Karyn Book '07
Karyn Book BSN, '07 MSN DNP, RN, NEA-BC admittedly was more of the social type - think cheerleading and field hockey - than a locked-in student in high school. But a chance encounter in the seventh grade with a nurse had already solidified her career choice, and she knew she had her work cut out for her.
“I was a teenager. I was nervous,” Book said of her hospital stay for a minor operation. “It was that nurse who took care of me, her comforting way and the way she explained everything to me, that made me say, ’This is what I want to do’.”
Her parents, though always supportive, had their doubts.
“My mother used to say to me, ‘If you want to be in the hospital, you can always work in the gift shop’,” Book recalled, laughing. “Really, my parents told me that it was going to be hard, but they knew I could do it. I think they had always instilled in me that if you want it, go get it. Now, my mother says, ‘Look at you, you’re the chief nurse’!”
Currently, Book serves as Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer of Penn Medicine Princeton Health. In this capacity, she directs the clinical operations, evidencebased clinical practice, and research for the Nursing and Patient Care Services Division of a 324 bed community-based hospital with a large integrated academic health system. She manages a $109 million budget and oversees approximately 1,026 full-time employees.
She earned a master’s at Holy Family after moving to Bucks County with her husband and three children.
“My professors on the Newtown campus were great, and I made amazing connections with my cohort. We really grew friendships, and we still get together,” she said. “At the time, online learning was becoming more popular, so I liked that my program was in-person because I knew I was the type of person who needed to be in the classroom, working one-on-one. At Holy Family, you have an opportunity to have relationships with your professors, and they really do help you to become a better nurse.”
Book, who recently completed her DNP in Executive Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania, has developed a comprehensive, all-encompassing, big picture view of the field and has used her voice as a nurse in a number of important initiatives, including the re-design of a new hospital.
“I would like to be known as a nurse who, even though she is now in administration, has never lost sight of why we are here, and that’s for the patients,” she said, recalling that special nurse from her childhood. “I want to be known as a transformational, servant-minded leader who supports the bedside nurse and everyone around them who is caring for patients. If you are a nurse, your heart is in the right place. You always want to help, and you don’t shy away from the most terrifying, disturbing situation or the most-needy people. Rather, you are really drawn to that.”