Tara King
PhD, RN
Associate Clinical Professor
Director, Doctor of Nursing Education Program
Biography
Dr. Tara Spalla King has 20 years of experience in acute care nursing practice and 13 years of experience as a nurse educator, the past seven in an administrative capacity. Most recently she was the Academic Dean at a private Catholic nursing college where she assembled a team to build online programming and mentored nurse educators in online pedagogy. Dr. King is an experienced onsite evaluator for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and is a team leader. She is a peer reviewer of online courses for Quality Matters, secretary of the Epsilon Chapter of STTI, and is also a member of the MNRS Communications & Engagement Committee. She is responsible for assessment and evaluation activity for select training grants in the college.
The focus of Dr. King’s prior research activity utilized web-conferencing technology to connect disparate and geographically separated/transcontinental groups of college students to discover the impact on cultural competence. For this work she received the Loadman Dissertation Award for Outstanding Dissertation, OSU Higher Education and Student Affairs, 2013. Dr. King is currently active in global initiatives, particularly serving in a consultant role for virtual global classrooms and mentoring faculty in global education projects.
- O’Leary, C., King, T.S. & Gallagher-Ford, L., Kue, J. (2022). Use of a framework to integrate research, evidence-based practice, and quality improvement. Nurse Leader Journal. In press.
- Schlabach, T., Kue, J., Browning, K. & King, T.S. (2022). Implementation of a nurse practitioner-led lung cancer screening clinic: Evaluation with implications for evidence-based practice. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing. Accepted. In press.
- Reeder, C., McClerking, C., King, T.S., & Browning, K. (2021). Improving bedside procedures through the implementation of case based simulation and mastery learning for lumbar puncture training in novice advanced practice providers. JNP, 17(1), 855-859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2021.03.008
- Reuter, J. & King. T.S. (2021). Impact of a specialty elective in response to the perioperative nursing shortage. AORN Journal, 113(5), 476-485. https://doi.org/10.1002/aorn.13375
- King, T.S., Bochenek, J., Jenssen, U., Bowles, W. & Morrison-Beedy, D. (2021). Virtual study-abroad through web-conferencing: Sharing knowledge and building cultural appreciation in nursing education and practice. Journal of Transcultural Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1177/10436596211009583
- Morrison-Beedy, D., Jenssen, U., Bochenek, J., Bowles, W., King. T.S., & Mathisen, L. (2021). Building global nursing citizens through curricular integration of the Sustainable Development Goals within an international clinical experience. Nurse Educator. Online ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000000831
- King, T.S., Schubert, C., Pittman, O., Rohrig, L., McClerking, C. & Barthelmas, T. (2020). APRN student interprofessional simulation and use of an academic electronic health record: An innovative teaching-learning strategy. Nursing Education Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000621
- Porembski, L., Fletcher, L. & King, T.S. (2020). New simulation orientation for sophomore nursing students: Continuous quality improvement. Nursing Education Perspectives. Published ahead of print. DOI: 10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000684
- King, T.S., Melnyk, B.M., O’Brien, T., Bowles, W., Schubert, C., Fletcher, L. & Anderson, C.M. (2020). Doctoral degree preferences for nurse educators: Findings from a national study. Nurse Educator, 45(3), 144-149. DOI: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000000730.
- King, T.S. & Nininger, J. (2019). Quality improvement in online course development: Igniting the online teaching team. CIN, 37(7), 349-356. DOI: 10.1097/CIN.0000000000000517
- Shaw, P., Abbott, M. & King. T.S. (2018). Preparation for practice in newly licensed RNs: A mixed methods descriptive survey of preceptors. JPND, 34(6), 325-331. DOI: 10.1097/NND.0000000000000487
- Morrison-Beedy, D., King, T.S., Bochenek, J., O’Brien, T. & Sharpe, E. (2023). Building virtual global education (VGE) faculty expertise and organizational capacity. Science Talks. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sctalk.2023.100196.
- Reuter, J. & *King, T.S. (2023). A perioperative specialty elective to address the perioperative nursing shortage: Student perspectives and outcomes. AORN Journal. In press.
- American Council on Education (ACE) & Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku): Rapid Response Virtual Exchange/COIL Transformation Lab – Collaborative Training Grant between Lovisenberg Diaconal University College and OSU CON to share best practices and provide tools and resources to adapt education or exchange program into high-quality virtual exchanges. Role: Faculty from OSU CON.
- NINR, NIH – T32NR014225: Training in the Science of Health Development; Happ and Pickler (MPI), 2020-2025. The aims of this program are to train pre-doctoral fellows in the conduct of rigorous research in the science of health development. Role: Training program faculty member to assist with gathering some outcome measures through focus group interviews of T32 recipients.
- HRSA NEPQR-RNPC: OSU CON-PrimaryOne Health-CHWP-Preparing the RN Workforce to Practice in Primary Care to the Full Scope of their License. (Awarded 2018, 2018-2022) - $2,763,494. Grant Evaluator: Assisted in grant application, developed program outcome measures and schedule of surveys. Analyzes outcome data and contributes to annual reports.