Introduction. Nurses and Professional Organizations: Making a Difference Beyond Northwestern Memorial JULY 2009

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1 JULY 2009 Introduction One of the components of our Henderson Framework for Nursing Practice is Nursing Excellence, which is demonstrated through shared leadership, continuous learning, and professional contribution. This month s issue of enursingnow highlights the professional contributions of two groups of nurses who are making an impact on the nursing profession. The first group is NMH nurses who are serving in leadership positions in professional organizations. The second is advanced practice nurses who act as internal consultants to foster the Best Practice Experience and advance nursing excellence. Nurses and Professional Organizations: Making a Difference Beyond Northwestern Memorial Involvement in professional organizations is a great way for nurses to impact the profession more globally. Contributing to professional organizations enables nurses to influence standards of practice in their specialty areas, learn about cutting edge innovations, and interface with colleagues outside of NMH. Nurses can also bring what they are learning back to NMH to further improve our internal practices. While enursingnow typically focuses the activities of nurses in direct care roles, we thought it was important to highlight how our Chief Nurse Executive, Michelle Janney, RN, PhD, NEA-BC, is influencing nursing nationally through her involvement in professional organizations. Michelle is a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE). She currently serves on the AONE Strategic Planning and Quality and Patient Safety Committees as well as on the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board and the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council (MCHC) Nursing Subcommittee. Through these roles Michelle has had the opportunity to network with other nurse leaders to advance local and national nursing agendas. She has been able to influence national and local strategies to address the nursing shortage, nurse retention, healthcare worker safety, and hospital design. In addition, Michelle s involvement has enabled her to bring nationally recognized nurse experts to NMH to provide nurse leaders with opportunities to broaden their knowledge and experience. Michelle has incorporated the knowledge she has gained through networking with national leaders into both her CNE practice and the goals and strategies used to advance nursing excellence at NMH. Rose Koshy, RN, BSN, CRNI is member of the NMH PICC team. She is the founder and first president of the Illinois Vascular Access Network (IVAN). Her colleague, Connie Girgenti, RN, PICC team nurse, is the Treasurer and membership chair of IVAN. The mission of this organization is to reduce vascular access complications and improve patient outcomes through collaboration, networking, and education.

2 This new organization now has fifty-three members and is growing locally. The founding meeting took place at NMH in May, 2008 with the support of Radiology and Interventional Radiology. IVAN successfully hosted its first annual conference in June at NMH. Participation in this organization has provided Rose and Connie with networking opportunities to share best practices with colleagues. The knowledge that they have gained will be used to further expand to a full vascular access team. Cora Palmer, BSN, RN-C, is a nurse on the Short Stay Unit on 16 West Feinberg and is also a pain expert nurse. She is the current President of the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses (AMSN), Chicago Chapter #317. Cora organized the first Chicago Chapter here at NMH and has increased the membership from an initial twenty members to over ninety. Cora serves on the planning committee for the National Conference of AMSN where three NMH nurses will be featured as speakers. AMSN embers have participated in numerous community outreach and volunteer activities. Cora believes that her involvement in this professional organization supports improved patient outcomes at NMH and beyond through ongoing professional development of nursing practice. Ann Schramm, RN, MSN, Patient Care Director, Women s Health has worked at NMH for the past seventeen years. She has a long association with a number of professional organizations and statewide committees including the Illinois Maternal Child Health Advisory Committee, IDPH Perinatal Program Consortium of Network Administrators, March of Dimes Jonas Salk Health Leadership Awards Committee, and the IDPH Perinatal Program Statewide Quality Committee. Ann s work with these organizations enables her to support bedside nurses to become involved, appreciate the bigger picture, grow professionally, and support the community. Gary Reschak, MS, RN, CNN, a nurse in the Inpatient Dialysis Unit, has been an active member of a number of professional organizations including the American Nurses Association (ANA)/ Illinois Nurses Association (INA) and the Windy City Chapter of the American Nephrology Nurses Association. Gary is currently serving his third term as Windy City Chapter Secretary and Webmaster Gary believes that participation in professional organizations has kept his practice fresh. His active membership has given him the opportunity to network with nurses across the spectrum and have kept him politically active at the state level in healthcare legislation and general legislation that affects nursing including The Nurse Practice Act, Hospital Report Card Act and Nurse Staffing by Patient Acuity. Gary has also had the opportunity to present at national symposiums across the country. All of these featured nurses and other NMH nurses who are active in professional organizations have stated that involvement is both satisfying and rewarding. Participation provides networking opportunities, education, and social activities that are fulfilling and keep nursing practice vital and fresh. It also provides the opportunity to give back to the broader professional nursing community in a wide variety of ways including community service, presentations at local and national conferences and impacting nursing practice and knowledge. The opportunities are endless for those who participate. For more information about how to get involved in professional organizations, please contact your specialty organization s local chapter or the Office of Professional Practice and Development at x60927 or jrogers@nmh.org

