Sandra J. Cornett, née Fisher, (December 19, 1943– ) spent her early years living in many places across the U.S. and 8 years in South America, as her father was a petroleum geologist. The family settled in Athens, Ohio where she attended her senior year of high school. She graduated from the OSU School of Nursing in 1965, receiving her MS in 1970 and her PhD (in adult education) in 1981.
Cornett worked in one of the first coronary intensive care units in the U.S. at Duke University Medical Center, learning coronary care nursing care “on the job.” It is these experiences that lead her to her future positions in staff development and continuing education. In 1968, she started a CCU at the University of California at San Diego as a head nurse. Returning to OSU, she taught team nursing and critical care in the School of Nursing for three years after receiving her Master’s degree. Working in AHEC (Area Health Education Centers) for the University of North Carolina for one year, she set up continuing education programs for cardiac care nurses, as well as a 6-month certification program in the field.
Returning to Ohio in 1974 to get married, Cornett started working again at OSU with Peggy Hull, Director of Nursing Staff Development, as her Assistant Director. During the 5 years before the patient education position, she was a unit-based educator in cardiology and pulmonary care, where she set up the first interdisciplinary phase 1 (in-patient) cardiac rehabilitation program at Ohio State. In this capacity as a unit-based educator, Cornett enacted the role of a clinical nurse specialist, which was a position that was not developed at OSU until a few years later. During this time she worked toward her doctorate, had a daughter, and co-authored a textbook, Cardiac Rehabilitation: An Interdisciplinary Approach. From 1984-1994 Sandy had dual positions between OSU Medical Center as Director of Patient Education in the department of Educational Resources and Development, and as an Assistant Professor at OSU College of Nursing, where she taught a course on chronic illness and one on the role of a clinical nurse specialist to graduate students.
Cornett, with insight gained from serving on an American Hospital Association committee, established the first formal patient education program in OSU Hospitals when she developed a new position as Patient Education Coordinator in 1979. Before this position she was Assistant Director of Nursing Staff Development at OSU Medical Center. She used the public health model as a guide in developing the program: a) put program in place institutionally; b) at the staff level, have program support to enable staff to teach; and c) design the program to educate at the patient care level.
In 2001 Cornett retired from the patient education manager position and after 60 days returned to the OSU College of Medicine to develop the OSU AHEC Health Literacy Program. In this capacity she trained over 10,000 health professionals throughout Ohio in clear health communication techniques, both verbal and written, as well as working with health care organizations on how to establish a health literate environment at their organization.
The Sandra J. Cornett, RN, PhD Papers (3 linear feet) contains material related to Cornett’s work including publications she authored.
This collection is arranged in two series:
Series I: Oversized (2 boxes) contains plaques, awards, and assorted odd-sized items. This series is arranged by item.
Series II: Professional (2 boxes) contains material related to her career, particularly publications she authored. This series is arranged alphabetically.
The collection is open to the public and is available for viewing in the Medical Heritage Center. Materials do not circulate and must be used in the supervised reading room. Restrictions, including copyright, may exist and some materials may be too fragile to photocopy or digitize. The MHC charges for duplication services, which must be performed by staff.
[Identification of item], Sandra J. Cornett, RN PhD Papers, SPEC.201729.CORNETT, Medical Heritage Center, Health Sciences Library, The Ohio State University.