Amanda M. Rea, CRNP

Amanda Rea is an acute care nurse practitioner who works in the cardiac surgery and critical care settings. She is the lead of advanced practice and clinical program manager for University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center's Division of Cardiac Surgery, a three-star program with excellent quality metrics and outcomes that surpass national averages. She has more than 20 years of critical care and cardiac surgery experience.

Rea decided to pursue a career in medicine after watching her grandmother and grandfather experience long illnesses that required them to be in and out of the hospital often. "It made such a difference to my family when a nurse or provider cared about what they were doing and when they didn't. I decided I wanted to be that difference for patients and families in their time of need," she says.

At University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center, Rea co-developed the cardiac enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) program, one of the first such programs to be established in the nation. The program focuses on group learning, standard work and improving patient outcomes. She is also chair of the monthly multidisciplinary cardiac surgery integrated care group, which tracks process measures and programmatic performance. She has published on enhanced recovery and multimodal opioid sparing analgesia.

Rea has lectured internationally on topics related to cardiac ERAS, team building and patient blood management. She completed her doctorate in advanced practice leadership.