about this publication

Notes on Nursing is a newsletter designed for nurses at UMC. It is only with your input that this publication is possible.

Please send your ideas and suggestions to: alove@nursing.umsmed.edu.

Editors:
:: Janet Harris, RN, MSN
:: Amy Wild, RN, MPH
:: Ann Marie Love

Adult PACU

The Adult PACU is pleased to announce the arrival of three new nurses! Our family has expanded to include Brittnye Lee, Blair Williams, and Wade May. Brittnye comes to us from Baptist Hospital where she worked in their CCU. She will be working on the night shift. Blair is a transfer to the PACU from L&D. And last but not least, Wade May is a GN from UMCs own School of Nursing! They will make a wonderful addition to our unit and we look forward to many years with them! Welcome!

- Tanya Tucker, RN BSN
Nurse Manager, Main PACU

Notes from 2 North

I would like to take this opportunity to brag on my staff for having the most patient compliments the month of April. I am so proud of the effort they have placed on providing excellent customer service. My thanks to each of them.

Update on new staff
2North welcomes Theresa Higginbotham ,RNG; Queshena Reece, NA; and Muffy Lawrence, NA, to our team. Ann Bass, RN, joined our team in March. She was contracted on our unit and decided to join us full time.

We also welcome back Casey Byrd, RN, who was previously with our system as a nurse on the ED obs unit and the BMT unit. After traveling for a year, Casey decided to come back home. She has been here for about 2 weeks, but already taking charge and helping lead one of the night teams.

We started team nursing in April and for the most part it seems to be working out well. We are learning as we go, but strongly believe it is helping with consistent, quality patient care.

We have most of our positions filled and are looking forward to going self contained in the near future!

- Nancy McCaleb
Nurse Manager, 2 North

What's new on 3 Circle, 7 East & 7 West

7East

The growing family on 7 East is looking forward to our new arrivals. Nurse Manager Pamela Lee and Amy Barton, RN, are both expecting baby girls in August.

We are proud to announce that Catrina Brazzle, RN, has returned to school to pursue her BSN in her pursuit of educational excellence and professional growth.

We welcome Min Jung “Sophia” Kang as the new Educator for 3Circle, 7E, and 7W. She has been an employee at UMC for five years as a Staff RN before moving into her new position.

3 Circle

Congratulations to Lisa Witt, Nurse Manager, for her nomination for the Nurse Excellence Award.

Congratulations to Ruby Windham, RN; Zahra Noe, RN; and Keith Jones, MHT, for receiving their five year service award pins. We appreciate your dedication!

Congratulations to Beverly Van Buren, RN ,for being a recipient of the Batson Above and Beyond Employee of the Quarter Award for the first quarter of 2007. Thanks for all your hard work!

We would also like to welcome several new staff members: Lindsey Smith, MHT; Megan Moore, MHT; Chris Doremus, MHT; and Sarah Langham, RN. We are so pleased to have them join our team!

7 West

We are very pleased to welcome our new staff members Kara Pannell, new nurse graduate, hired to work 7p-7a., and Derrick McCoy, SNE, for the summer of 2007.

Congratulations to Sophia Kang, RNC, and Jacqueline Smith, PCT, for receiving their five year service award pins. We appreciate your hard work and commitment.

- Sophia Kang, RNC
Educator for 3Circle, 7E, and 7W

Batson PACU

The Batson Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) would like to send a special congratulations to Nikki Bishop, RN, on the birth of her daughter!

- Kim Douglas, BSN RN
Nurse Manager Batson ASU/PACU

Batson ASU Changes

Batson Ambulatory Surgery Unit (ASU) opened November 2004 with a bang! In an nutshell, the Batson ASU prepares pediatric patients preoperatively and postoperatively for the outpatient surgery experience.

We are expanding this role and are now proud to announce the opening four of our Batson ASU beds for 23-hour observation surgery patients! We have hired 3 excellent nurses to join our team to help us with this exciting new unit which will be called Batson Short Stay Procedure Area (SSPA). It will function similar to the Adult SSPA in that we will be opened 24 hours Monday through Friday and will discharge patients by 10:00am daily including Saturday mornings.

We welcome Amy Lowery, RN; Rashida Jenkins, RN; and Sharon Durr, RN! We are excited to have these ladies join our team!

We also want to give special to Vicki Cook, RN, who has recently passed the American Society of Perianesthesia Nurses certification exam! We are very proud of Vicki for achieving this goal!

We would also like to welcome Jessica Watkins, RN, who is joining our Batson ASU team.

- Kim Douglas, BSN RN
Nurse Manager Batson ASU/PACU

L& D and OBR News

Amy Harless, RN in L&D, often amazes us with her command of the Spanish language. Patients are also very thankful for her special communication skills and her willingness to go above and beyond to help. Amy was recognized for Club Excellence during the May Managers Meeting and we congratulate her.

We welcomed SNE Jennifer McDonald to the OB Receiving area this summer, joining Brittani Hodges and Anna Susan Wadlington in L&D. A special welcome also to Bianca Butts, RN, who joined our L&D staff in June.

Several of our staff will soon sit for their national certifications and we want to wish each of them good luck.

We continue to applaud those who make the special effort to have perfect attendance and no tardies; we are averaging 30 monthly. Each month, their names are entered into a drawing for a gift certificate as a small token of appreciation.

Thanks to all our staff for all you do!

- Pat Ainsworth, RNC; Nurse Manager, L&D
- Donna Trotter, RNC, Nurse Manager, OBR

Neurology/Neurosurgery — Coordinated Care Department

This issue, we would like to introduce to you the Neurology/Neurosurgery team of the Coordinated Care Department and share some professional and personal information about each of them.

From left to right (front row first):
Barbara Wright, RN, brings 24 years of nursing experience seven of those years at UMC. She is a certified case manager with most of her clinical experience in spinal cord injury rehabilitation. She enjoys traveling, gardening and horseback riding.

Paula Neely has been a licensed clinical social worker for 30 years and has worked at UMC for 18 years. Her experience has been hospital social work for nearly her entire career. She recently received her credential as a certified case manager. Congratulations Paula!

Gloria Ward, RN, has been a nurse for 14 years. She has been with UMC for one-and-a-half years.

Carol Beasley, RN, has been a registered nurse for 29 years and has her case manager certification. Carol has worked as a case manager at UMC for three years. She is no doubt an animal lover with four horses, two dogs and four cats.

Ellen Lee, RN, MSN, brings more than 25 years of nursing experience to UMC. She has been with the Coordinated Care Department as a case manager for almost three years. She is a certified rehabilitation nurse and enjoys her family, photography and travel.

These 5 professionals bring a combined total of 122 years of professional experience to UMC’s Coordinated Care Department. They have provided a combined total of 32 years of service to UMC. Thanks to all of you for your hard work and dedication!

Congratulations Barbara Wright, RN, CCM. She was recently received the Nursing Excellence Award. We are so proud to have you in our department.

- Kim Watkins, RN, Case Manager