Enhancing Nursing Care and Knowledge

The Mary S. Fay Enrichment Award affords BWH nurses the opportunity to advance the scope of their nursing knowledge. The award was established in 1999 by Yousuf and Estrellita Karsh, and is funded by the Karsh family, Mashall Wolf, MD, and others.

“This award allows our nursing staff to take a step out of their routine practice and learn from people who offer other perspectives,” Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services, said.

The sixth annual Mary S. Fay Enrichment Award presentation began with last year’s award recipients, who shared what they learned from their projects. Last year’s recipients included Brenda Bailey, RN, Kathleen Bareford, RN, Shaun Golden, BSN, RN, CNRN, Deirdre Greene, MS, RN, Diane Campbell, BSN, RN, Carol Luppi, BSN, RNC, and Cathleen Rowland, MPH, BSN, RN.

Bailey and Bareford traveled to Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo., to evaluate the importance of family presence at the bedside during emergency situations. Their research and observation suggested patients prefer having their family beside them in the ER, and they hope this can be implemented at BWH.

Golden studied patient flow in Radiology at various medical facilities in Los Angeles. He met with several doctors to discuss efficiency and effectiveness of health care delivery.

Greene’s project proposal led her to Texas Children’s Hospital and the ninth annual Neonatal Advanced Practice Forum. She returned to BWH with the goal of developing a unit-based newborn ICU family reference room to allow parents to learn how to care for their infants and bring them home earlier.

Campbell and Luppi learned of the value of creating a nursing simulation center. They traveled to Oregon Health Sciences University to observe the simulation and clinical learning center, and they concluded it allows practice with no patient harm.

Rowland compared family visiting criteria in the bone marrow transplant units at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance at the University of Washington Medical Center, and the Nebraska Medical Center, with those at BWH. She returned to Boston with several recommendations for policy modifications and implementations.

The 2006 recipients and projects are:

Barbara Aggouras, RN “Evaluation, Care and Treatment of the Geriatric Patient Experiencing Post-Operative Confusion and/or Delirium.”

Donald Grimes, MSN, PMC, RN, Donna Lynch, BSN, RN, Leah McCormack, RN and Scott Robinson, BSN, RN, “Examining Communication between Nurses: Core Elements Required during a Change of Shift Report.”

William Poirier, RN, Barbara Hatch, RN and Brian Dunlea, RN, “Defining and Implementing a Family-Centered Approach to Visitation in the Cardiac Surgery ICU.”

Corinne Pryor, RNC, BA, IBCLC and Marie Field, RN, MS, “Exploring Skin Care Strategies for Extremely Low Birth Weight Premature Infants.”