The stars will shine bright, and we’re not talking about the ones in the sky, when NurseWeek presents the following 30 finalists of its 2008 Excellence Awards for California. The nurses will be honored in six categories at a gala Sept. 26 at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa. Pictures of the finalists can be viewed at www.nurse.com/nursingexcellence/galleries/CA2008.

Advancing and Leading the Profession

• Donna M. Beiter, RN, MSN, Nurse Executive/Acting Director, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. Beiter sets the strategic direction for a 945-bed healthcare network that spans five counties. She has established a nursing governance structure. In working toward Magnet designation, Beiter encourages nurse participation on councils and committees. She has also worked at the state and national levels to elevate the profession.

• Susan Cline, RNC, MSN, MBA, Operations Manager, Newborn and Infant Critical-Care Unit, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Cline thrives on multi-tasking, earning a dual master's degree while spending three years as the hospital's Magnet program director. Cline transferred to NICCU operations manager around the same time the hospital received its Magnet designation, which she helped achieve by educating the workforce on the 14 “Forces of Magnetism.”

• Beverly A. Jones, RN, MPS, NEA-BC, Senior Vice President Patient Care Services, John Muir Health. Jones has brought innovative strategies that promote patient safety and professional nursing practice. Under her leadership, the hospital achieved Magnet recognition. She has pushed for new technologies and evidence-based practices and encourages staff to earn higher degrees.

• Beverly Nicholson, RN, MSN, CNS, AOCN, Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist, Mercy San Juan Medical Center. Nicholson is responsible for oncology staff education and training and is a member of the hospital's pain management team. She has served as president of the local chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society. Nicholson also leads a prostate cancer support group and is the Northern California chair of a nationwide pain relief initiative.

• Luc Pelletier, MSN, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN, FNAHQ, Administrative Liaison, Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital. As a consultant with the National Quality Forum, Pelletier has influenced national performance standards in behavioral health. At the hospital, he supervises nursing staff and recently initiated bed meetings to discuss shift activity. He is also a prolific writer and editor on patient safety and psychiatric nursing.

Clinical Care

• Madeleine T. Bibat, RN, BSN, Staff Nurse III, St. Lukes Campus of California Pacific Medical Center. For 35 years, Bibat has devoted herself to caring for thousands of women and children in an underserved population. As a labor and delivery and maternity nurse, she often works with women who had no prenatal care. Even when not on call, Bibat will respond if her unit needs help, and often works extra shifts.

• Linda Gorman, RN, MN, CNS-BC, CHPN, OCN, Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Gorman is a skilled, compassionate, and culturally sensitive member of an interdisciplinary team that coordinates care of terminally ill patients. She also assists with pain management on an inpatient consultation team. Her manner inspires trust and confidence for those struggling with end-of-life care issues.

• Susan MacRae, RN, Critical-Care Registered Nurse, Los Alamitos Medical Center. MacRae is the go-to person in the ICU. When assigned as charge nurse, she graciously takes patients or floats to other areas to assist as needed. MacRae keeps the environment calm and always explains the day's plan of care to patients and their families. She also goes out of her way to support families coping with life-threatening situations.

• Mary Pat Manning, RN, MN, CNS, ET, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Radiation Oncology, Marin General Hospital, Marin Cancer Institute. Manning leads quality improvement efforts, manages the center's cancer registry and institutional review board, and is a research coordinator for national clinical trials. As a member of the patient care team, she also goes out of her way to address patients' physical and emotional needs.

• Linda Maywood, CPNP, MSN, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Myelomeningocele Center, Miller Children's Hospital. Maywood is a calm, reliable member of the spina bifida team. She often prepares ahead of time and prioritizes tasks to ensure patients' complex needs are met. This has included coordinating a child's care with five other specialists. Despite a hectic schedule, Maywood volunteers at a camp for children with spina bifida.

Community Service

• Debbie Albertson, RN, BSN, NPC, Sutter WE CARE Program Coordinator, Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. Albertson coordinates case management for HIV-positive women, as well as for their fetuses and newborns. She assures immediate entry to treatment and home services. Albertson is available at all hours, and created a program that collects school supplies for children of HIV-positive women.

• Pat V. Dahlberg, RN, MSN, CPNP, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Providence Health & Services, Community Health Partners for Healthy Kids Mobile Unit. Dahlberg rides a medical van through underserved areas of San Pedro and surrounding communities. The clinic provides free health care annually to 3,000 children. Dahlberg, who is bilingual, also educates parents about children's health. As an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA School of Nursing, she has precepted 10 NP students.

• Nancy Downey-Hurtado, RN, BS, Assistant Director – Ambulatory Care Services, UC Irvine Medical Center. Downey-Hurtado advocates for programs to benefit the underserved communities served by UC Irvine Medical Center's Family Health Centers in Santa Ana and Anaheim. She helped start a mobile health van and is helping Orange County bring medical and other services to the homeless. For 11 years, she has organized a Christmas toy drive and health fair.

• Kathy McCarty, RN, MSN, CNS, Chief Clinical Officer, Chidamoyo Christian Hospital, Karoi, Zimbabwe. McCarty is the chief clinical officer for an 80-bed hospital, where she provides inpatient and outpatient care, trains nurses, oversees immunization clinics, runs an antiretroviral program, is the hospital epidemiologist, and handles financial duties. McCarty is a U.S.-trained nurse from Santa Rosa who has worked in Africa for at least 25 years.

• Michelle Telford-Vegas, FNP, Clinic Manager, Mercy Hospital of Folsom. Telford-Vegas manages two free healthcare clinics for the working poor. As a bilingual nurse leader, she has implemented immunization clinics for children and diabetic support groups. Last fall she joined a medical mission to Guatemala to help conduct primary care clinics for about 100 people a day in remote and impoverished communities.

Management

• Helen Case, RN, MA, Executive Director, Acute Care, Children's Hospital of Orange County. Case orchestrates all inpatient nursing and oversees specialty lab and infection control services while serving as a nonjudgmental advocate for her staff. She makes hard decisions while staying calm under pressure and always moves toward positive outcomes as part of a team under a shared governance structure.

• Nancy O'Neil, RN-BC, Senior Nurse Officer, Naval Medical Center San Diego – TRICARE Outpatient Clinic Chula Vista. O'Neil manages staff in pediatrics, family practice, internal medicine, mammography, radiology, laboratory, and pharmacy services. She also oversees patient safety, infection control, and risk management and handles budgeting issues. While providing in-service training, O'Neil makes the staff feel appreciated with kudos, parties, and gifts.

• Karen L. Stratton, RN, Manager, Women's Recovery Room & Transporters, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women. Stratton has boosted patient satisfaction scores for ambulatory service from 28 to 91 in two months. Under her guidance, the PACU has gone from showing burnout to having a waiting list of RNs who want to join the team. She has improved communication, keeps an open-door policy for staff, and orders pizzas for the unit on especially busy days.

• Donna Wyman, RN, BSN, Patient Care Supervisor Emergency Department, Children's Hospital Central California. Wyman manages staffing needs and evaluates staff performance and development. She led the ED team through patient care improvement and workflow redesign processes that lowered the number of patients who left without treatment. Wyman also helped implement a triage process that greatly improved patient acuity assignments and subsequent care.

• