Nurses Week, held from May 6 to 13, honors the nursing profession and recognizes the contributions and achievements of nurses in the past year. Nursing staff at PAH participated in a variety of events, ranging from mindfulness activities, professional development opportunities, and award ceremonies. Read on for highlights from this year’s celebration.
Care, Lead, Innovate
PAH introduced the new professional practice model “Care, Lead, Innovate,” representing the evolution of interprofessional practice and the mission to achieve the highest quality care in collaborative teams. Posters of team members who exemplified the standards of the new model, either through thoughtful interactions with patients and colleagues or innovative ideas for improving clinical care, were on display at PAH’s entrance.
The DAISY Team + Leader Awards
PAH announced the winner of its inaugural DAISY Team Award – the 7 Schiedt Nursing team. They were recognized for always going the extra mile in clinical care, exhibiting compassion for patients and their families, and carefully guiding them through questions and worries of chemotherapy and cancer treatment.
In addition, the 7 Schiedt nursing manager Carrie Marvill, MSN, RN, AOCNS, received the first DAISY Leader Award. She was recognized for her passion for oncology nursing and her commitment to supporting her 7 Schiedt team members. She provides mental health resources and consoles staff through any emergencies or difficult situations in the unit, and is always readily available to consult with staff on new ideas to strengthen their work processes.
Nursing leadership surprised Marvill and the team by hand-delivering the certificates and trophies to the unit.
Relationship Based Care Awards
Created in 2011, the Relationship Based Care Awards recognize role models in nursing, nominated by their peers, who have enhanced practices and patient outcomes through their compassion and clinical knowledge. Congratulations to this year’s winners, listed below.
Mark R. Attilio, PharmD, BCOP, clinical Pharmacy specialist
Ashley Brandon-Brown, Partner in Patient Care in Med-Surg Administration, and Elizabeth Boscola, CST, surgical technologist in the Operating Room
Kelly Colby, BSN RN, CBC & Karen Donnelly, RN, CBC, Women’s Health nurses
Mary Collins, MSN, RN, CCRN, Clinical Nurse – Critical Care
Amanda Cruz, MSN, RN-BC, PMHNP, Clinical Nurse – Behavioral Health
Emily DiNicolantonio, BSN, RN, CNOR, Operating Room nurse
Abheena Jacob, BSN, RN, Clinical Nurse – Med/Surg
Provider in Triage Performance Improvement Team (Dana Liu, MD, assistant medical director in Emergency Medicine; Lauren N. Ellis, MSN, RN, CEN, NE-BC, nurse manager for Emergency Nursing; Lindsey Tyrrell, MSN, RN, CEN, assistant nurse manager of Emergency Nursing; Chelsea Murtin, improvement advisor in Patient Safety; Phil Landis, DNP, RN, CEN, NPD-BC, Clinical Nurse Education Specialist)
Tracey Mitchell, MSN, FNP-BC, AGACNP-BC, Advanced Practice Provider
Nicole Overpeck, MSN, RN, Perianesthesia/Procedural nurse
Karthik Rajasekaran, MD, assistant professor of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery
Darneesha Smith, MSN, RN, OCN, Infusion Services nurse
Jennifer Rodden, BSN, RN, nursing administrative coordinator, was posthumously awarded. Her family accepted the award on her behalf.
Meals and Mindfulness
Nurses could nourish the body and mind with a staff breakfast sponsored by Chief Medical Officer Daniel Feinberg, MD, and a visit from Wawa’s coffee and hot chocolate truck, along with chair massages and Wellfocused mental health seminars.
Staff even took a break in their day to attend PAH’s Spring Fling, an annual fair showcasing the various committees and councils at the hospital, in addition to food, music, games, pet therapy, and a Kona Ice water ice truck. Nursing Education and Professional Practice won the Spring Fling’s Cupcake Wars competition with their peanut butter–filled Coca–Cola (the required secret ingredient) chocolate cupcakes, topped with chocolate ganache frosting and crushed pretzels. The winning team got to make a monetary donation to their charity of choice, choosing Women Against Abuse, the leading domestic violence service provider in Philadelphia. In addition, funds from raffle baskets, created by the Nurse Executive Board, were donated to Hoops4Hope – a nonprofit that uses basketball to engage and empower individuals experiencing homelessness.
“If we don’t focus on our staff well-being, they’re not going to be able to provide the best care that they can,” said Florrie Vanek, MSN, RN, NE-BC, director of Nursing Education, Nursing Professional Practice, and the Magnet Program. “It’s nice to have this opportunity to pause and reflect on contributions our nurses make to health care each and every day.”
Professional Preparation
To enhance career advancement for nurses, PAH provided sessions for professional headshots that nurses could post on their LinkedIn profiles or submit with their presentations and research papers. There were also sessions for resume reviews and virtual seminars on registration for certification and graduate programs.
Reflections on Nursing History
Five alumni from the former Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing, a certification program which operated from 1883 to 1974, joined together for the “Perspective in Nursing History” panel. Moderated by Patricia D’Antonio, director of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, the alumni provided personal insight into what nursing education was like in the 1960s and 1970s. For instance, compared to today’s blue scrubs, nurses originally had to wear white uniforms with a distinct cap design – each nursing school in the region had their own specially designed cap style that was worn with pride by its graduates. Along with their clinical studies, the students at the School of Nursing for Women, before it merged and became co-educational with the School of Nursing for Men in 1965, had to attend teas, to teach the young women about social graces and etiquette.
In addition, the panel gave updates on their careers and how the Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing shaped their lives, as well as opening up about the racial tension that existed in the country during their Nursing School years, and its impact on healthcare. Although the alumni believed their fellow classmates and head nurses helped advocate for equal treatment at the hospital, one participant shared how Black nurses did not always receive the same respect as their white peers from patients. One alumna recalled, “The head nurses were strong women. They fought for what they believed in and taught you to not let anyone walk over you.” A lifelong lesson for everyone.