Caggiano Named Essence of Nursing Award Recipient

Carly Caggiano cares for patient Stephanie Williams in the Medical Intensive Care Unit.

Although Carly Caggiano, BSN, RN, could "do CVVH in her sleep," that's not what makes her an expert nurse, she says. Rather, it's her caring practice and the ability to connect with her patients and families, by  listening  to understand the needs they are expressing .

 "I consider myself an expert ICU nurse because of my ability to care, even when there is no cure," said the Medical Intensive Care Unit nurse. "Sometimes, our patients are telling us exactly what they need to end their suffering or aid in their recovery."

This ability to connect with her patients, especially when they are going through such a challenging, frightening time, is among the reasons Caggiano was selected as this year's Essence of Nursing Award recipient.

"Carly is described by many patients' families as kind, compassionate, serene and peaceful during the storm of information, decisions, pain and suffering," said MICU Nurse Director Kathleen Leone, MBA, BSN, RN. "She is a consistent source of support, relief and strength not only for her patients, but also for the families and health care proxys who struggle to balance their own wishes and desires for outcomes with the patient's need for conclusion to their suffering."

MICU Nursing Director Kathleen Leone, Essence Award recipient Carly Caggiano and MICU Nurse Educator Carol Daddio Pierce.

The patients admitted to the MICU are some of the most critical and complex that are cared for at BWH.  But what Caggiano sees in these patients is an opportunity to connect with them as human beings.

"What I like most about my work in the MICU is that I can connect with every single patient and family who comes into the unit," she said. "The ICU environment really facilitates that one-to-one nursing care, and these patients need someone to listen to them at the same time as we provide care. They're in such a period of crisis."

The stories of this exquisite care Caggiano provides are many. There's the elderly, cancer patient who had one last wish - to go home. Caggiano made all of the arrangements, including riding with her in an ambulance since she was on a morphine drip and vassopressors. The patient passed away an hour after she made it home, surrounded by her family, with her dog, in the place she had wished to be. There's the young Chinese student Caggiano writes about in her narrative (see page X), for whom she provides culturally-sensitive care. She went to great lengths to help his parents through a frightening time, allowing them to do all they could to care for their son, who was diagnosed with a fatal cancer.

"I have worked with Carly in the MICU with some of our hospital's most complex patients - physiologically, therapeutically, emotionally, psycho-socially and spiritually," said Martha Jurchak, PhD, RN, executive director of the Ethics Service. "Carly's thorough, attentive care to every aspect of their lives, their illnesses, their fears, their families and their hopes is exceptional."

Caggiano is quick to credit her colleagues with all she has learned in the MICU. "It's not just about being an individual nurse in that unit," she said. "My colleagues and I are an amazing team - I couldn't do my job without the whole team."

And her colleagues praise Caggiano for the care she provides. "Carly quickly developed an exceptional ability to earn trust from her patients and consequently has become an expert in patient advocacy," said Susan Glennon, MSN, BSN, RN, who has watched Caggiano grow from a novice ICU nurse to an expert. "Carly embodies the ideals of the Essence of Nursing Award."

Carly Caggiano was nominated for the award by Kathleen Leone, MBA, BSN, RN, nursing director; with letters of support from nurse educator Carol Daddio Pierce, MS, RN, CCRN, Sue Glennon, MSN, BSN, RN, of the MICU; and Martha Jurchak, PhD, RN, executive director of the Ethics Service.

About Carly Caggiano, BSN, RN

Education: BSN from Villanova University

Nursing Experience at BWH: three years in surgical telemetry, eight years in the MICU

Knew she wanted to be a nurse: At age 16, after shadowing a family friend who was an ER nurse on Thanksgiving Day. "I thought it was such a unique opportunity to be able to take care of people and have those really deep interactions."

Family:  Husband, Jason, and daughter, Catherine, born just two days before the Nurse Recognition Dinner where Caggiano was honored.  "I never imagined I'd be doing two of the most terrifying things in life-giving birth and speaking in front of 500 distinguished guests-in the same week," she joked.