Title: Nurse Practitioner (Retired)
Company: OSF Saint Francis Medical Center
Location: East Peoria, Illinois, United States
Karen M. (Watson) Bussone, a retired Nurse Practitioner at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Nurses for dedication, achievements, and leadership in acute care nursing.
Ms. Bussone was active in numerous positions at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, including as a staff nurse on the medical-surgical and critical care units, critical care nurse, and nurse practitioner between 1988 and her retirement in 2022. She previously found success as the assistant to the director at the University of Illinois School of Medicine Library between 1972 and 1973. Additionally, Ms. Bussone served several local community health centers in Peoria, Illinois, encompassing the roles of assistant manager to the medical intensive care unit and as a nurse practitioner, in internal medicine and pulmonary offices, and a local family practice clinic. She then returned to the hospital setting managing cardiology patients before joining the critical care service team.
Initially, Ms. Bussone entered the education field, in which she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English education from Bradley University in 1971. However, she felt unfulfilled by teaching and subsequently decided to enter nursing. To support her ambitions in nursing, she earned an Associate of Science from Illinois Central College in 1983. Following this accomplishment, she graduated with a Master of Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1998. Ms. Bussone acquired many certifications, including as a registered nurse and subsequently a specialization in critical care, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructor, and advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS) instructor.
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