2006 nur - PinnacleHealth

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Linda Blough, RN N9/N8 (1971) “I always have enjoyed helping people get through their surgical experience and back to their normal lives. I especially enjoy taking care of antepartum patients that are having problems with their pregnancy. It always is a real joy to see each patient (outcomes) with their babies, especially if they have been trying so hard just to have a child.” Pearl of Wisdom: It always is hard starting a career, particularly in nursing; but if you love what you do and have compassion for people in their weakness moments/times, you’ll receive the most satisfaction that a job can offer—especially carrying that special miracle baby home. Pride Council 2007 Chair: Jen Zechman, nurse manager, Community ED 2007 Secretary: Arletta Molnar, RN, PCU/Toxicology 2007 Chair-elect: Megan Strohecker, clinical manager, Maternity w Extreme Nurse Experience held four times with highest attendance to date. This program provides an overview of hospital nursing careers in a variety of specialties for middle and high school students. w Nursing Newsletter coordinated and edited by Jennifer Shuey. Robin Albert and Deb Miles are the 2008 newsletter coordinators. w Nursing Grand Rounds schedule set until 2011. w Student Parent Career Night held as a recruitment tool. w Nurses’ Week activities planned to include a fabulous Nursing Gala event and Nursing Awards. w Surveyed all job roles in nursing during Nurses’ Week Expo regarding recruitment and retention efforts to identify ways to improve the work environment. Quality Council 2007 Chair: Becky Pontius, RN, Harrisburg ICU 2007 Secretary: Karen Nesmith, RN, CCU 2007 Chair-elect: Cheryl Hammonds, RN, PSCU/Main 6 w Welcomed Carol Colussi as new leader facilitator w NDNQI Skin Assessment certification by all members w Education for familiarization with Quality Terminology for all council members and staff w Continually strengthening the communication link between council members and staff force 4 Personnel Policies and Programs Recruitment and retention of the best and the brightest nurses are important core values in our Nursing Charter. PinnacleHealth proudly boasts an impressive new nurse retention rate that is consistently above 90 percent. Karen Whitmer, RN, professional nurse development coordinator, plays an important role in the guidance and transition of new grads. Our exceptional Nurse Extern Program has been a successful recruiting program whereby nursing students can work on a clinical unit while attending nursing school in order to better understand the nursing role. The many talented nurse preceptors and dedicated staff nurses who mentor our new grads are to be commended for going the extra mile to welcome and support all of our new nurses. Welcome New Grads! Elizabeth Swith, CCU Jennifer Philson, CCU Erin Billbrough, CCU Sarah McAllister, Peds Julie Ritter, Peds Tabitha Walker, CTPO Lindsay Imes, CTPO Amanda Kemmerer, ICU, Community Angie Lenker, ICU, Community Gina Recce, ICU, Community Rebecca Fisher, N10/PCU/Toxicology Amber Hartman, N10/PCU/Toxicology Courtney Hock, N10/PCU/Toxicology Natoshia Sheaffer, N10/PCU/ Toxicology Jennifer Marieta, N10/PCU/Toxicology Dorothy Jones, N10/PCU/Toxicology Stacey Brehm, OR, Harrisburg Daniel Rohrer, CTICU Bethany Marble, CTICU Santina Sperling, CINT Lorena Garcia, CINT Bobbie Lefevre, Main 10 Melissa Riley, Main 10 Steven Gardecki, Main 10 Jennifer Lenosky, Main 10 Kristin Lukens, Main 10 Retention of seasoned, experienced clinical nurses is a high priority at PinnacleHealth. We are fortunate to have many expert nurses who have chosen to practice nursing at Pinnacle Health for more than 30 years. Their clinical expertise and devotion to excellence is admired and appreciated. Cindy Deitrich, RNC; L&D (1976) “The keys to survival are always to have an open mind, a caring heart, thick skin and a good sense of humor. These will help to get you through any situation.” Quality Council page 10 page 11 PH_NursingAR07_RWe.indd 10-11 10/2/08 2:10:59 PM
force 5 & 6 Professional Models of Care Quality of Care force 7 Research Council Quality of care encompasses so many facets of nursing at PinnacleHealth. The Synergy Model guides our practice and our decision-making as we strive to match the patient and family needs to the characteristics of the nurse. Our goal always is safe passage for the patient and the family, whether that means a healthy discharge, a smooth transition to an extended care facility, or sometimes even seeing someone through a comfortable death. We care for our patients “heart, mind, body, and soul.” This principle is what makes us passionate about quality. We all remember pivotal moments in our nursing career … moments when we were changed forever because of a kind word, a thank you or even a tear shed on behalf of a patient or family. Many of these transformational moments come from experiences