The Very Best Staff
BWH has the very best nursing staff and is proud of nurses' many achievements. Each month, BWH Nurse recognizes some of these achievements here. If you or your nurse colleague gains a promotion, earns a new degree or certification or receives an award, please let us know at bwhnurse@partners.org
New Appointments
Jennifer Kales, MS, APRN, BC, ACHPN, in January joined BWH Nursing and the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center's Pain and Palliative Care Program. Kales previously was clinical coordinator for the Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. There, she provided direct clinical care for complicated critically ill patients. She earned both a BSN and a BA in journalism from New York University, and an MS from the Hunter/Bellevue School of Nursing, City University of New York.
Degrees and Professional Certifications
Maria Bentain-Melanson, MSN, CCRN, and Lisa Comis, CCRN, of Tower 8C, recently earned certification in adult cardiac surgery nursing (CSC) from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.
Barbara Collishaw, RN, CCM, assistant nurse manager of Care Coordination, and Anna Kiriakidis, RN, CCM, care coordination nurse in the Connors Center, earned certification from the Commission for Case Manager Certification in December.
Brenda DiConza, RN, assistant nurse manager of the CDIC, and Lisa Downey, RN, NIC for the Cath Lab, both graduated in May from Emmanuel College with a BSN.
Linda Evans, BSN, RN, CNOR, nurse educator in the Operating Room, in May earned her MSN from Salem State College.
Carole Kubiak, RN, assistant nurse manager of the OR, in May earned her BSN from Emmanuel College.
Ruth Muller, MSN, RN, AOCNS, nurse educator for Hem/Onc BMT, in April earned certification as an advanced oncology certified clinical nurse specialist. She is one of only 161 oncology nurses to hold this credential.
Katie Schwab, BSN, RN, of Tower 10AB, in May graduated summa cum laude from Simmons College with her MSN, adult nurse practitioner with specialty in Geriatrics.
Awards and Professional Appointments
Martha Griffin, PhD, CS, RN, program coordinator in the Center for Nursing Excellence, in April was appointed the 2008 chair of the Eastern Nursing Research Society's Awards Committee.
Caroline Melia, BSN, RN, of Care Coordination, received a Haley Scholarship to attend Boston College. Melia will enroll in the MSN program and plans to become an adult nurse practitioner.
Mary Moffat, RN, CMAC, MEd, a manager for Care Coordination, was elected to the CMAC (Case Management Administrator Certification) Advisory Board for a three-year term beginning in June. As a member of the board, Moffat will participate in the development of national standards for CMAC, set eligibility requirements for the examination and maintain the integrity of the exam process for CMAC. Board members also act as ambassadors to the general public to promote the benefits of a Case Management Administrator Certification
Keisha Murray, BSN, RN, of the NICU was honored as one of the Nurses of the Year by the New England Regional Black Nurses Association. Murray joined BWH in 1998 and worked on CWN-8 and CWN-9 before beginning in the NICU in 2000. She earned her ADN from Mass Bay Community College in 1996 and her BSN from UMass Boston in 1997. Murray and fellow nurses from other Boston hospitals were recognized at a banquet Feb. 9 at the Copley Marriot
Posters, Presentations and Research
Christine Dutkiewicz, MSN, RN, CCM, nurse manager of Care Coordination, and Elizabeth Binari, DFCI RN program manager of Care Coordination, presented a poster on "Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center: RN Care Coordination Across the Continuum for the BMT/Stem cell Transplant Patient," at the 2007 Clinical Case Management Conference in April in Miami.
Sylvia Francis, BSN, RN, discussed "A Story of Unrelenting Pain: Finding Meaning and Providing Comfort" as a panelist for the April 3 Schwartz Rounds at BWH. Francis gave a heartfelt and professional account of what caring for the young man detailed in the presentation was like.
