Mpls St. Paul 2012 Outstanding Nurses Awards

Recognizing the unsung heroes of health care

Mpls. St. Paul Magazine asked doctors, nurses, and patients to recommend nurses who go above and beyond the call of duty in all areas of health care. Judges reviewed nearly 100 nominations with an eye toward professionalism, bedside manner and patient interaction, credentials and experience, and impact on organization.

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners from Twin Cities Hospitals as the 2012 Outstanding Nurses. Read the entire story here.

Winners:

Elaine Bell
Park Nicollet Institute Frauenshuh Cancer Center

Oncology Research manager focusing on educating staff about clinical studies available and presenting consent documents to patients.

Tricia Daly
United Hospital, Allina Health

Registered nurse in the patient care float pool working in most units of the hospital, including surgery, orthopedics, neurology, epilepsy and oncology.

Terry Graner
Abott Northwestern Hospital, Allina Health

Chief Nursing officer, focusing on nursing and exceptional care.

Greg Jones
St. Francis Regional Medical Center, Allina Health

Emergency department patient care supervisor and Heart Safe coordinator

Finalists:

Wendi Baldwin
North Memorial Medical Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Susan Bold Schumacher
North Memorial Medical Center, Center for Clinical Excellence

Patty Reicks
North Memorial Medical Center Trauma Center

Kay Siemon
North Memorial Medical Center Trauma Neurological Intensive Care Unit

Kelly White
North Memorial Medical Center Trauma Services

Michael Keegan
Fairview Southdale Hospital

Helen Strike
St. Joseph’s Hospital Administration

Tonya Montesinos
Abbott Northwestern Hospital Learning and Development

Jane Otte
Abbott Northwestern Hospital Mental Health Unit

Ann Foran
Abbott Northwestern Hospital Acute Pain Service

Terry Granert
Abbott Northwestern Hospital Administration

Cindy Jurek
Mercy Hospital Intensive Care Unit Step Down

Susan Spear
Mercy Hospital

Jeanette Maruska
United Hospital Intensive Care Unit

Jill Johansen
Unity Hospital Oncology

 

‘Good Catch’ Award Recognizes Hospital Professionals for Safety

Several Twin Cities hospital caregivers have been recognized for identifying and preventing events that potentially could have harmed patients.

This MHA awards program honors Minnesota hospital professionals who “speak up” to prevent potential harm to patients. They were nominated and selected because their actions prevented a possible adverse event that had the potential to directly affect patients had they not taken action.

Sheila Parr, RN, Methodist Hospital, was recognized for her idea to reduce the spread of Clostridium difficile or C. diff. This bacterium, which has become more pervasive and more serious in recent years, can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Older people are especially vulnerable.

Sheila had the idea to put plastic washable pull cords on the call lights in hospital bathrooms to prevent the spread of C.Diff. Her innovative thinking directly improved patient safety.

Tim Dulac, RPh, a pharmacist at Bethesda Hospital, was working as a decentral pharmacist, and was monitoring the patients on warfarin. He noted that several of the patients had lab tests which had results that seemed odd to him. These patients had been in the proper therapeutic range on their warfarin therapy, but these most recent INRs were all out of range, with no apparent reason. He suspected that there was a problem with the lab, and contacted the lab staff to look into it. He was right! There was an error with the lab test – one that even the routine QA checks of their testing process did not catch. The labs were re-run, and the patients did not require dosage adjustments.

If Tim had just followed the lab results without critically thinking about them and then adjusted the warfarin doses, those patients would have potentially been over- or under-dosed on a high risk blood thinning medication.

Chris Massie , RN, Surgery Admit Unit, at St. John’s Hospital, noticed that the hospital’s Pre-Admit Unit did not stock 20 percent Lipids. This unit is where the anesthesia blocks are performed. Local anesthetic toxicity can occur resulting in convulsions and asystole or cardiac arrest; 20 percent Lipids has been shown to reverse the toxicity and the induced asystole. Chris notified appropriate leadership to be sure that at least one bottle of 20 percent Lipids is on the unit and accessible at all times.

The “Good Catch for Patient Safety Award” is presented by the Minnesota Hospital Association.

(From Park Nicollet “Nurses Connect,” March 2012 and “This Week @ HealthEast,” May 29, 2012)