of caring for patients and families at end of life. For nurses in Labor and Delivery, the transformational moments often come in caring for a family who has experienced the loss of an infant. Even in the toughest of times, our nurses know that delivering quality care means offering compassion, time and understanding. Karen Ilgenfritz, RN received a beautiful letter of gratitude from a couple who lost a baby at 35 weeks gestation to stillbirth. A brief excerpt of the letter illustrates the depth of Karen’s caring heart and the power of nursing to provide comfort in a time of great sorrow. “From the moment that we checked into the hospital, Karen was there with us and supported us. We were griefstricken, and I was very, very scared of what the day would bring. Karen calmed our fears and honestly talked with us about what to expect. Karen offered to pray with us. This meant so much to us. She gave us as much time as we needed. These all seem like small gestures, but we treasure these things so much and we are glad that she was there to help us make as many memories of our baby as we could during the brief time that we had to say hello and goodbye to him.” Cultural Diversity PinnacleHealth nurses are responsive to the diversity of our patients and their families. For instance, on CINT, the nurses added cardiac educational DVD’s in Spanish to accommodate the growing Hispanic population on the unit. Evidence-Based Practice Evidence-based practice (EPB) has become very meaningful to PinnacleHealth nurses, in large part due to the efforts of the Research Council. This year, the Research Council participated in the decision to hire Rhonda Maneval, PhD as a part time research consultant. Upon recommendation of the Magnet appraisers, we chose a specific Evidence-Based Practice model. The Research Council investigated several EBP models and chose the Iowa Model for Evidence- Based Practice and the Melnyk- Overholt Level of Evidence Model as preferred models to guide EBP at PinnacleHealth. Quality of Nursing Leadership Examples of improving quality abound throughout our Nursing units. Nurse-led performance improvement teams are effecting change to deliver safe, quality care. Here are just a few examples of the accomplishments, some big, some small, but all very meaningful to the meeting our goal. Appropriate staffing is critical to the goal of delivering quality care. The Float Pool scheduling process has been a Six Sigma Project targeted at decreasing expenses. Revisions to the process were made so that nurse managers enter their staffing needs and the Float Pool staff fills the open shifts to accommodate the need. As part of the SCIP (Surgical Care Improvement Project) the OR at Community Campus eliminated the use of razors in the OR to reduce infection and now only use clippers. Pre-op antibiotics are given and documented within one hour of surgery. CCU reports a three year period of zero central line infections. The Perianesthesia Unit at Community keeps staff informed about quality by emailing every staff person with a synopsis of the Quality Council activities and results. Nurses on CTICU met their goal of all RNs completing the Stroke Scale certification. CINT nurses celebrated with a breakfast, lunch and dinner meal provided to the unit to acknowledge their Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores. For a certain type of heart attack, the time from arriving at the hospital to when the artery is opened is called “door-to-balloon” time. At PinnacleHealth, this time averages 63 minutes. That’s speedy when you consider that only 50 percent of hospitals beat the American Heart Association’s recommendation of a door-to-balloon time of 90 minutes or less. Not to mention our in-hospital survival rate is 100 percent for these patients. When you’re having a heart attack, time matters. Deb Kepner, RN; L&D (1976) “The patients are the most gratifying aspect of nursing. I have worked in Labor and Delivery most of my nursing career, and there are still times that I get teary eyed after a delivery. It is a privilege to be able to help families through one of their biggest life events. The technology has changed immensely during the course of my career. I still get my greatest personal satisfaction from the personal contact with the patients and their families.” Pearl of Wisdom: Make sure you are good to yourself. Nursing can be tough-physically and emotionally. You have to make sure to find the joy in your personal life. You need that balance! page 12 page 13 PH_NursingAR07_RWe.indd 12-13 10/2/08 2:11:02 PM
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Page 3 and 4: force 1 Kim Fenstermacher Looking b
Page 5: Dotty Engle, RN; Perianesthesia, CG
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Page 11 and 12: force 13 Interdisciplinary Relation
Page 13 and 14: Cathi Green, RN (1977) What I love

2006 nur - PinnacleHealth

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