NURSES Friday, May 3, 2013
Quality extends beyond traditional care
Nurses save us all W hen I was in high school, I wanted a medical career. After a rather nasty interaction with chemistry class, I discovered science was over my head. My lab partner, a woman who went into nursing and way beyond, saved me from failing that class. In exchange, she made me promise to stay out of science. I did. I didn’t stay out of hospitals or doctors’ offices, though. My family and extended family have had plenty of contact with nurses, and nurses often have the best medicine. It doesn’t come in a pill form. It’s advice, compassion and that “you can do it” attitude. Starting Monday, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, we celebrate Nurses Week. The theme is Delivering Quality and Innovation in Patient Care. It’s a great blend of human caring amid all of the incredible science that has advanced medical care. More than 25 nurses — and one doctor — shared heartwarming stories with you in today’s Erie Times-News and online at GoErie.com. Some of the articles will make you cry, and others will make you stand up and cheer. Check out GoErie.com/nurses for all of the content. And thank a nurse today.
By SUE BIRKMIRE, R.N. Erie Shriners Ambulatory Surgery Center and Outpatient Specialty Care Center
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— Pam Parker
CONTACT US Erie Times-News, 205 W. 12th St., Erie, PA 16534 General manager, Marnie Mead, marnie.mead@timesnews.com, 870-1697 Editor, Pam Parker, pam.parker@timesnews.com, 870-1821 Page designer, Holly Waychoff, holly.waychoff@timesnews.com Advertising, MaryBeth Ford, marybeth.ford@timesnews.com, 878-2201 All content, including the design, art, photos and editorial content © 2013, Erie Times-News. No portion of this magazine may be copied or reprinted without the express written permission of the publisher.
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n the 29 years that I have worked at Shriners Hospitals for Children — Erie facility, I’ve learned many things. One very important factor is that “quality” patient care extends far beyond the walls of the health care facility. Back in 1990 when I was taking a Canadian patient’s health history, I asked the 6-year-old what hobbies interested him, and he looked up at me from his wheelchair and he said, “I play hockey.” I looked at his mom and repeated “hockey?” His mom said, “Yes, don’t you have sled-hockey here?” His mom sent me information on the Canadian sled hockey program, and I started a long road to get USA Hockey to recognize this as a sport and agree to insure these kids so they could rent ice and play the game. Sled hockey has players sitting in sleds with two short hockey sticks that have picks on one end to propel the players and a hockey blade on the other side to hit the puck. In 1996, the Shriners Hospitals sled hockey team (the Mighty Otters) hit the ice for the first time during intermission at an Erie Otters game. Since then, I have been part of putting together other sled hockey teams in Grand Rapids, Mich., Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Jamestown, N.Y., and Bradford. We have traveled to tournaments from Michigan to Atlantic City and all the states in between, as well as to Canada. I have watched these kids gain physical fitness, prevent unwanted weight gain, improve cardiac/respiratory status, learn how to work together as a team, make friends and reach dreams. Two of my players (and Shriners patients) have received scholarships to the University of New Hampshire for sled hockey. Some of the kids have graduated from college with degrees in adaptive sports and are pursuing careers. One of my most memorable sled hockey
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Sue Birkmire
Birkmire received this autographed photo of sled hockey player Josh Wirt, a former patient who won a gold medal in paralympics games.
moments was when a new member of our sled hockey team in Pittsburgh was at his second practice and his mom looked at me and said, “He’s back.” I asked her what she meant and she said, “Before the car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 9, he was the MVP of any sport he tried. Since the accident, he sat depressed in his wheelchair. That’s him.” She pointed out on the ice and repeated, “He’s back.” That hockey player would later make the U.S. Paralympic team and go on to help them win the gold medal. His photo sits in my office with the gold medal worn proudly around his neck. On the photo he wrote my name and said, “Four years ago you
saw something in me that I never thought possible. Thank you for always being there and always believing in me.” Some days after working in the Shriners Outpatient Clinic, I’m tired as I pack up our van of hockey equipment to head out to the ice rink, but once I’m there, something always occurs to make me glad I came. Perhaps it’s a child’s smile, someone accomplishing a new hockey move, or a “thank you” for helping a child reach his or her dream. Whatever it is, it reminds me that the quality care we, as nurses, provide to our patients can extend far beyond the walls of the health care facility where we work.
