Amber Thomas MSN, MBA, RN

Ms. Amber Thomas was selected as the Chief Nurse of Clinical Operations under the Associate Director of Patient Care Services at Bay Pines VA Health System in 2017. In this position Ms. Thomas provided executive leadership and direct supervision of staff, assessing, planning and evaluating the processes and daily operations of the following programs: Nursing Clinical Practice, Nurse Professional Standard Boards (NPSB), Licensed Professional Standards Board, Nursing Education and Affiliations, Staffing Methodology implementation/process (VISN 8 Consultant), Nurse Officer Of the Day (NOD) operations, Patient Flow, Wound Care program, Infection Prevention and Control, Mobility Program, Falls & Safe Patient Handling (SPH), Float pool staff/escort services, Emergency Department, Informatics/BCMA/CIS ARK/Interactive Patient Care System performance improvements and Accreditation Readiness. She has completed her Black Belt training and working towards her certification. She has been a fulltime detail to the Office of Nursing Services under the program office of Staffing, Access, and Productivity.

Ms. Thomas is a Chicago Native and served in the United States Airforce until she was honorably discharged in 2001. She began her nursing career in 2006 in the WPB Emergency Department eventually advancing into a leadership position.
Ms. Thomas earned a Master of Science (MSN) degree in Nursing from Chamberlain College of Nursing. She has recently graduated with her master’s in business administration (MBA) from Keller University. She is a full-time student at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) for her PhD in Nursing Caring Science. She completed her LEAN Black Belt training allowing her to focus on process improvements and system re-design opportunities within her facility. She takes significant pride and honor in supporting our Nation’s Veterans.

She completed a fulltime detail to the Office of Nursing Services (ONS) in support of the Staffing Methodology Program for one year. She is deemed a subject matter expert (SME) in staffing methodology. Starting her staffing practices as a Staffing Methodology Coordinator and later became the VISN 8 staffing methodology Consultant. She has been in the VA for 17 years with 10 + years of leadership experience. She has been instrumental in the development of 5 national staffing pilots and calculator tools which were deployed throughout VHA. She continues to partner with multiple national program offices to further support staffing initiatives.

She has officially accepted and has arrived to Jesse Brown VAMC as the Associate Director of Patient Care Services/Nurse Executive. She hopes to bring her wealth of gained knowledge further enhance Nursing, Social Work and Sterile Processing services.