SSUP Short Stay Unit/ Pediatrics Team Inspirational Work Board, Northern Westchester Hospital - Beatrice M. Kwasnaza BSN, RN SSUP

SSUP Short Stay Unit/ Pediatrics Team Inspirational Work Board Northern Westchester Hospital

Beatrice M. Kwasnaza BSN, RN SSUP

As a member of the Holistic Committee at Northern Westchester Hospital, led by Susan Raskin MS, RN, AHN-BC, Manager of Integrative Medicine Program, I was motivated to find a way to inspire our fast-paced short stay unit, Pediatrics (SSUP). The SSUP is impacted daily by several departments, including the emergency department, PACU, and ASC. This unit can quickly start at full capacity of twenty patients and can discharge these same twenty patients, and within a 12 to 24-hour period, they can be back at a twenty patient census. To say that the stress level at times on the unit is elevated is an understatement. Nonetheless, my colleagues are excellent caregivers and handle our unit’s speed and stress with grace and expertise. I am honored to be amongst this unit’s staff. We are skillfully led by Carolyn Oates MSN, RN, Patient Care Manager, and Christine Odell BSN, RNC, CNML, Pediatric Coordinator.

On the journey to obtaining my BSN in September of 2019, I learned through my education that the best way to deliver quality patient-centered care was through the self-care of the caregiver. As part of the holistic committee’s effort to work on our nurses’ self-care and build on camaraderie, morale, and incorporate our patients, we came up with the idea of establishing a team/inspirational board on the SSUP unit. Every few months, we would put up some new ideas, whether it be inspirational quotes or motivational ideas. The board did not have to follow any formal pattern, and all staff ideas were welcome. Some themes incorporated both staff and patient input. Thus, the SSUP Short Stay Unit/ Pediatrics Inspirational Work Board was born.

The Team/Inspirational Work Board has been uplifting to staff, patients, and visitors. Some boards had staff bring in pictures of their family members so that they could see their loved ones every day and share the people who bring them joy at home with their work family. Another board asked any staff member, patient, or guest to leave an inspirational thought (feather) for a patient, colleague, friend, or even oneself. The 2019 Holiday Board spread joy to the unit and loved ones alike by acknowledging the staff’s diversity as snowflakes. Each member appropriately named and recognized what greatness can be accomplished when everyone works together. The gratitude board went up at the end of February and has been up throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal was for the staff to show their gratitude. Its message was to offer ways to be grateful to one another. As we moved through the chaos of COVID-19, it evolved to staff placing notes of what they appreciative of throughout the pandemic, as we came out of the darkness back into the light.

It brings me great joy to share these powerful messages with my unit and to encourage self-care in any capacity amongst staff, patients, and family members. Words are very powerful. They can motivate people to greatness, which is what this team board accomplishes. It sparks dialogue and conversation and brings to light topics that need recognition. When we gauge success in the nursing profession, it is not defined by how much theoretical knowledge a nurse retains, but how resilient they are to apply all they have learned, including self-caring principles.

Beatrice M. Kwasnaza BSN, RN, Clinical Nurse, SSUP, Northern Westchester Hospital

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of the Comprehensive Restoration Program has the most intensive interventions. These vital services are offered to ensure that the mental health needs of the interprofessional staff are addressed.

The combined training and services available within three programs comprise the full spectrum of the Cohen Children’s Medical Center Restoration Program. It is how CCMC is meeting the unique needs of its interprofessional staff member.

Marketing and Communication

To assist staff in identifying these programs, we create a visual icon that would communicate the three categories of services now housed in one comprehensive program. We decided upon the sunflower. Our Restoration Program Sunflower icon is visible throughout the facility, included in our education materials and organization’s newsletters.

The yellow Sunflower Petals represented the variety of services and programs offered to REVIVE the staff member

The green Sunflower Stem represents the training programs, services, and peer support groups focusing on building and sustaining staff RESILIENCE

The red Flowerpot represents the mental health services available to anchor and RESTORE our caregiver heroes

The next step was to communicate this new initiative to all members of our CCMC family. The message was rolled out at a CCMC department Teams Meeting on June 25, 2020. The department heads were then charged with the responsibility to from page 22

After a while, some of the patients became well known to us all. A few of the patients had tracheostomies placed as well as feeding tubes so that they could heal without an endotracheal tube in their throat for months and months. There was an older woman with fancy nails who we all got to know well. At first, I remember taking care of her and honestly thinking she would not survive, but I got to see her sitting in the chair the day before she was transferred out of the ICU. A grandfather from Uruguay who we affectionately referred to as “Coco” since that is what his family calls him. He would smile whenever you called him that or whenever I subjected him to my unpracticed Spanish. He went to a rehabilitation facility. A rowdy woman who would shout at you as you walked by her curtained off area “Can you help me?” and then when you asked her what she needed; she wouldn’t tell you. She was transferred to the medical floor. There was a young man who would seem fine one minute and then try to get out of bed, or take off his face mask, the next minute. He was reintubated after I went back to begin to cascade this message. We provided them with a Tool Kit that included program resources and tools from CCMC and additional resources available from the Corporate Northwell Health Programs. In addition to some meet and share marketing events held in our Atrium, we began to disseminate the message via the weekly CCMC Newsletter, the monthly CCMC Wellness Newsletter, and the weekly CCMC Employee Activity of the Week Bulletin.

A formal presentation was also offered to our CCMC Central Collaborative Care Council. However, as most people know, word of mouth is the best form of advertising. Our service providers and practitioners are relied upon heavily to chat up the program when the opportunity presents itself, and our concierge partners do an amazing job walking the staff through some of the program spaces and encouraging people to sign up for services. However, there is nothing like a satisfied, happy staff member encouraging their colleagues to participate

Stepping in to care for adult patients

continued on page 29 my job. Another man, my age, who was on ECMO, or extracorporeal membranous oxygenation, for several days, now has a trach and G-tube and a severe clotting issue. I took care of him several times. I wonder how he is doing.

I will also always remember the people who didn’t make it. I will remember little things about each of them. One man, who I got to meet before he was reintubated, loved Whitney Houston and would hold my hand so tight. Even though I saw him deteriorate, I told him when I left that he needed to get better so we could dance to Whitney Houston again. He died four days later. Another woman, whom I referred to as Miss Mary because I couldn’t say her last name had such a kind son and daughter-in-law. I didn’t get to meet them, but I imagine that they could hear me chatting her ear off. The first patient that actually died on my watch was a man who we weren’t escalating care on. I said goodbye to him the day before because I didn’t think he would survive the night shift, but he was there when I returned. He died at noon. There was so much loss that is was