Emergency Community

My career as an emergency services NP has been exciting, fulfilling and decorated with incredible opportunities; unforgettable patients and families; and beautiful teamwork with coworkers and professional colleagues. There is growing need for well-trained emergency NPs to lead future emergency care, and I am excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with you to move our specialty forward. Together we can promote safe delivery of evidence-based emergency care and the future well-being of health care consumers and emergency health care teams.

I have been an interdisciplinary leader in emergency services for over four decades. Early in my career, I was a paramedic/firefighter; I later served as an emergency registered nurse, emergency-trauma clinical nurse specialist, the assistant director of an expansive Level-1 academic trauma center emergency department (ED) and have maintained active practice as an emergency nurse practitioner (ENP) for over 30 years. I was instrumental in development of a large municipal nurse-managed occupational health/urgent care clinic where I served as director and lead-NP for 15 years.

I championed development of the ENP subspecialty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing, where I am an associate professor teaching in masters and doctoral education and serve as ENP subspecialty co-coordinator. I am a founding member of the American Academy of Emergency Nurse Practitioners and currently serve as president of the organization. I am a recognized Fellow of the Academy of Emergency Nursing (2017), the American Academy of Nursing (2021) and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (2023). I have a long-standing professional commitment to the prehospital EMS community and continue to collaborate with fire services in community paramedicine initiatives and with paramedic training programs to improve EMS workforce quality and access.

Dr. Veronica “Ronnie” Quattrini is an associate professor and senior director of the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore, and a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP). She also practices as an ANCC board-certified family nurse practitioner in the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Adult and Pediatric Emergency Departments and Urgent Care, where she mentors DNP students and advances clinical excellence.

With more than 25 years of leadership in health care and academia, Dr. Quattrini has spearheaded initiatives that bridge education, practice and scholarship. Her most notable academic innovation, The Episodic Tool, has been nationally and internationally recognized for measurably improving NP students’ clinical judgment skills. In emergency medicine, she has led quality improvement initiatives that integrate social determinants of health into the Emergency Severity Index, achieving a 60% reduction in length of stay and an 88% increase in patient satisfaction.

A recognized thought leader, Dr. Quattrini has published widely and presented internationally on NP education, emergency care and the ethical integration of artificial intelligence (AI). Her scholarship emphasizes AI-driven curriculum innovation, simulation and faculty development to prepare NP graduates for technology-enhanced, competency-based care.

As co-chair of the AANP Emergency Community, she brings her combined expertise in emergency practice, academic leadership and health system improvement to advance the future of NP education and emergency care delivery.