Hospital School of Nursing faculty page. Here you can learn about our instructors and their experience in the field of nursing. Pictures to come soon.

Robin Weaver
Robin Weaver, MSN, RN, CNE is currently the Director for Ohio Valley Hospital School of Nursing. Robin received an Associated Degree in Nursing from Community College of Beaver County. She received her BSN and MSN from Duquesne University. In 2006, she became certified as a Certified Nurse Educator through the NLN. In addition, Robin is currently enrolled at Duquesne University in pursuit of a PhD in nursing. Robin has over 25 years of experience as an RN serving as a staff RN for telemetry, medical intensive care, home care, hospice and post-anesthesia nursing departments.

Also, Robin served as District Manager for a Home Care organization and served as a clinical instructor for an LPN program prior to joining the faculty of OVGH in 2002. Robin has provided didactic and clinical instruction for OVGH from 2002 until 2007 when she became the Director of the program. In addition to her work at OVGH, Robin has served as an item writer for test questions for both the National League for Nursing and Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI). Also, she serves as an Adjunct faculty member for Waynesburg University. She is a member of the Pennsylvania League of Nursing, the National League for Nurses, Sigma Theta Tau National Honors Society and the OVGH Nurses Alumni Association. Robin serves on the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania League of Nursing at both the state and local (Chapter VI) level. She is a member of the Advisory Council for Pittsburgh Technical Institute and Parkway Vo-Tech.

Rita Ciccone
Rita Ciccone, MSN, RN received a Diploma in Nursing from Ohio Valley Hospital School of Nursing. She continued her education, completing a BSN from Laroche College and an MSN from Waynesburg University. Rita has over fifteen years of experience functioning as a staff RN in Medical-Surgical, Acute Rehabilitation, and Surgical Services departments. Rita has taught both didactic and clinical nursing for OVGH for the past four years. Rita is a member of the Pennsylvania League of Nursing, the National League for Nurses, Sigma Theta Tau National Honors Society and the OVGH Nurses Alumni Association.

Kathy Colosimo
Kathy Colosimo, MSN, RN, CS received a Bachelors of Science Degree in Nursing and a Master of Science degree in Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing from the University of Pittsburgh. She is board certified Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist. She possesses 22 years of nursing experience in mental health nursing (inpatient and outpatient), medical surgical nursing, home care nursing, and nursing education. She possesses experience with children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly. Kathy has ten years of experience teaching didactic and clinical nursing education experience in both Diploma and Associate Degree RN programs. Kathy has served as a test item writer for the National League of Nursing and test item reviewer for ATI technologies. Kathy is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, the National League of Nursing, and the Pennsylvania League of Nursing.

Dana Gibbs
Dana Gibbs, BSN, RN received her BSN from Marshal University of Huntington West Virginia. Dana has over 18 years of experience functioning as a staff RN in surgical Nursing Care and Neonatal Intensive Care. She also served as a Project Manager for the South Western Community Action Council which coordinated medical and dental screenings for targeted children. She served as a Medical Audit Nurse for Cabell Huntington Hospital and a Case Manager for Maternal Child Health Services for Elliot Hospital, Manchester, New Hampshire. Dana functioned was a faculty member for Harmony Health Care Institute, LPN program in Merrimack, New Hampshire prior to joining the faculty of Ohio Valley Hospital School of Nursing in 2007. For the past three years, Dana has acted as the clinical instructor within the clinical skills lab as well as on clinical units within an acute care hospital setting. She is a member of the Pennsylvania League of Nursing, the National League for Nurses, Sigma Theta Tau National Honors Society and the OVGH Nurses Alumni Association.

Kara Hoffman
Kara Hoffman, MSN, RN received a Diploma in Nursing from Ohio Valley Hospital School of Nursing. She continued her education, completing a BSN from Carlow University and an MSN from Waynesburg University. Kara has over 20 years of experience functioning as a staff RN in Medical-Surgical and Obstetrics. In addition, Kara has functioned as an off- shift supervisor. Prior to joining the Ohio Valley Hospital faculty, Kara served as the Clinical Educator for the clinical nursing staff. Kara has taught both didactic and clinical nursing for OVGH for the past four years. Kara is a member of the Pennsylvania League of Nursing, the National League for Nurses, Sigma Theta Tau National Honors Society and the OVGH Nurses Alumni Association. Kara has held the office of Vice President and President of the OVGH Alumni Association.

