Diane Brady-Schwartz PhD, RN, NEA-BC President & CEO

DC Brady Associates, LLC was established in 2001 by Dr. Diane Brady-Schwartz. Since that time, she and our associates have worked closely with clients to achieve their goals to implement a professional practice environment that fosters retention and recruitment. Many clients have decided to pursue national recognition for excellence through achieving initial designation through the Magnet Recognition Program® and have gone on to seek redesignation with the continued support of our services.

As a former Chief Nursing Officer who led her organization to achieve Magnet™ designation, Dr. Brady-Schwartz is uniquely qualified to assist clients to achieve success in their “Journey to Excellence”. Diane’s actual “hands on” experience in achieving Magnet™ designation makes the difference in our client’s outcomes.

Dr. Brady-Schwartz is an experienced healthcare consultant with over 30 years of experience in healthcare and nursing services. She has held a variety of positions in hospital administration, nursing management and education. She has served as the Chief Nursing Officer for profit and non-profit hospitals. Dr. Brady-Schwartz was the Chief Nursing Officer at a 500-bed community hospital that achieved Magnet Recognition Program® designation as the thirteenth hospital to achieve this exceptional recognition.

Highlights of Dr. Brady Schwartz’s Expertise:

• Expert knowledge in all phases of a Magnet Recognition Journey® from initial organizational assessment through building programs and practices to ensure compliance with the Magnet™ program standards. Recommendations to meet or exceed the Magnet™ program standards have included needed timelines and specific actions needed.
• Co-authored ten written Magnet™ written manuals for either initial designation or redesignation with an outstanding success rate for clients seeking designation or redesignation.
• Expert in performance improvement, evidence-based practice and research. This expertise supports Magnet Project Directors and Chief Nursing Officers to build programs to improve patient and nursing outcomes that meet the expectations of the Magnet™ program.
• Expertise in all performance improvement benchmarking databases to include the NDNQI, patient satisfaction including HCAPHS, the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP), the NDNQI RN Satisfaction survey to include the Practice Environment Survey and Job Enjoyment Scale, the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) program, CMS Core Measures, the Vermont Oxford program and the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACRI) program.
• Presentation of over one hundred educational programs related to the Magnet Recognition Program® on an organizational, local, state and national level. Programs have featured not only on interpretation of the Magnet™ standards, but also on transformational leadership, Shared Governance concepts and models, differentiating performance improvement, evidence-based practice and research, research related to the Magnet Recognition Program®, creating Professional  Practice models, gap assessments and organizational readiness to apply for Magnet™ designation and  developing a culture of inquiry among others.
• History of excellent collaborative relationships with clients that include all levels of nursing and non nursing staff to include physicians, Administrators, members of Boards of Directors, non nursing leaders and all levels of nurses within hospitals and healthcare systems.
• Visionary and creative approaches to ensure enculturation of professional nursing practice environments to include models of Shared Governance and Shared Decision making, nursing strategic planning, statewide Magnet™ consortiums, Centers for Research and Innovation, staff nurse driven cultures of excellence, professional practice models and models of care delivery and outcome driven practices.

Dr. Brady Schwartz is a recognized leader in nursing, has published widely and an active member of numerous professional nursing and healthcare organizations.

Dr. Brady-Schwartz holds baccalaureate degrees in both Nursing and Biology-Health, and earned her Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration from Seton Hall University. She completed her doctoral degree in Business Administration with a concentration in research at Touro University International Cypress, California.
Dr. Brady-Schwartz commitment to the Magnet Recognition Program® was demonstrated in her dissertation study, which examined the outcomes of the relationship of staff nurse job satisfaction and anticipated turnover in Magnet™ hospitals against those who had not yet achieved this designation.
Dr. Brady-Schwartz has been certified in Nursing Administration, Advanced since 1989 and became certified in Nursing Executive Advanced in 2008.