Debora Burger
Debora Burger Assistant Professor | Nursing
Building #1, Unit: Pdx
Dr. Debbie Burger brings 29 years of distinguished nursing experience across diverse clinical settings and patient populations. A passionate advocate for lifelong learning, Dr. Burger began her nursing career with a diploma in nursing and achieved her PhD in 2023, demonstrating her unwavering commitment to advancing both her expertise and the nursing profession.
Dr. Burger's extensive clinical background encompasses adult and pediatric care across multiple specialties, including acute care, step-down units, intensive care, operating rooms, emergency departments, ambulatory care, nursing professional development, and program development. The majority of her career has been devoted to pediatric cardiac care.
Currently, Dr. Burger serves as a research committee member for the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing and as the site lead for the Advanced Cardiac Therapies Improving Outcomes Network (ACTION) at Doernbecher Children's Hospital's heart failure and cardiomyopathy program. Through these roles, she actively contributes to advancing evidence-based practice and improving outcomes for pediatric cardiac patients.
Academic Interests
- Enhancing the role of the nurse in ambulatory care settings
- Pediatric heart failure and cardiomyopathy care
- Transition of care from pediatric to adult congenital heart disease services
Publications
Coburn, CV, Moss, E, Vonderheide, D., (Eds.), Core Curriculum for Ambulatory Care Nursing, 5th Ed. Anthony J. Jannetti. Forthcoming 2026.
Burger, D, & Evers, P.D. The nurse coordinator role and increasing continuity in care in a pediatric heart failure/cardiomyopathy program. (2025). Journal of Pediatric Nursing. Volume 83.
Burger, D, Hasan, R, Evers, P.D, McHill, A, Thomet, C, Moons, P, & Denfeld, Q. (2025). Congenital Heart Disease Transition Practices in the United States: A Survey of Adult Congenital Heart Disease Programs. Cardiology in the Young. 1-7.
Burger, D., Denfeld, Q. E., Uzark, K., Evers, P. D., McHill, A. W., Ward, P., & Hasan, R. (2024). A medical assistant-facilitated transition activity in a pediatric cardiology clinic. Health Care Transitions, 2, 100042.
Burger D, Denfeld QE, Evers PD, Ward P, Woods P, Hasan R. (2023). Referral Order Placement Decreases Time to Transfer to Adult Congenital Heart Disease Care. Pediatr Cardiol. 1-6.
Denfeld, Q.E., Burger, D., & Lee, C.S. (2023) Survival analysis 101: An easy start guide to analyzing time-to-event data. Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs, 22(3), 332-337.
Kyriacos, U., Burger, D., & Jordan, S. (2019). Testing effectiveness of the revised Cape Town modified early warning and SBAR systems: a pilot pragmatic parallel group randomised controlled trial. Trials, 20(1), 1-14.
Scharman, C., Burger, D., Shatzel, J., Kim, E. & DeLoughery, T. (2017). Treatment of individuals who cannot receive blood products for religious reasons or other. American Journal of Hematology, 92(12), 1370-1381.
Burger, D., Jordan, S., & Kyriacos, U. (2017). Validation of a Modified Early Warning Score‐linked Situation‐Background‐Assessment‐Recommendation (SBAR) communication tool: a mixed methods study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26(17-18), 2794-2806.
Burger, D. (2015). The development and validation of a modified Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation (SBAR) communication tool for reporting early signs of deterioration in patients (Masters dissertation, University of Cape Town)