Leah Rawdon, DNP, APRN-CNP, is lead nurse practitioner for Akron Children’s Hospital Medicine Group.
Akron Children’s Leah Rawdon, DNP, APRN-CNP, received the 2024 Magnet Nurse of the Year Award in Empirical Outcomes from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
Leah was among five nurses nationwide selected to receive this prestigious award, which recognizes the outstanding contributions of clinical nurses in each of the five Magnet Model components: transformational leadership, structural empowerment, exemplary professional practice, new knowledge, innovations and improvements and empirical outcomes.
“This award is such an honor and means so much to me. My success is a result of the incredible people around me,” said Leah. “I have received immense support, encouragement and mentorship from our senior leadership team, physicians and especially the advanced practice providers (APPs) in our department. They have all pushed me to keep thinking bigger and have given me the support to do so.
“I wish this award could go to all of the APPs in our department, because they all work extremely hard not only for our patients but for each other,” she added. “I love coming to work every day for them, my second family.”
Leah’s connection to Akron Children’s runs deep, beginning even before her nursing career. Born prematurely, Leah spent months in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
“My family often jokes that I’ve been connected to Akron Children’s from the very start of my life,” she said.
It was in high school when Leah’s nursing journey truly began, after she became ill following surgery.
“The nurse who cared for me during that difficult time was so kind and amazing,” she said. “I know the doctor prescribed the medications that improved my condition, but to me, it was the nurse who truly made me feel better. Her kindness left a lasting impact on me. From that day forward, I knew I wanted to be a nurse—someone who could make a very bad day better for others.”
Leah joined Akron Children’s as a nurse tech in 2006 and became a staff nurse in 2009. Her dedication to advancing her education led her to obtain her doctorate in nursing practice in 2018.
In her current role as lead nurse practitioner for Akron Children’s Hospital Medicine Group, Leah leads a team of more than 16 APPs across the organization’s Akron and Boardman campuses, while co-managing patient care with hospitalists and sub-specialty providers and working in the Infusion Center.
During her 18-year career, Leah has made remarkable contributions to the organization that have expanded the scope of practice for APPs and improved patient outcomes.
She spearheaded the development of the Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) APP program, as well as a hospital medicine co-management program with sub-specialty providers for complex care patients. She also established a PHM pre-surgical clearance program for complex care patients, ensuring comprehensive care pre- and post-operatively. Her collaborative efforts with the orthopedics department resulted in the adolescent idiopathic scoliosis pathway, which significantly reduced the length of stay for patients from 6.2 to 1.8 days.
One of Leah’s most impactful achievements is the development of the hospital’s Short Stay Unit, an innovative model that reduced length of stay and costs, benefiting both patients and the hospital. Led by APPs, this unit has successfully led to a 15% reduction in overall length of stay, with some diagnoses seeing a 50% reduction.
“Leah’s commitment to advancing nursing practice at Akron Children’s is extraordinary,” said Chief Nursing Officer Chris Young. “As a leader, she has an innovative approach that empowers her team to strive for excellence. As a practitioner, she’s focused on providing the highest quality care to her patients and families. As someone who exemplifies the core principles of the Magnet model, Leah is incredibly deserving of this recognition.”
