Excellent nursing care...best staff...safest environment

Dear Colleagues,

Jackie Somerville, PhD, RN

Thanks to all who completed the BWH Nurse survey. Results have been analyzed and, because of your feedback, we will introduce a new look and feel to BWH Nurse beginning with our next issue. Each issue will be shorter in length, but published more frequently. In addition, we will introduce a weekly email newsletter that will consolidate announcements from the Department of Nursing and the Center for Nursing Excellence. These announcements will be sent in one email on the same day each week. Only time-sensitive emails will be sent off cycle.

It’s hard to believe that May is here! Please mark May 22 on your calendars for our 2013 Karsh Visiting Professor. Jean Watson, PhD, RN, FAAN, an internationally renowned nursing scholar and founder of the Center for Human Caring, will be spending that day at BWH. Her visit is sure to be inspirational and will advance our understanding and commitment to relationship-based care.

I hope to see you at the annual Nurse Recognition Dinner on May 1to celebrate our 2013 Essence of Nursing Award recipients and honorees. The theme of this year’s dinner is “Reach Out, We’ll Be There,” continuing the 60s theme in keeping with our BluePrint celebration. On May 7, as part of the BluePrint celebration, I have the honor of reading excerpts from a letter written by the 1963 Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Chief Nurse, Margaretta Farrington, MS, RN, who shared her many insights and hopes that she held for the future. This letter was sealed with other letters and artifacts in a time capsule that was to be opened by leaders in 2013 during the 100th anniversary celebration. I have also been asked to author a letter to be delivered to my Chief Nursing Officer colleague in 50 years. That letter will be sealed in a time capsule to be opened by the leaders of BWH in 2063.

Although much has changed in the last 50 years, some things will always remain the same. BWH nurses continue to be committed to providing the best care to the patients, families and communities that we serve. We do this with compassion, a thirst for life-long learning and a commitment to the next generation of nurses. Thank you for all that you accomplish every day, and for the legacy and future that you are creating today and tomorrow.

With reflection and admiration,

Jackie Somerville, PhD, RN
Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nurse