3 Nurses as Consultants: Advancing Nursing Excellence through Mentoring and Education Northwestern Memorial s advanced practice nurses deliver both direct patient care and support their nursing colleagues by providing consultations in their areas of expertise. This article highlights the work of several of our APN consultants: Joy Springer RN, CDE, C, ANP is a certified adult nurse practitioner (C, ANP) and a certified diabetes educator (CDE). Diabetes has become an epidemic in Chicago and across the nation. One in every seven patients who is admitted to NMH has a diagnosis of diabetes on their problem list. Joy focuses primarily on educating patients with diabetes, but also provides education and updates on diabetes standards of care for employees from many disciplines. She sees patients new to diabetes, those with steroidinduced/stress-induced diabetes, patients who may need a change of treatment, and those who may have physical changes (visual impairment, CVA) that necessitate assistive devices to help them manage their diabetes independently. Patient advocate is one of the most important aspects of this role and Joy does this by assuring that patients are cared for properly, including family in education sessions, collaborating with other disciplines including nursing to ensure outpatient follow-up or home health services are provided, and ensuring that patients have the appropriate equipment, device and that medications covered under their insurance. Joy finds great satisfaction in the relationships that she maintains with her patients long after discharge. Joy facilitates the Diabetes Liaison Group who act as resources for diabetes on their units Joy is presently participating in a research study for the Department of Endocrine Medicine by providing diabetes education to patients with liver transplants. She also initiated a now completed DMAIC project on hypoglycemia control. Joy is a member of the American Diabetes Association and volunteers for the Diabetes Expo at Navy Pier at the Ask the Expert Booth. She is also a member of the local chapter of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (DECAADE) and recently went to Springfield for Diabetes Advocacy Days to promote diabetes initiatives with the Illinois Diabetes Policy Coalition. Connie Kelly, RN, MS, CWON and Mary McCarthy, RN, MSN, CWON, ACNS-BC are Advanced Practice Nurses who care for patients requiring wound or ostomy care. They provide pre-op counseling and teaching to patients with ostomies and their families. They follow these patients after surgery to provide education in ostomy care and continue to see patients after discharge for routine follow-up as well as complications related to the ostomy. Connie and Mary also direct care for patients with complicated abdominal care needs such as post trauma patients with ostomies, fistulas, and/or open wounds. They also assess wounds and confer with the nurses and physicians to develop a plan of care. They also coordinate the collection of data on skin integrity for prevalence day every three months. Mary and Connie are key resources to nurses in the often challenging area of ostomy and wound care. Both Mary and Connie are members of Wound and Ostomy Certified Nurses WOCN) and Connie has presented at national conferences. Currently, Mary and Connie are participating in a research study on the incidence of stomal and peristomal complications.