Most influential people in health care Delivering quality and innovation in patient care By ROSE L. HORTON, M.S.M., R.N.C. Saint Vincent Health Center
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onsider these women: Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of Center Medicare and Medicaid Services (C.M.S.), Mary Wakefield, administrator of Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), Karen Daley, president of American Nurses Association (ANA), and Sister Carol Keehan, president and cheif executive officer of Catholic Health Associations. What do they have in common? They are nurses. Take a moment to Google these amazing women. This is just a small number of nurses who are transforming health care today. You will discover what I know for sure: nurses are incredibly influential and innovative. All of these nurses have been listed at least once on the yearly list, The 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. This is the legacy we are creating. How exciting to be a part of this extraordinary profession. When I consider the theme of this year’s Nurses Week, Delivering Quality and Innovation in Patient Care, I cannot help but think of the contribution that nurses make every day, throughout the nation and the world. In the United States we are 3.1 million strong and our influence is significant. For more than 10 consecutive years, nursing has been selected as the most trusted profession. If you speak to the average person, they can’t quite articulate what it is that nurses do, but they instinctively know that they feel safe when cared for by a nurse. There is a popular quote that says, “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” Nurses care and that is an important acumen in health care. I want you to know that nurses are innovative as well. Our health care processes are incredibly complex. Nurses consistently navigate these complex processes with their patients assuring that patients are well cared for. As a staff nurse, I remember many times going into a patient’s room with a physician to speak to the patient about their care. The provider would explain the plan of care, options of care or a procedure. The provider would routinely ask the patient if they had any
questions. For the most part, the patients would say no; sometimes they would ask a question or two. But, when I returned to the patient’s room often times that patient would say to me, “What did he/she say?” I would take time, often using the same words as the provider and Rose L. Horton explain even further until my patient voiced their understanding. Nurses are interpreters. The focus in health care continues to be quality outcomes. Unfortunately, some processes are so complex and our population is so ill with many complications such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, that sometimes outcomes are not as desired. The nurse is at the patient’s bedside 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the nurse is an integral part in ensuring that the patient is progressing as planned and will intervene when there is an unanticipated change in the patient’s status. Nurses matter. In conclusion, I believe that Florence Nightingale said it best: “Let whoever is in charge keep this simple question in her head (not, how can I always do this right thing myself, but) how can I provide for this right thing to be always done?” Nurses provide patient-centered care. Happy Nurses Week to my innovative and quality focused colleagues. You are transforming health care and you are amazing!
Rose L. Horton, M.S.M., R.N.C., has recently transitioned from director of Women & Children’s Services at Saint Vincent Health Center to a new role as director of special projects. She obtained her B.S.N. and M.S.M. at Regis University in Denver, Colo. She is certified in inpatient obstetrics and is the 2012 president of the Association for Women’s Health Obstetrics Neonatal Nursing.
By SUSAN KAMINSKI R.N.-B.C. UPMC Hamot
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e at UPMC Hamot face the same everyday challenges in improving patient care that all organizations face across the United
States. We focus on providing outstanding patient care. Every day we focus on bedside care and patient needs. It requires experience, mentoring and effective change to motivate staff. We receive the support from our leadership, they are our strongest assets.
Every Nurse, Every Patient, Every Day In order to implement quality care, we have to deliver care to patients, family and visitors so they can feel the change and love it. We have to engage people in order to create sustainable, measurable outcomes. We need to change this around and have the patient believe in the benefits. They need to believe in the results that come about not because we told them we are very good but because they told us through our patient satisfaction scores. We don’t believe in excuses. We believe in empowering the nursing staff and building a professional nursing team that also builds services to the community. We improve patient safety by decreasing medicine errors, preventing infection and complications. We have fostered a culture of safety with new practices. We have improved patient flow by embracing our new CernereRecord computer system. We are prioritizing, investing and utilizing resources so that our efforts are measurable. UPMC Hamot has 190 senior professional nursing staff , and we focus on a number of
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Tribute
to veteran care care advances
Neonatal Home
health nurse profile Grandma shares surgery scare for grandson Regional Cancer Center nurse shares cancer prevention tips
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Susan Kaminski projects including: ▀ Reduction in noise to improve patient hospital stay. ▀ UPMC Hamot K-12 health career program. ▀ Facilitate and implement life wings program. ▀ Nurse-nurse bedside reporting. ▀ Home health care referrals to decrease 30day readmissions. ▀ Pressure ulcer prevalence study. ▀ Promote safe working environment. ▀ Fall prevention. In conclusion: Health care is at a breaking point. Old ways of doing things will not work in today’s environment of cost cutting and increasingly complex care. Health care teams need to focus on new skills and tools to empower, lead and sustain quality care in a focused organization. Susan Kaminski is a board certified nurse at UPMC Hamot.
What’s Inside
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