Essence of Nursing Recipient and Finalists Honored

Beth Baldwin, BSN, RN, of Tower 14AB, received this year’s Essence of Nursing Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Department of Nursing. Baldwin joined BWH in 1999 and has since served as a clinical nurse and charge nurse on 14AB, as well as a preceptor and clinical colleague.

Baldwin is an expert at providing highly skilled clinical care while always seeing what is important to a particular patient and family. She recently helped a patient with stage IV lung cancer to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary with his family. “Beth brought in a tablecloth, flowers and sparkling water so they could have their anniversary celebration,” said Christine Smith, MS, RN, nurse educator, who, along with nurse manager Patricia Brita Rossi, MS, RN, nominated Baldwin for the award. “The patient and his family were overwhelmed with emotion and comforted by Beth’s presence.”

Baldwin continually strives to advance the practice of nursing by seeking out new challenges for herself and her colleagues. As a member of the newly-formed Patient and Family Education Committee in the Department of Nursing, she is working to compile all of the patient education materials in the department so that the best teaching tools are available to all patients, nurses and other care providers.

Several years ago, Baldwin helped the clinical nurses on 14AB learn how to educate complex medical patients with many different learning needs prior to discharge. She created a patient education cart with written materials and established a collaborative relationship with the Bretholtz Center. “Beth became a resource to clinical nurses and taught them how to effectively educate patients in the midst of their very busy days,” Brita Rossi said.

As a clinical instructor, Baldwin is involved in a pilot education program initiated by BWH and UMass Boston which designates 14AB as the Dedicated Educational Unit.

Rhonda Martin, MPH, BSN, RN, of the ICU Float Pool

Rhonda Martin has traveled the world, volunteering her skills in relief efforts, research projects and charity missions, most recently in Rwanda in April with a group of BWH clinicians performing heart surgery. In 2004, Martin participated in a Himalayan Rescue Association and Wilderness Society-associated research project in Nepal investigating prevention and treatment of acute mountain sickness. There, a physician noted her “uncanny ability to relate to many different groups of people on an intimate and personal level with positive energy,” an attribute that Martin is widely known for at BWH, where, as a Float Pool nurse, she cares for patients in the intensive care units and ED and orients new nurses.

Mary Beth Mondello, CNRN, Neuroscience ICU

When the Neuroscience ICU doubled its capacity and nursing staff three years ago, Mary Beth Mondello was instrumental in educating and mentoring newly-hired nurses. Mondello always included orientees and less experienced nurse in observing a procedure that they would one day be responsible to do. “The experiences of these nurses were positive and rewarding, so much so that most of them still work in the Neuroscience ICU today,” said Vincent Vacca, MSN, RN, CCRN, nurse educator. “Much of the credit belongs to our excellent preceptors, and, in particular, Mary Beth.” Mondello is involved in many quality improvement initiatives in the Neuroscience ICU and also serves on BWH’s unit-based Quality Assurance Committee and Quadramed Monitoring Committee.

Nancy Olsen Bailey, MBA, BSN, RN, Neurosurgery, Neuro-oncology Ambulatory Care

Nancy Olsen Bailey’s pilot research in hydrocephalus years ago helped enable the current shunt to come to market. This year, it was updated with a device that uses ultrasounds to determine shunt pressures, eliminating the need for a skull x-ray, reducing patients’ time in the hospital and exposure to radiation with repeated radiographs. In the past 14 years, Olsen Bailey has rarely missed the bimonthly support group she leads for brain tumor patients, even coming in while on vacation to lead the group. Lucy Feild, PhD, RN, Quality Program manager in the Department of Nursing, said, “She brings to her work a wealth of clinical expertise, an unparalleled commitment to the highest standards of professional practice and a profound appreciation for the dignity and worth of every human being.”

Corinne Cyr Pryor, BA, RNC, IBCLC, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Corinne Cyr Pryor is known in the NICU for being a champion of new ideas and innovations that can improve the care of the hospital’s tiniest patients. Pryor has worked extensively to address neonatal skin care, pain assessment and pain management. She worked with an attending neonatologist to develop pain guidelines, select population-specific neonatal pain scales and educate physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and support staff. Their efforts were benchmarked as a best practice example for other NICUs to emulate. “Corinne was convinced that babies felt pain, but responded differently to it than adults did,” said nurse educator Marie Field, MS, RN. “Her intuition and drive paid off for many babies who now benefit from her efforts.”