4 Nurse Leaders Congratulations Janet on being the 2009 recipient of the Gail Corush Award for Excellence in Neuroscience Nursing! Janet Palamone RN, MSN, BS-HPA, CNRN, CCRN, staff educator in the Neuro Spine ICU (NSICU), has been awarded the 2009 Gail Corush Award for Excellence in Neuroscience Nursing. The $1000 award is given annually to a NSICU registered nurse by the grateful family of a patient in appreciation for excellent nursing care and the spirit of advancing the nursing profession. Janet began her nursing career after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh. She has worked neuroscience her entire career. In addition to an MHA, Janet has an MSN in Critical Care. She moved to Chicago in 1993 and began working in the NSICU as a Resource Coordinator, then as Staff Educator. Janet has served as a board member of American Association of Neuroscience Nurses and is currently a board member in the greater Chicago chapter of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. She holds certifications in both neurosciences (CNRN) and critical Care (CCRN). She participated in writing an article on NMH s model of Critical Care Orientation that was published in the American Journal of Critical Care Nursing. Currently, she is working on her first nursing research project on VTE's in the neuroscience ICU patient population. Margaret Pierce, RN, BSN, OCN, Clinical Coordinator, Radiation Oncology, has been a nurse at NMH for the past thirty-five years. She has been a member of the Chicago Chapter Oncology Nursing Society (CCONS) for nineteen years. She is a member of the Board of Directors and is the immediate past president, serves as co-chair of the nominating committee, and is a member of both the program and research committees. During her presidency, Margie worked diligently to keep the local chapter active and provide education on the latest oncology advances to enable oncology nurses to deliver state of the art care in every setting. Margie feels that her participation in CCONS has been an invaluable experience that has given her opportunities to network with the best oncology nurses in Chicago land, to stay current with the newest advances in oncology nursing, and to learn new solutions to common issues. CCONS also provides opportunities to mentor and support the next generation of oncology nursing leaders. Nurses Week Evaluation and Award Winners Thanks to those of you who participated in our evaluation of this year s Nurses Week celebration. The feedback was very positive overall. We also received some great suggestions about how to make next year s celebration even better.

5 For those of you who weren t able to attend the awards ceremony, a list of this year s Excellence in Nursing Practice Award winners is shown below: Michelle Munroe, RN, BSN, OCN Karina Gonzalez, RN, BSN Kathleen Quail, RN, BSN, CVN Oscar Perry, RN-C Rebecca Harap, RN, BSN Brenda Burke, RN, CEN Oncology Nursing Neuro/Ortho Nursing Medicine Nursing Stone Institute of Psychiatry Inpatient Surgical Nursing Emergency Department Semico Miller, RN, BHA, CCRN, CNRN Float Pool/Rapid Response Team Patricia Gierut, RN, BSN Katie Doyle, RNC, MSN Vanessa Payne, RNC Kovler Organ Transplantation Center Women s Health Women s Health Certifications Deb Bafia, BSN, RNC NICU Breastfeeding Counselor Teresa Davidson, BSN NICU Breastfeeding Counselor Georgie Perry, BSN RNC NICU Breastfeeding Counselor Susie Rosenberg, BSN NICU Breastfeeding Counselor Caryn Wallin, BSN, RNC NICU Breastfeeding Counselor Jennife rdemarco, RN 15W Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Ashley Currier, RN, BSN, CMSRN 12W Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Gladys Jusino, RN, CMSRN 16E Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Takesha Pate, RN 15W Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Catherine Jannusch, RN 13E Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Elizabeth Kleber, RN 13E Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Allison Schallman, RN 13E Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Corrine Benacka, RN, BSN, CCRN CCU Critical Care Nursing Certification Angelica King, RN, CMSRN 16 E Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Maija Nelson, RN, CMSRN 14E Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Mamie Laszlo, RN, CMSRN 14E Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Sara Ohlsson, RN, CMSRN 14E Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Amy Brunn, RN, CMSRN 11W Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Jorge Pazos, RN, CMSRN 11W Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Christiania Edusei-Mensah, RN, CMSRN 11W Feinberg Cert Medical-Surgical RN Walter Aguilar, RN, BSN Inpt Dialysis Certified Nephrology Nurse Certified Nephrology Anna Pollack,RN, BSN Inpt Dialysis Nurse Melanie Silos, RN, BSN Surgical Services Christina Baumrucker, RN, BSN Radiology Katie Dejuras, RN, MSN Operations and Quality

6 Poll Question What do you find to be the biggest obstacle to preventing pressure ulcers? 7% 11% 50% 32% Products for preventing pressure ulcers are not available More education is needed to properly use the lift equipment to reposition patients Patient refuses to turn and is non-compliant More education is needed to help nurses properly stage and treat skin breakdown