Lori Klingman
Lori Klingman, MSN, RN received an ADN from Clarion University, a BSN from the Pennsylvania State University, and an MSN from LaRoche College. She began teaching at Community College Allegheny County in 1984, taught at St. Francis Medical Center School of Nursing, and was under contract with Ohio Valley's School of Nursing and Community College Beaver Campus before accepting a position here at Ohio Valley School of Nursing.

Throughout her career, she has maintained her clinical skills by working in a community hospital as a staff nurse, charge nurse, clinical supervisor and taught in the education department along with collecting research data for the hospital. Ms. Klingman has a Legal Nurse Consulting business in which she reviews medical records and is a medical-surgical nurse expert in PA, WV, OH. She is a published author in Heart and Lung: The Journal of Acute and Critical Care Nursing completing an independent research project about heparin injection and also had two assessment articles published in American Journal of Nursing (AJN). She has written chapters for several nursing textbooks including Medical-Surgical Nursing: Critical Thinking for Collaborative Care, ed. 4, Nursing Care Plans, ed. 5, Fundamentals in Nursing ed. 7, Clinical Nursing Skills & Techniques ed. 7, Basic Nursing ed. 7 and contributed several humorous anecdotal nursing stories for How to Sing in the Rain with a Frog in Your Throat. Ms. Klingman served as Secretary and a board member for the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania League of Nursing for over 10 years and served as the Secretary and as President for the Board of Directors for the Pittsburgh Chapter Legal Nurse Consultants.

Barbara Michel
Barbara Michel, MSN, RN received a Diploma in Nursing from St. John's Hospital School of Nursing. She received a BSN from LaRoche College and an MSN majoring in Perinatal Nursing from the University of Pittsburgh. Barbara has over 30 years of experience functioning as a staff RN and Nurse Manager in Labor and Delivery and an OB/GYN Clinical Nurse Specialist at North Hills Passavant Hospital. She also served as the OB/GYN Clinical Nurse Specialist then the Nurse Manager for the OB/GYN Department and NICU at Mercy Hospital. Barbara has taught both didactic and clinical nursing for OVGH for the past ten years. In addition to her work at OVGH, Barbara has served as an item writer for Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) and is presently a Virtual ATI NCLEX Instructor. Barbara is also Adjunct Faculty for Waynesburg University RN to BSN program. Also, she has served as a reviewer for nursing journal articles. She is a member of the Pennsylvania League of Nursing, the National League for Nurses, Sigma Theta Tau National Honors Society and the OVGH Nurses Alumni Association.

Maurita Schmidt Wisniewski
Maurita Schmidt Wisniewski, MSN, RN, CCRN, received her Diploma of Nursing at Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, and then progressed to receiving both she BSN and MSN from LaRoche College. She completed her master's thesis "An Investigation of the Relationship between Cognitive Style and Accuracy of Clinical Decision-Making by Nurses". Later she received a Master's Certificate in Nursing Education from Waynesburg College.

Maurita's over forty years of nursing experience primarily consisted of management positions in critical care units in most of the health care systems in Pittsburgh. She held such positions as Unit Director of the Coronary Care Units at Allegheny General Hospital, St. Francis Medical Center and Southside Hospital. At Allegheny General Hospital she successfully completed the Allegheny Internal Fellowship Program. Throughout her nursing career, Maurita has consistently taught in both formal and informal arenas. Maurita has conducted staff education with nursing staff and becoming a nurse preceptor for Genetic Incorporation. She has presented many seminars on EKG Interpretation, Cardiac rhythms, ABG Interpretation, and Thrombolytic Therapy throughout the Pittsburgh Area. She holds certification in critical care nursing since 1994 and has been an ACLS Instructor since 1996.

In 2004, Maurita began teaching at UPMC Shadyside School of Nursing in medical-surgical courses, critical care and leadership courses. Maurita has taught didactic and clinical nursing in nursing education. In 2007, Maurita accepted a position at Ohio Valley Hospital, School of Nursing as the Course Coordinator for Advanced Medical- Surgical Course. In addition, she teaches Community Nursing and Leadership Courses.

She holds memberships in a number of nursing organizations. American Association of Critical Care Nurses, in which she held the office of President and Treasurer at the local level. Currently, she is President for Sigma Theta Tau, Theta Mu organization and has held offices of Vice President and Treasurer within this chapter. Maurita received the Excellence in Nursing Leadership from Sigma Theta Tau, Theta Mu. In addition, she presently holds the position of Financial Chair, raising thousands of dollars for Nursing Scholarships. For the past five years she has served on the board for the Greater Pittsburgh Nursing Research Conference. Maurita is a member of the Nursing Alumni Associations at Mercy Hospital, School of Nursing and Ohio Valley Hospital, School of nursing.