July 1, 2008
Carol Ball, Ilene Jones, Elaine Gittings, and Cindy Kahoe–all registered nurses from Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center–were named finalists in Nursing Spectrum’s 2008 Nursing Excellence Awards. The annual recognition program recognizes nurses from all levels of patient care who have demonstrated exceptional management of nursing or patient care services. Nurses are nominated in six categories: Advancing and Leading the Profession; Clinical Care; Community Service; Management; Mentoring; and Teaching.
Advancing and Leading the Profession: Carol Ball, RN, MAS, senior director of nursing, influences the direction of nursing care at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. She builds and justifies the patient care budget and advocates for nursing department needs so the professional caregivers at the bedside have what they need to provide the best care possible. Through her loyal leadership, she bridges the gap between finance and clinical care.
Teaching: Recognizing that delivery of safe, high-quality emergency care requires a stable nursing workforce, Ilene Jones, RN, MSN, CEN, CCRN, clinical nurse specialist, helped develop an innovative, interactive orientation program to prepare new graduates to work in the emergency department (ED). She trained preceptors to teach, mentor and coach the novices. Rather than taking an assignment, the preceptor is responsible for the education of three new nurses, helping them apply classroom lessons to their assignments. Five of the six nurses in the first cohort-and all nine in the second group-continue to work in the ED, which now has a zero percent vacancy rate. The success of the program led the hospital to expand the orientation to all acute-care units.
Management: A multidimensional manager, Elaine Gittings, RN, BSN, patient care manager, has stepped beyond routine management responsibilities to design, build and plan the implementation of an executive service-rounding program. She developed rounding scripts and evaluation and recording tools, and then trained staff, including the physicians and multidisciplinary team. Gittings instituted hourly patient rounding on her unit, which has improved clinical outcomes by reducing patient falls and increasing compliance for pneumonia vaccinations. She also has reduced the RN vacancy rate on her unit from 50 percent to less than 2 percent during her six-year tenure as patient care manager. Gittings was named the regional winner of the 2008 Nursing Excellence Award in Management and is a contender for the National Nurse of the Year Award.
Clinical Care: A nurse for 27 years, Lucinda (Cindy) Kahoe, RN, BSN, CNRN, advanced clinical nurse, draws on her knowledge, technical skills and critical thinking abilities to deliver quality, safe and compassionate patient care. Kahoe recently developed a program to decrease noise on the unit so patients can rest better. She also has assumed a leadership role in helping the hospital on its Magnet journey.
This is the second year that Johns Hopkins Bayview nurses were recognized for excellence in patient care. Last year, four nurses–Wendy Houseknecht, RN, BSN; Rowena Orosco, RN; Delores Sweets, RN; and Linda Miller, RN, CNS–were named finalists in the areas of Mentoring, Clinical Care, Community Service and Teaching. Houseknecht was named the regional winner of the 2007 Nursing Excellence Award in Mentoring.
Nursing Spectrum is a biweekly publication for nurses. Its mission is to enrich the professional lives of nurses and other health care professionals and to celebrate their unique contributions to society. For more information, visit www.nurse.com.