Nicki Gilboy, MS, RN, CEN, FAEN, of Emergency Medicine, presented "The Emergency Severity Index v4: Let's clear up the controversies and explore the subtleties" at the Emergency Nurses Association 2007 National Leadership Conference in February. She also co-presented "Evidence-based practice: What's new and should you change your practice?" with Paula Tanabe, PhD, RN, of Northwestern University.
Martha Jurchak, PhD, RN, and Mary Pennington, MSN, RN, in May presented "Utilization of Narratives in Addressing Moral Distress in the New ICU Nurse," at the American Association of Critical Care Nurses National Teaching Institute in Atlanta.
De'Ann McNamara, BS, RN, nurse educator for the Department of Radiology, presented "Delivering Babies in an IR Suite" at the American Radiological Nurses Association's annual convention in Seattle in March.
Heidi Smith, CNRN, Mary T. Antonelli, RN, MPH, Maureen Gorman, RN, Mary Nelson, CNRN and Claudia McCarthy, RN, authored a poster on "Restraint reduction in the Neuroscience patient," which was presented at the annual American Association of Neuroscience Nursing Conference in Orlando in April.
Vince Vacca, MSN, RN, CCRN, nurse educator for the Neuroscience ICU, presented a poster on "The Importance of Recognizing and Treating Cerebral Salt Wasting Syndrome Early Following Intracranial Pathology," at the American Association of Neuroscience Nursing Conference in April in Orlando.
BWH was well represented at the National Meeting of OR Nurses (AORN) in Orlando in March, as nearly a dozen OR nurses attended the conference and presented five posters:Sharon Bouyer-Ferullo, BS, RN; Carol Miller, RN; Lyn Odierno, RN, CNOR; and Holly Sousa, RN, BSN, MS, CNOR, presented "Offering New Hope to Patients with Pleural Mesothelioma."
Carrie Consalvi, RN, BSN; Pearl Cunningham, RN, BSN, MBA, CNOR; Barbara DiTullio, RN, BSN, MA; and Toni Ringle, RN, BSN, presented "Easing the Pain: The Stryker Pain Pump 2 for the Cardiac Surgical Patient.
Angela Kanan, RN, BSN, CNOR, CRN; Joany Sasso, RN, CNOR, Jeff Chmielewski, RN, CNOR; and Pearl Cunningham, RN, BSN, MBA, CNOR, presented "MR Guided Prostate Brachytherapy."
Linda Evans, RN, MSN, CNOR, presented "Perioperative Nurses' Attitudes toward Family Presence in the Operating Room during Breast Biopsy Procedures Performed with Local Anesthesia."
Francine Mearn, RN, AD; Leanne Espindle, RN, MSN, and Christopher Maloney, BA, presented "Putting the Nurse back in the Nurse-In-Charge Role."
Many Hem/Onc/BMT nurses presented their work at the Oncology Nursing Society's 32nd Annual Congress in Las Vegas in April. Presenters and contributors include: Kerry Mahar, MSN, RN, AOCN, nurse educator of 5AB and 6BD; Eileen Molina, BSN, RN, nurse manager of 5AB; and Nancy Murphy, RN, of 5A, for "Multidisciplinary Development of Palliative Care Symptom Management Guidelines."
Escel Stanghellini, MSN, RN, Quality Program manager; Martie Carnie, AS, patient, Mrinalini Gadkari, MPHSA, of DFCI presented a poster entitled, "An Evidence-based Approach to Reducing Nighttime Noise on Oncology Inpatient Units." Other team members include Nancy Mahan, RN, OCN, Catherine Benedict, BSN, RN, and Christine Leonard, BSN, RN.
Stanghellini, also had a podium presentation entitled "An Innovative Approach for Decreasing the Incidence of Falls in Oncology Patients: The Patient/Family Falls Prevention Video." Other team members include Martie Carnie (patient), Joan Deary, BSN, RN, Lela Tatarouns, BSN, RN, and Susan McDonald, RN, OCN.