Cleveland Clinic Names New Chief Nursing Officer for Main Campus

The Stanley Shalom Zielony Institute for Nursing Excellence has announced the appointment of Shannon L. Pengel, MSN, RN, NE-BC, as Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) of Cleveland Clinic’s 165-acre main campus.

In her role, Pengel will lead and provide strategic oversight for nursing activities and operations throughout all clinical institutes on the vast main campus, with all main campus nursing directors reporting to her. Cleveland Clinic’s main campus cares for some of world’s sickest patients, comprising approximately 1,400 hospital beds, more than 100 operating rooms, and growing tertiary care.

“With 23 years of commitment to clinical excellence at Cleveland Clinic, Shannon is a valued, compassionate nurse leader known to build a culture of trust and teamwork – and, she is welcomed with open arms to her new position,” says Chief Caregiver Officer K. Kelly Hancock, DNP, RN, NE-BC, who precedes Pengel as Main Campus CNO, holding the position for the past 9 years, in addition to Executive Chief Nursing Officer for the health system.

Results-oriented and inspiring leader

Most recently, Shannon served as Associate Chief Nursing Officer (ACNO) for main campus, as well as Clinical Nursing Director of the Anesthesiology Institute and world-renowned Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute, which has ranked #1 by U.S. News and World Report for the past two decades, and includes 312 cardiac step-down beds, 140 intensive care beds, cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs and multiple outpatient units.

As ACNO, Pengel helped lead nursing strategy and advance clinical practice by empowering caregivers and creating a continuous improvement environment that promoted innovative patient care delivery. She also led strategic direction for the rapid response teams and telemedicine areas, including the Central Monitoring Unit and eHospital, which provides remote critical care resources for the enterprise.

Additionally, at the onset of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., Pengel also stepped up to serve as Chief Nursing Officer for Cleveland Clinic’s Hope Hospital, a pandemic surge facility that was created in less than one month. Pengel provided oversight on clinical workflows, safety procedures and other guidelines to prepare and plan for the 1,006-bed surge hospital.

Across the health system, Pengel is known for her ability to effectively manage clinical operations while meeting capital and financial targets, maintaining turnover rates and more. Notable career successes include system-wide integration of numerous new nursing unit specialties, such as vascular surgery intensive care and central monitoring for telemetry; facilitating the standardization of system-wide rapid response care; and planning and successfully activating Cleveland Clinic’s Miller Pavilion, the largest free-standing specialty hospital in the country, which spans more than 1-million square-feet.

Tenured nurse dedicated to advancing nursing practice

Pengel joined Cleveland Clinic as a staff nurse in the cardiothoracic step-down unit on main campus in 1997. She is a clinical expert in cardiothoracic surgery, rapid response, transplantation and interventional cardiology and has held positions of leadership at the director level since 2011.

Every day, Pengel works diligently to enhance the current and future landscape of the nursing profession. She actively supports nurse managers and staff nurses in research initiatives, which has led to numerous publications in nursing journals on topics ranging from patient perceptions of call lights and cardiac tamponade to chest tube clotting and infection rates from ECG leads.

Additionally, as a proponent of nursing staff education, she has worked to support the offerings of on-site certification preparation courses at Cleveland Clinic, helping nurses achieve certification in critical care registered nursing (CCRN) and progressive care nursing (PCCN). She has also been instrumental in encouraging Cleveland Clinic’s dynamic nurse leaders to earn Master’s degrees and become board-certified nurse executives (NE-BC).

“I am honored to serve Cleveland Clinic’s main campus nursing caregivers and patients in this new position,” says Pengel.

Pengel is a member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership as well as numerous health system councils and committees that drive professional nursing, daily clinical practice and quality patient care delivery. She holds a Master’s degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from Kent State University.