PASSING OF DR. MERIDEAN MAAS
Meridean Leone Maas, PhD, RN, FNI, FAAN, Professor Emerita, College of Nursing, the University of Iowa, died on November 13, 2020. Meridean attended the University of Iowa where she completed her Bachelor and Master in nursing degrees. She began her nursing career in research with Dr. Myrtle Adylotte at the University of Iowa Hospitals. She received her doctorate in Sociology of Organizations from Iowa State University in 1979 and joined the University of Iowa College of Nursing faculty in 1983, teaching in both the undergraduate and graduate programs and later taught courses exclusively for doctoral students. Her funded programs of research included: Testing the Effects of Family Involvement in Care intervention on Family Members of Institutionalized Alzheimer’s Patients, Staff Caregivers and Persons with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and the nursing outcomes classification (NOC) research to develop, classify and validate patient outcomes that are sensitive to nursing interventions. Dr. Maas also conducted research with electronic clinical data, including standardizing nursing data, to assess the cost effectiveness of nursing interventions on outcomes for older persons hospitalized with congestive heart failure and pneumonia.
Meridean was a member of the founding class of NANDA-I Fellows, and received many professional honors, including being named as an American Academy of Nursing 2011 Living Legend. Those of us who served with Meridean will remember her quick wit, her stubborn tenacity when arguing her point, her underlying ability to teach and encourage others to stretch their own thinking, and her love of nursing. She served on the Diagnosis Review Committee, the NANDA-I Board of Directors, and was instrumental in work on the NNN Alliance. Her presence at NANDA-I conferences was missed after she retired, and we send our deepest condolences to her family, former students, and friends.
