Megan E. Brunson

Megan E. Brunson, MSN, RN, CNL, CCRN-CSC, serves a one-year term as immediate past president of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) board of directors from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, and co-chair of the AACN – AACN Certification Corporation Nominating Committee. She was president from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020. She also served a one-year term as president-elect from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019, a three-year term as a director from July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2017, and a one-year term as treasurer from July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017.

Since 2007, Brunson has been the night shift supervisor in the cardiovascular ICU (CVICU) at Medical City Dallas Hospital. From 2000-2007, she was charge nurse/night shift for the CVICU at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta, after completing two years as the night shift team leader in the telemetry unit at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital. During more than 20 years as a night shift nurse, she has focused on securing professional development resources for nurses in a 24/7 care environment.

Actively involved with AACN for more than 15 years, Brunson is a member of the Atlanta Area and Dallas Area chapters, serving as president of the Atlanta Area Chapter in 2006-2007. A member of the Chapter Advisory Team (Region 15, Texas and Oklahoma) from 2009-2012, Brunson was co-lead of the Chapter Advisory Team from 2012-2014. In addition, she served on the CSC Certification Print Practice Exam Committee from 2010-2012 and has been a member of the review panel for Circle of Excellence chapter awards and poster presentations numerous times. She has presented many times at the National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition, speaking on leadership development for chapters.

Brunson is also a member of the Clinical Nurse Leader Association, American Nurses Association and Texas Nurses Association.

As a nurse researcher, Brunson was the investigator for a 2006-2007 study to determine which interventions post-cardiac surgery patients perceived as best to quench their thirst with the least amount of nausea/vomiting, and a study in 2012-2013 on the effect of ambient noise levels on patients’ nighttime sleep patterns.

In 2016, she earned the HCA North Texas Division Excellence in Nursing Professional Mentor Award, and she received the Lois Robillard Nurse of the Year Award from Medical City Dallas in 2009.

Brunson earned a Master of Science in Nursing with a concentration in leadership from Saint Xavier University in Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Valparaiso University in Indiana.