Expert Interview with Gail Powell-Cope

Gail Powell-Cope, PhD, ARNP, FAAN, is Section Chief of Rehabilitation Outcomes Research at the Tampa VA Hospital, Adjunct Faculty at the University of South Florida Colleges of Nursing and Public Health, and Team Leader of Safe Patient Handling and Mobility for the VISN 8 Patient Safety Center of Inquiry. She is the Tampa site Co-Director of the VA Interprofessional Fellowship in Patient Safety, and Director of the Tampa HSR&D postdoctoral research program. Dr. Powell-Cope has over 30 years of nursing experience and 24 years of experience in health services research, nursing research, survey and qualitative research methods, implementation research, and quality improvement in patient safety. Dr. Powell-Cope has been involved in SPHM implementation and evaluation for almost 15 years in partnership with the VA Office of Public Health, culminating in the recently completed evaluation of VA-wide program implementation.