Summary
Shannon L. Pengel, MSN, RN, NE-BC, is chief nursing officer (CNO) for Cleveland Clinic main campus. In her role, Pengel leads and provides strategic oversight for nursing activities and operations throughout all clinical institutes on Cleveland Clinic’s vast 165-acre main campus. Cleveland Clinic main campus delivers care for some of world’s sickest patients and comprises approximately 1,400 hospital beds, more than 100 operating rooms and growing tertiary care. All main campus nursing directors report directly to Pengel who leads nursing strategy, promotes innovative patient care delivery and advances clinical nursing practice and through continuous improvement, financial stewardship, evidence-based research and more. Prior to her current position, Pengel served as Associate Chief Nursing Officer 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 more than 25 years, and includes 312 cardiac step-down beds, 140 intensive care beds, cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs and multiple outpatient units. She also led strategic direction for the rapid response teams and telemedicine areas, including the Central Monitoring Unit and eHospital.
At the onset of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., Pengel 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. She provided oversight on clinical workflows, safety procedures and other guidelines to prepare and plan for the 1,006-bed surge hospital. For more than 20 years, Pengel has served Cleveland Clinic and its patients, joining the organization 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. Pengel is a member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. She holds a Master’s degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from Kent State University.
Education
- MSN, University of Phoenix, Phoenix, Arizona, 2011
- BSN, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, 1997
Certifications
- Board Certified Nurse Executive (NE-BC), American Nurses Credentialing Center
- Basic Life Support (BLS-CPR), American Heart Association
Contact Information
Cleveland Clinic
9500 Euclid Ave / P32
Cleveland, Ohio 44195
216.444.4127
pengels@ccf.org
Leadership
Pengel is a valued, compassionate nurse leader who builds cultures of trust and teamwork. Across the health system, she 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.
Clinical Practice & Teaching
Clinical Practice
Pengel’s clinical expertise lies within the areas of cardiothoracic surgery, rapid response, transplantation and interventional cardiology.
Teaching
As a proponent of nursing staff education, Pengel 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).
Research & Publications
Pengel is an avid presenter at healthcare forums and conferences throughout the region. Her presentations include topics such as rapid response, nursing leadership in quality improvement and patient experience, improving heart failure education and how to implement an accelerated recovery program in cardiac surgery. Additionally, 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.
Professional Involvement
- Member, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)
- Member, Association Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE)
- Past Member, American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AHF)
- Past Member, United Way of Greater Cleveland Generation Next Campaign
- Past Cabinet Member, United Way Health Care Campaign
Honors & Awards
- Nurse of the Year – Maria and Sam Miller Professional Excellence Award, Cleveland Clinic, 2015
- Abbie Porter Leadership Nursing Excellence Award, Cleveland Clinic, 2015
- Sones-Favalora Award for Nursing Collaboration, Cleveland Clinic Heart & Vascular Institute, 2015
- Excellence in Volunteerism, United Way of Summit County, 2011
- Nominee, Abbie Porter Leadership Award, Cleveland Clinic, 2010
- First Place Poster Presentation Winner, Ohio Association of Healthcare Quality, 2010
- Cardiothoracic Surgery Employee of the Year Award, Cleveland Clinic, 2001
- Marilyn Tetonis Nursing Unit Excellence Award, Cleveland Clinic, 2001
