BWH’s Very Best Staff: Appointments, Graduations, Certifications and Achievements

Appointments

Melissa DiNunzio, BSN, RN, in May became assistant nurse manager for the OB Float Pool. She has worked at BWH for eight years as an antenatal nurse and a gynecology oncology nurse, and while working toward her BSN at UMass Boston, she was a patient care assistant on CWN-7.

Rebecca Johnson, BSN, RN, in May began as assistant nurse manager in the OB Float Pool. She previously worked as a nurse for three years in Labor and Delivery at BWH, and, prior to that, at UMass Memorial Medical Center. She received her BSN from UMass Amherst.

Rita Patnode, MSN, PNP, was promoted to clinical nurse educator for the NICU in December. She has been a staff nurse in the NICU since 1982. Patnode is an instructor for the Neonatal Resuscitation Program and writes and updates all NICU policies and procedures and the NICU Drug Administration Guidelines. She serves on many hospital and unit-based committees, including the hospital Drug Safety Committee.

Kim Oliveira, RN, in March was named a NIC for the Center for Labor and Birth. She previously was a staff nurse in the Center for Reproductive Medicine and worked in the Center for Labor and Birth prior to that.

Graduations and Certifications

Ellen Clemence, RN, 8AB nurse in charge, in May received her master’s degree in nursing from Northeastern University.

Hallie Greenberg, MS-PREP, RN, C, of Nursing Professional Development, in October received certification in Pain Management Nursing through the American Nurses Certification Center.

Uranie Lacroix, RN, of 15AB, graduated in May from Curry College with her BSN.

Ginny Silva, MSN, RNC, coordinator of Fetal Therapy for the Center for Labor and Birth, graduated in June from the Family Nurse Practitioner Program at UMass Boston.

Achievements

Martha Griffin, PhD, RN, CS, in April was elected to the awards committee of the Eastern Nurses Research Society at their 18th annual meeting in Philadelphia.

Holly Sousa, MS, RN, of the OR, in March received Regent Medical’s Tribute Award, which provides a $1,000 educational grant to recipients. The award was presented to Sousa at the Association of Perioperative Nurses (AORN) Congress.

PACU and Day Surgery Unit staff in May presented best practice posters at the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses national conference in Orlando. Janet Piatek, RN, Sandy Torrisi, BSN, RN, and Donna Martin Barber, BSN, RN, presented “Incorporating Day Surgery Staff Members into the Clinical Practice Committee.” Danielle Coutu, BSN, RN, Deidre Devaux, BSN, RN, Karen Lane, BSN, RN, and Victoria Sherry, RN, created “ICU without Borders.”

Posters presented by Weiner Center staff include “Evolution of the Nurse Practitioner Role in the Preoperative Evaluation Center” by Ellen Leary, NP, and Kathy McGrath, NP, and “Development and Implementation of a Web Site for the Center for Preoperative Evaluation” by Susan Crimmins, RN, and Kathy McGrath, NP. The OR’s Katrina Bickerstaff, BSN, RN, and Eric Hahn, RN, presented “The Use of Computerized Perioperative Nursing Report to Facilitate the Verbal Hand-Off Report to the PACU Nurse.”

Ginny Silva, MSN, RNC, coordinator of Fetal Therapy for the Center for Labor and Birth, in April presented in Florida at the annual meeting of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology an abstract titled “A Womb with a View: Anesthetic, Obstetric and Neonatal Care Issues for Fetal Surgery.” She also presented in April “Fetal Surgery: The Cutting Edge” for the Connecticut chapter of the Association of Peri-Operative Nurses in Hartford.

If you or a colleague are appointed to a new position, receive an award or recognition from inside or outside BWH, present before a professional association or conference, earn a degree or new certification, let us know at bwhnurse@partners.org