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.

“Corinne has a history of challenging the status quo and breaking barriers towards change,” said Marie Field, MS, RN, nurse educator. “Her legacy is long and rich with successes in the care of our patients.”

Those successes include Pryor’s pioneering efforts to address neonatal pain assessment and pain management. “She was convinced that babies felt pain, but responded differently to it than adults did,” Field said. “Her intuition and drive paid off for many babies who now benefit from her efforts.”

Pryor worked with an attending neonatologist to develop pain management guidelines, select population-specific neonatal pain scales and educate physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and support staff about this clinical problem. Their efforts were benchmarked as a best practice example for other NICUs to emulate.

Pryor also has worked for the past four years to improve neonatal skin care, organizing a “skin care squad” to trial products and educate the entire NICU staff on skin care. A certified lactation consultant, Pryor was instrumental in the development of a NICU-specific lactation consultant group.

“Highly skilled and expert in all aspects of clinical NICU nursing, Corinne’s forte is education, whether it is at the bedside precepting a new nurse or delivering a unit-wide didactic session,” said Linda Van Marter, MD, MPH, associate professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. “She has an endless creativity, a passion for excellence and an indomitable spirit.”

Nurse Manager Marianne Cummings, MS, RN, agreed, lauding Pryor for sharing her knowledge by educating other NICU staff. “Her natural curiosity and drive to stay on the forefront of our dynamic nursing specialty continuously propels her to stay ahead in discovering new practice trends and clinical findings specific to the NICU population,” Cummings said.

That curiosity doesn’t end when her shift does. “Corinne spends much of her time off devouring the evidence related to the care of the neonate,” said assistant nurse manager Sandra Harmon, BSN, RN. “She is an outstanding clinical nurse whose practice is based on an artful blend of the current available evidence, a career rich in experiential knowledge and a truly beautiful and benevolent spirit.”

Pryor joined the BWH NICU in 1978. She previously served as a staff nurse in the Medical Personnel Pool in Manchester, N.H., responsible for pediatric home care, and before that, as a triage nurse at Camp Becket in Becket, Mass., and a staff nurse in Sancta Maria Hospital in Cambridge.

Pryor received her diploma in Nursing from the Somerville Hospital School of Nursing and her BA in Early Childhood Development and Family Intervention from Emmanuel College.

Outside BWH, Pryor is a school board member at Jesse Remington High School in New Hampshire, and co-leader of two Girl Scout troops. She also serves on the Cawley Middle School Wellness Committee.

Corinne Cyr Pryor was nominated by Marianne Cummings, MS, RN, nurse manager, and Marie Field, MS, RN, nurse educator, of the NICU.