Registered Nurse - Expert in Healthcare Regulation

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Ms. Evans served as a healthcare accreditation surveyor for The Joint Commission (TJC), and Associate Director in Standards Development and Interpretation for Joint Commission International (JCI), with over 10 years experience with The Joint Commission Enterprise. Ms. Evans also served as a healthcare compliance inspector for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment prior to joining TJC. In these positions, Ms. Evans conducted compliance surveys of hospitals seeking accreditation; investigation of complaints and adverse events; led multidisciplinary teams of surveyors for all types of hospitals including academic medical centers, community hospitals, critical access hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and outpatient centers; served as project director for standards manual revisions and development of new accreditation standards; led accreditation project teams of internal and external subject matter experts; and acted as an accreditation standards interpretation resource for JCI surveyors, accredited organizations, and other internal and external stakeholders. In her role with JCI, Ms. Evans served as faculty and featured speaker for the 2024 Asia Health Patient Safety Conference in Bangkok, Thailand; and the 2024 JCI 8th Edition Accreditation Updates in Dubai, UAE and Bangkok, Thailand. Ms. Evans has extensive past clinical experience in adult critical care in an academic medical center Intensive Care Unit setting - holding a Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN) certification, along with minor experience in cardiac catheterization laboratory, emergency department, urgent care, post-anesthesia care, and outpatient settings. She has since been granted CCRN Alumnus Status. While earning an advanced degree, Ms. Evans held leadership roles in Patient Safety and Risk Management, System Transformation and Quality Improvement, and Healthcare Regulatory Compliance. In those roles, Ms. Evans leveraged change leadership, and process improvement methodologies such as Root Cause Analysis, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, LEAN/Six Sigma, PDCA/PDSA, and the meaningful use of healthcare data to improve patient safety. Ms. Evans’ professional platform includes a passion for improving resilience in nursing and healthcare practitioners, and addressing issues such as workplace violence, lateral violence, bullying, and incivility. Ms. Evans has also focused her continuing career on improving patient safety and quality of care. Her doctoral dissertation will be a qualitative exploratory study on accreditation surveyors' observations of burnout in nursing. Ms. Evans is currently completing a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree (DNP) degree, graduation pending May 2026; and holds a Master of Science in Nursing-Leadership in Healthcare Systems, with a graduate level Academic Certificate in Healthcare Education, from Regis University in Denver, Colorado, United States.