Jennifer B. Rousseau, DNP, WHNP-BC, CNE

Biography

Rousseau has been a women’s health nurse for over 30 years. She has worked as a staff nurse and Clinical Nurse Specialist, as the Coordinator of Practice for the professional nursing organization AWHONN in Washington, DC, as an inpatient Women’s Health NP at RUSH University Medical Center, and as an NP with a focus on breast and cervical cancer screening.

Her DNP work led to universal screening for depression in the immediate postpartum period at RUSH. Her interest in this area continues as she works to improve follow-up with outpatient mental health care for women identified as being at risk for depression.

Rousseau is a certified nurse educator who has taught at RUSH University College of Nursing since 2001 across both the pre-licensure and DNP programs. In the Department of Academic Practice Nursing, Rousseau finds partner sites for student projects and work-study opportunities and is the Program Director for Family Connects, a universal postpartum nurse home visit service. She was recently awarded with the RUSH University Excellence in Community Service award for her efforts to raise awareness of state Safe Haven Laws to reduce illegal and unsafe infant abandonment. She is a board member of the National Safe Haven Alliance and a past-President of Sigma’s Gamma Phi chapter at RUSH.

Honors and Activities

2021 Rush University Excellence in Community Service Award

2016 AACN Exemplary Academic-Practice Partnership Award, Task Force Lead

2011 Sigma Theta Tau, Judy Jezek Anderson Scholarship for Doctoral Studies

2010 Golden Lamp Society, DNP Award, Rush University College of Nursing

2010 Nurse Educator Fellowship, Illinois Board of Higher Education

2010 Teaching Innovation Award, Rush University College of Nursing

2009 Excellence in Teaching Award, Rush University, College of Nursing

2006 Professional Development Award, Rush University, College of Nursing

2001 Luther Christman Award for Clinical Excellence, RUMC

Publications

Moss, A., Rousseau, J., Lowell, G., Kaintz, K., Cavenagh, Y., Wilkerson, J., Robinson, C., Vidas, J., Logan, C. Collaborating to Advance Health Equity for Families with Newborns through Public-Private Partnerships. Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved, December 2022.

Doucette, J., Rousseau, J., & Vondracek, H. Addressing Health Equity: Implementation and Evaluation of a Telehealth Maternal-Newborn Home Visit for Nurse Practitioner Students. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, December 2022.

Rousseau, J. & Hunter, R. (2022). Concerns of pre-licensure nursing students prior to an obstetrical clinical rotation. Nursing for Women’s Health, 26(3), 205-214. https://doi:10.1016.j.nwh.2022.03.008

Moss, A., Rousseau, J., Swartwout, K., Gallagher, T., Kalensky, M, Gorenz, A., & Dickens, K. (2022). Leveraging a successful faculty practice model to recruit and retain early-career nursing college faculty. Nurse Educator https://doi:10.1097/NNE.0000000000001177

Rousseau, J. & Friedrichs, J. (2021). Providing a “safe haven”: Staff response to a simulated infant relinquishment in the Emergency Department. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 47(2), 352-358. https://doi:10.1016/j.jen.2020.12.005

Mohr, L., Rousseau, J., O’Shea, S., & Zillweger-Kuehn, P. (2021). Nursing student and faculty perspectives following involvement in a women, children, and family scholars pilot program. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 11(4), 36-42. https://doi.org/10.5430/jnep.v11n4p36

Keenan, M., Kimura, R., Fogg, L., & Rousseau, J. (2018). Customizing Functionality in an Electronic Health Record to Capture Value in Provider Specific Services. Computers, Informatics, and Nursing, 36(9), 417-421. https://doi:10.1097/CIN.0000000000000479

Rousseau, J. and Friederichs, J. (2009). Chance of a Lifetime: Safe Haven Law in Illinois. Nursing Spectrum, 22(1).

Rousseau, J. Meeting the needs of the postpartum woman with epilepsy. (2008). The American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing, 33(2), 84-89. https://doi:10.1097/01.NMC.0000313415.77044.10

Burton (Rousseau), J. & Reyes, M. (2001). Taking control of asthma in pregnancy. Lifelines (now Nursing for Women’s Health), 5(1), 24-30.

Burton (Rousseau), J. (1999). When your patient is postpartum: A guide for the med-surg nurse. American Journal of Nursing, 99(2), 64-70.

Burton (Rousseau), J. (1997). When your patient is pregnant: A guide for the med-surg nurse. American Journal of Nursing, 97(3), 16F-16J.

Education

Areas of Expertise