Dr. Michelle L. Collins currently serves as the Vice President, Nursing Excellence and Magnet Designation for ChristianaCare Health System. She started her nursing career as an adult/infant open heart recovery nurse at Christiana Hospital after graduating from the University of Delaware with her BSN in 1991. Michelle held multiple progressive roles in her early career between her native New Jersey and Delaware including nurse management, case management, and orientation coordination roles. She earned her MSN in Adult Health as a Clinical Nurse Specialist from the University of Delaware in 2009 and became ChristianaCare’s manager of Nursing Development and Education and then advanced in this role to a newly created director role. In 2016, Michelle completed her Juran lean six sigma black belt and transitioned to another newly created system leadership role as the Director of Nursing Excellence and Magnet Re-designation. In 2017, she launched ChristianaCare’s second professional practice model and revised professional governance structure through engagement of clinical nurses and nurse leaders.
Michelle completed her DNP in Advanced Nursing Practice and Executive Leadership in 2018. She then led ChristianaCare to its first Magnet prize for Virtual Reality in a Chemotherapy Infusion Suite and its third Magnet designation in 2020. Meanwhile, Michelle was also co-leading ChristianaCare’s organization-wide engagement and improvement framework development. She was promoted to her current role in 2021. In 2022, she co-facilitated ChristianaCare’s American Nurse Foundation grant acceptance for $1.5 million dollars and led implementation of a successful virtual acute care nursing pilot.
Michelle is board certified in Nursing Professional Development, Nursing Advanced Executive Leadership, and as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Adult Health. Her leadership work today includes system nursing strategy and planning, nursing professional advancement, and launching a Center for Nursing Innovation. She collaborates closely with nurses across are levels and locations, as well as interprofessional leaders and staff, in pursuit of excellence as evidenced by improved patient care outcomes, patient experience, and nurse engagement results. Michelle is an active member of the ANA Innovation community, the DNA, and the DONL. Michelle has been recognized as a finalist for the Delaware Today Top Nurse award for Advancing and Leading the Profession 2022 and 2023. She has published in multiple peer-reviewed journals and has presented at local, regional, and national conferences on a variety of nursing topics and projects.