Joanne Ashton, RN, MN
Consultant, Joint Commission International
Ms. Ashton served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala from 1996-98 as a community health care volunteer. When her service ended, she decided to continue her work in international health care. Accordingly, Ms. Ashton has been a Senior Quality Advisor for Joint Commission International since 1998. She has worked in the Quality Assurance Project under a USAID contract to provide consultation with the goal of improving health care services in developing countries. She has assisted in improving infection prevention practices in Eritrea, the redesign of obstetrical services in hospitals in Guatemala, quality improvement activities in remote primary health care regions in Guatemala, redesign of the documentation system in hospitals in Ecuador, and improving the quality of reproductive health care of adolescents in Africa and Jamaica.
Ms. Ashton has also worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop standards for providing safe, quality male circumcision services to decrease the transmission of HIV.
In a perfect world, Ms. Ashton believes that the hospitals of the future would be based on “community needs and delivered in settings primarily outside of hospitals.”
Ms. Ashton received her baccalaureate and master’s degrees in nursing from Kansas University Medical Center, where she has been recognized as the distinguished nursing alumnae of the year. Ms. Ashton has received additional recognition including the Jean Watson R.N. Award (Kansas University Medical Center), American Lung Association Fellowship, Member of the Year (Kansas City Chapter AACN), Outstanding Service Award (Shawnee Mission Medical Center), Nursing Alumni of the Year, (Johnson County Community College). She has been listed in Who’s Who in American Nursing on four occasions.
She has been certified to conduct management interviews through Selection Research, Inc. (a division of Gallup Polls) and was certified to teach a management course through Developmental Dimensions, Inc. Ms. Ashton is particularly skilled in group facilitation and coaching.
Joanne Ashton has devoted more than 25 years to nursing, which has taken her all over the globe serving those in need in various capacities. Her first experience working in a nursing home at the age of 16 inspired her to become a nurse, and she has relished the variety of opportunities nursing has provided.
She has held various positions throughout her career including Critical Care Nurse, Nursing Instructor, Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist, Chief Nursing Officer, Vice President of Patient Care Services and Health Care Consultant. She worked for more than 20 years at Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Kansas City where she led a patient care redesign initiative and subsequently edited a book entitled Reengineering for Patient-Focused Care. In addition, Ms. Ashton is a noted lecturer and author on various topics.
Ms. Ashton has worked in public hospitals in Qatar to achieve accreditation and is currently working with several public hospitals in Jordan toward achieving hospital standards compliance. She is also a Joint Commission-certified Yellow Belt.