Nursing Department Celebrates Lily Kravitz AwardsBWH Nurse - For and about the Nursing Staff of Brigham and Women's HospitalNursing Department Celebrates Lily Kravitz AwardsBWH Nurse - For and about the Nursing Staff of Brigham and Women's Hospital

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Nursing Department Celebrates Lily Kravitz Awards


Laura Mylott, left, with 2011 and 2012 Lily Kravitz Award recipients Thomas B. Chafe,
Maria Bentain-Melanson, Mary Aquilino, Tina Steele, Trevor Herrin, Nancy J. Roy and Robin M. Kaufman.

Last year, the NICU and the Mothers’ Milk Bank of New England successfully began a collaboration to supply human donor milk for premature babies whose mothers are unable to provide enough breast milk. Now, a multidisciplinary team led by BWH nurses is examining the clinical outcomes related to the use of donor milk to inform care providers of newborns throughout the country of the importance of this practice.

“Our goal is to provide the necessary evidence to guide best practices for others in the use of donor milk in order to improve patient care outcomes,” said Tina Steele, RN, IBCLC, of the NICU. “This study will enhance knowledge throughout the NICU community at BWH and nationwide about the effect of feeding human donor milk to very low birth weight babies.” Steele will collaborate with Katherine Gregory, PhD, RN, Deirdre Ellard, MS, RD, LDN, CNSD, and Karen Puopolo, MD, PhD, to conduct the study, which is one of two studies this year that received the Department of Nursing’s Lily Kravitz Award.

The second study, led by Tower 11A’s Robin M. Kaufman, BSN, BA, RN, and Tower 11C’s Nancy J. Roy, BS, RN, CCRN, will look at how families of patients undergoing care for malignant pleural mesothelioma at BWH cope with the stress related to the illness of their loved one.

“We found very little literature and research about how primary caregivers or family members cope with the stress and anxiety of caring for a loved one during this difficult time,” said Roy, who explained that most of the literature focuses on lung cancer patients, but is not specific to those diagnosed with mesothelioma. “By searching for these answers, we hope to enhance nursing practice and make a positive impact on the experience of family members with loved ones undergoing treatment.”

The Lily Kravitz Award was established in 1995 by Arthur Kravitz, MD, of the Department of Psychiatry, to honor his mother Lily Kravitz and acknowledge the important role of nursing in health care. In the last 16 years, the award has funded nursing projects that enhance quality of care, increase patient satisfaction and empower patients, families and caregivers.

“Now more than ever, health care needs compassionate and knowledgable nurses providing care,” said Laura Mylott, PhD, RN, executive director of the Center for Nursing Excellence, to those gathered in the Shapiro Breakout Room for the award ceremony. “The Lily Kravitz Award provides an opportunity for nurses to advance nursing science and to improve the care of patients at Brigham and Women’s Hospital through evidenced-based nursing research.”

During the ceremony, the audience heard from last year’s award recipients who presented their research findings.

Cardiac Surgery ICU staff Karen Politano, BSN, RN, Trevor Herrin, MSN, RN, Mary Aquilino, RN, and Maria Bentain-Melanson, MSN, RN, CCRN, spoke about developing a protocol of skin care to prevent and manage pressure ulcers in the Cardiac Surgery ICU.

Thomas B. Chafe, BSN, RN, presented work he completed with Jeremiah Schuur, MD, and Christopher LeMaster, MD, in Emergency Medicine. They examined Central Venous Catheter (CVC) safety in the ED, which has been positively impacted by the implementation of an evidence-based CVC protocol.