Dr. Olsen is an associate professor at the Yale School of Nursing in the Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Specialty. He is also the Assistant Editor of Nursing Ethics and Contributing Editor for Ethics at The American Journal of Nursing. His publications have appeared in a variety of professional journals including Psychiatric Services, Nursing Research, The Journal of Clinical Ethics and Advances in Nursing Science. His areas of expertise include research ethics, ethics in psychiatric nursing and the ethics of health care relationships.
In 1984, Dr. Olsen was the first person licensed as an advanced practice mental health nurse in Alaska and the first with prescriptive authority. While in Alaska he worked for the Indian Health Service and then the Native health corporation, Southeast Alaska regional Health Corporation. Dr. Olsen has a strong clinical background in substance abuse and in mental health assessment. His teaching combines the humanities with science to further the student's ability to fully appreciate patients as human beings and their stories as life tales in service of developing ethical and therapeutic relationships.
Dr. Olsen is a founding member of the International Centre for Nursing Ethics (ICNE) [http://www.nursing-ethics.org], Guilford, UK and is currently on the International Council of the ICNE. Each year he helps plan and participates in the ICNE is annual conference on nursing ethics and the Surrey Summer School for teachers of ethics. In the fall of 2004 Dr. Olsen was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and spent a semester in Russia lecturing on health care ethics at the Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy's Graduate School of Nursing.
Research interests
Ethics of clinician/patient relations, research ethics, ethical issues in mental health
Clinical practice
Human Subjects Research Review Committee
Advisory Member VNA HealthCare Ethics Committee
Selected awards and honors
Fulbright fellowship 2004
Delivered the 2001 Pfizer Lecture at The Montreal General Hospital