Karyn Book is Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer of Penn Medicine Princeton Health. Ms. Book is responsible for the strategic management of the departments of Nursing, Education, Acute Rehabilitation, and Pulmonary Services at Princeton Medical Center, as well as supporting new hospital-based programs and initiatives to promote clinical excellence, recruitment, and retention.
In her previous role as Associate CNO, Ms. Book was responsible for day-to-day nursing operations and had oversight of the medical-surgical units; Telemetry; the Clinical Decision Unit; Acute Rehabilitation; Diabetes Management; the Wound and Ostomy Program; Palliative Care; Nursing Resources, including the RN and NA Float Pool; Transport; and nursing supervisors. Ms. Book also served as Interim Chief Nursing Officer from 2017 to 2019, leading the organization in continuing an environment which embraces quality improvement initiatives based on the organization’s strategic plan and responding to changes in regulations and best practices to meet those goals.
Under Ms. Book’s leadership, PMC nursing successfully earned Magnet re-designation. During Ms. Book’s tenure, the Center for Critical Care received a silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence, Princeton Health earned advanced perinatal care certification from The Joint Commission, and the heart failure program at PMC was awarded the American Heart Association Get with Guidelines – Gold Plus award for Heart Failure care.
From 2012 to 2017, Ms. Book served as Director of Patient Care Services and Professional Development at Princeton Health, during which time she also acted as the Executive Director of Quality, Patient Safety and Risk and was the liaison to the Board of Trustees and Performance Improvement Committee.
Ms. Book has worked at Princeton Health since 1998, serving the organization in roles including Professional Practice Administrator and Magnet Program Director, Interim Director of Nursing, Critical Care Educator, Nurse Manager ICU/CCU, Assistant Nurse Manager, ICU/CCU Direct Care Nurse, Administrative Coordinator, and Homecare/Hospice Nurse.
Ms. Book is co-author of published research and has presented at national conferences on topics such as reducing heart failure readmissions and a PMC study related to preventing pressure injuries in patients who are placed in the prone position. She is also the lead investigator for Magnet4Europe, an international project to improve hospital work environments and promote mental health and well-being in the workplace.
Ms. Book is licensed as a Professional Registered Nurse in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She is a member of several professional organizations including the Organization of Nurse Leaders of New Jersey, the American Nurses Association and the American Organization of Nurse Executives.
Ms. Book graduated in the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program from the University of Pennsylvania. She received a Master of Science with a focus on nursing administration and education from Holy Family University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from York College of Pennsylvania.