Background
Barbara Stevens Barnum was born on September 2, 1937, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States to William C. and Freda (Claycomb) Burkett.
Barbara Stevens Barnum was born on September 2, 1937, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States to William C. and Freda (Claycomb) Burkett.
Barnum became Associate of Arts in Nursing, at the St. Petersburg Junior College, in 1958. She obtained Bachelor of Philosophy degree at the Northwestern University, in 1967. She received Master of Arts degree from DePaul University, 4 years later.
Finally, Barnum graduated from the University of Chicago with Doctor of Philosophy degree, in 1976.
Barnum began her career in 1958, working at the Mound Park Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, as a charge nurse in labor, delivery, and obstetrics, she stayed there till 1959.
That same year she became an instructor in medical-surgical nursing at the Augustana Hospital School of Nursing, in Chicago, where she stayed until 1962. Next, she moved to the Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago, and held the position of a staff and supervisory nurse, from 1962 till 1963, when she became an instructor in medical-surgical nursing, till 1968. That year Barnum started to serve as an associate director of nursing education, till 1970, and finally she was appointed as a director of nursing services at the hospital, from 1970 to 1971.
Barnum was a director of nursing for staff education at the University of Chicago, for a year from 1971, changing her position to become a director of nursing for staff and community education, from 1972 to 1973.
At the University of Illinois, Barnum served at the post of an assistant professor, for 2 years from 1974, and of an associate professor, from 1976 till 1978. She was a professor of nursing service administration at that educational institution, just for a year from 1978.
She was appointed as a professor of nursing and director of the Teachers College, Columbia University, based in New York City.
At the medical advertising firm named Barnum Communications, Barnum was a chief executive officer, from 1989 until 1990, also serving as a chairperson there, from 1989 till 1992.
In addition, she held the post of an editor and consultant at the Columbia University Medical Center, in New York City, for 3 years from 1992. At the Columbia University, Barnum worked as a professor of clinical nursing, from 1995 till 1998.
Also, she was an arbitrator at the American Arbitration Association, in 1990.
Barnum was also a consultant to Office of the Surgeon General, U.S. Air Force.
Her nursing education books include Nurse as Executive; Nursing Theory; and Spirituality in Nursing. She edited Nursing Leadership Forum and Nursing & Health Care. Barnum's recent work included private psychotherapy and past life regression, writing paranormal fiction, and lecturing on brain physiology.
Barnum received a great number of awards, including Elizabeth Russell Belford Award for Education and local Educator Award, from Sigma Theta Tau, both in 1979.
She won Book of the Year Awards, from the American Journal of Nursing, in 1979, as well, for Nursing Theory: Analysis, Application, Evaluation, 1980 and 1986, and for The Nurse as Executive, in 1996, for Spirituality and Nursing.
She got an Outstanding Book Award, in 1984, for Nursing Theory: Analysis, Application, Evaluation.
Barnum received Presidential Citation, from New York City Registered Nurses Association, in 1991.
Also she had grants from the U.S. Departments of Health, Education, and Welfare and Health and Human Services, Teagle Foundation, and Veterans Administration.
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Quotations:
“I write for fun and money—money for professional books on nursing and healthcare management, fiction and spiritual books for fun—although this avocation is starting to be profitable also. What influences my present work is my life experience, my outlook, values, and studies that range from philosophy to paranormal phenomena, particularly as these things relate to spirituality (not religion)."
“My writing process is organic and emergent, rather than planned, although people like my texts because they are well organized and clear. My present writings—nonfiction, as well as fiction—enable me to use those creative processes that screamed for an outlet in my many career years of guiding students through the dissertation process."
“What inspired me to write now is that (mostly) I will never need to use statistical analysis or involved footnotes again!”
Barnum was a fellow and member of governing council of the American Academy of Nursing, as well as a member of the board of directors of the National League for Nursing, a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, a president of the Deans and Directors of Greater New York, a member of the Sigma Theta Tau and the American Nurses Association.
Barnum married H. James Barnum on February 15, 1986. Unfortunately, he died on January 29, 1989. They had a child Lauren, as well as stepchildren: Elizabeth Barnum Farrow, Catherine Barnum Knight, Shauna, Sallee Barnum Hearne, David.
