Letter from CNO, SVP Mairead HickeyBWH Nurse - For and about the Nursing Staff of Brigham and Women's HospitalLetter from CNO, SVP Mairead HickeyBWH Nurse - For and about the Nursing Staff of Brigham and Women's Hospital

Skip to contents

Letter from CNO, SVP Mairead Hickey

Dear Colleagues:

We have had a very busy spring with much to celebrate as we continue the journey of developing a professional practice environment in which we can provide excellent care to all patients and families with the best staff in the safest environment.

I want you to know that I am proud of the work being done by nurses throughout the Department of Nursing. Clinical nurses are actively engaged in making decisions about issues that influence their ability to provide care, and the voice of the nurse has become essential in informing and influencing my thinking and decisions in shaping our future.

In this issue of BWH Nurse, you’ll read about some of the many ways this happens and about the past year’s accomplishments as highlighted in my State of the Department address.

I am delighted to announce that Estrellita Karsh, a longtime friend of the Department of Nursing, will establish the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Visiting Professor. Through Mrs. Karsh’s generosity, a nurse scholar will be invited to BWH each year to share his or her research, teach and meet with clinical nurses to learn together about the patients we care for and the common patient problems we encounter.

This spring highlighted the presentation of the annual Essence of Nursing Award. This year’s recipient and four finalists are nurses whose expert clinical knowledge, exquisite practice, skill in meeting the needs of patients and families and dedication to teaching the next generation of nurses are simply inspiring.

Essence of Nursing Award recipient Sharon Levine, BSN, RN, of the CCU, describes through her narrative on page 8 the power of the nurse-patient/family relationship and how knowing the patient and family, in this case a family struggling with end-of-life decisions, allows her to make clinical judgments specific to their needs and to individualize her care in a way that is most meaningful to them. As a member of the Nursing Practice Committee, Sharon joins other nurses known for excellence in their practice to help us learn about the characteristics found in the practice of excellent BWH nurses and what these characteristics look like across different stages of practice development in our setting.

Our finalists are all exemplary nurses, and I encourage you to read more about them and their practice in this issue of BWH Nurse: Leslie Sabatino, BSN, RN, of the Cardiac Surgery ICU, JoAnn Morey, BSN, RN, of the NICU, Patti Smith-Allen, BSN, RN, in Hematology/Oncology, and Lynette Wardwell, BSN, RN, of the Neuroscience ICU. Each of these nurses makes a significant contribution to patients, families and staff each and every day. I am inspired by their stories and proud to call them BWH nurses.

My appreciation goes to all of you. As your chief nurse I work hard to listen to your voice, and, to be sure, together with all of you, will continue advancing our work and creating an environment for clinical excellence that is characterized by mutual respect. I am and always have been proud to call myself a BWH nurse!

Sincerely,

Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN
Chief Nursing Officer and
Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services