Barbara McLean has been in critical care practice for 35 years. She functions as an independent, inter-national Critical Care Practice Consultant. She participates as part of the critical care team as an objective observer of patient care, guiding with classroom and bedside education as well as consults. Her practice is enriched with her Guest Lecture activity at the Emory University School of Medicine and as a Clinical Faculty member of the Emory University School of Nursing in Atlanta, Georgia. Ms McLean is a member of many professional organizations including the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) and the American Association of Surgery and Trauma. She has been awarded the excellence in education award by the AACN and the SCCM has presented her with presidential citations for her volunteer efforts. She has also authored or co-authored numerous journal articles, abstracts and book chapters and has made more than 2000 presentations nationally and internationally. Her research has been focused on blood flow and oxygenation and she continues to expand her knowledge every day in her international clinical practice. 

Ms McLean earned her Master of Science degree in Nursing and finished the post-Masters Nurse Practitioner Program both at Emory University.  In 1991, Barbara entered her master’s Thesis in abstract form for a poster presentation at the international congress for critical care, and the thesis was also published in “ Humanism in Critical Care, State of the Art, Critical Care Medicine, 1992. From that point on, she was inextricably committed to the vision and path for critical care practice, patient safety, quality initiatives and best practice for all patients worldwide.   

In February 2001, she was the 20th nurse in the history of the critical care society to be inducted as a Fellow into the American College of Critical Care Medicine, SCCM, which is a profound honor, and in 2004 and again in 2007 she was elected to an at-large seat on the governing council for the SCCM, working to determine the future of medicine in general and critical care specifically.  

From 2007 through 2009, Barbara, as a consultant to the Piedmont Health System, worked collaboratively with the process improvement team to reduce mortality from sepsis system wide. In 2008 and continuing on today, the system mortality was reduced some 30% utilizing the McLean Piedmont Stop Sepsis algorithm, The algorithm and process utilized has won several awards and will be published soon in a peer reviewed journal. Her focus and contributions include the integration of all team members into practice and practice decisions, the evolving communication between care providers, patients and families, focusing on evidence based practice, severe sepsis, tissue oxygen extraction and patient safety initiatives.

In 2009 and 2010, Barbara has written 12 chapters for various critical care textbooks and reviewed over 15 articles for the primary intensive care journal, Critical Care Medicine. Her webinars and pod casts regarding sepsis and other critical issues are highly touted.   In addition, she has been the speaker  for over 2000 courses, primarily focused on sepsis, ventilation and tissue oxygenation world wide. 

In 2009, and again in 2010, Barbara spent over three months in volunteer healthcare development and provision, completely independently and unfunded. She has been involved with multiple volunteer efforts, including formulating and editing the fourth version of the Fundamentals in Critical Care Textbook, patient safety initiatives, work in her own community (outreach health care in the Thomasville Heights project, nurse practitioner at the Olympic Park, Atlanta GA, 1996 Olympics, health education at the International Rescue Center for refugees escaping violence) as well as in Nicaragua and Tanzania Africa developing basic critical care education and practice. She was among the first responders to the Houston Astro arena on day one of evacuation from Hurricane Katrina, as well as following the devastating earthquake in Haiti.  She traveled to Haiti eight times in 2010 providing over 1000 hours of direct care. At the  2011 International Congress of the SCCM, The American College of Critical Care Medicine (via the Society of Critical Care Medicine) awarded Barbara the “Distinguished Service Award” for her work in critical care worldwide. 

As an educator, provider and practitioner, Barbara is committed to patient care and safety; critical care practice, collegial communication and evidence-based issues at the bedside.  Most importantly, every day of her personal and practice life are spent working towards improving care for patients and families.