Andie Melendez is an experienced nursing leader with a strong commitment to developing people to be their best selves, performing to their highest levels of performance. Over the course of her career, she has worked in many specialty areas (cardiac surgery ICU, ambulatory surgery, dialysis and transplant, entrepreneur, etc.), and returned to medical-surgical nursing to strengthen awareness of med-surg as a specialty and to support the nurse who chooses this as his/her specialty. She spent a great deal of her career to date exploring ways to manage pain to enhance mobility and quality of life.

Andie has practiced for nearly 40 years in the acute care setting, started a consulting corporation as principal (Carlan Associates, LLC), developed and trained teams to successfully achieve TJC certification in ambulatory settings, and has followed her passion for holistic healthcare, both with the patients as well as the healthcare team. As a certified healing touch practitioner, Reiki Master, and Holistic Stress Management Instructor (Paramount Wellness/Inspirations Unlimited), she has woven conventional Western practice with holistic healthcare practices in her role as Clinical Nurse Specialist, both in teaching and direct patient care.

She has offered a variety of courses to the industry on managing stress with a holistic approach, as well as many presentations and articles on nursing, healthcare, and wellness on an organizational, local, regional and national level.  Her passion for “living your best life” and improving health are a lifelong commitment. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses (AMSN) as a Director. The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) is the only specialty nursing organization dedicated to the practice of medical-surgical nursing. A dynamic community of more than 13,000 medical-surgical nurses committed to quality patient care through professional development, certification, scholarship, and advocacy.