Fabio DeSouza, D.N.P., RN
Clinical Assistant Professor
Department of Adult Health and Nursing Systems
Education
- D.N.P., Virginia Commonwealth University
- M.S.N., Queens University of Charlotte
- B.S.N., Queens University of Charlotte
Research/Scholarship Interests
DeSouza’s research and scholarship focus on advancing nursing informatics education and leveraging emerging health technologies to transform clinical care and instruction. His primary scholarly interests include designing and evaluating graduate-level nursing informatics curricula, as well as exploring the thoughtful integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in both academic teaching and clinical environments. Drawing on a strong foundation in quality improvement (PDSA, DMAIC), patient safety (RCA, process mapping), and human-centered design, DeSouza investigates how technology-enabled workflows and informatics tools can be optimized to enhance healthcare quality and patient safety. His published work and clinical projects also encompass workplace violence reduction, behavioral health quality improvement and clinical decision support optimization in health systems.
Area of Current Clinical Practice
DeSouza’s clinical practice background spans more than 15 years in acute care cardiac/telemetry and specialized inpatient behavioral health. His most recent clinical experience centers on forensic psychiatric nursing, complex psychiatric care management, and suicide risk assessment and de-escalation. His clinical practice is distinguished by the integration of clinical informatics at the bedside, including EHR optimization, health technology implementation, clinical decision support and standardizing workflows to enhance patient safety and quality of care.
Teaching
DeSouza teaches graduate-level courses in the Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) program at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing. His instructional focus centers on equipping doctoral students with foundational knowledge in nursing scholarship, systems leadership, quality improvement and nursing informatics. In his teaching, DeSouza integrates adult learning principles and human-centered design to help students translate evidence into clinical practice, apply quality and safety tools to complex healthcare challenges, and synthesize doctoral competencies to lead technology-enabled systems change.
Select Publications
- DeSouza, F., & Bleich, M. (2023). A Quality Improvement Approach to Violence Reduction: Standardizing the Risk Identification Process. Journal of nursing care quality, 38(4), 361–366.
Professional Service
DeSouza is a member of the Graduate Practice Programs Committee (Curriculum Subcommittee).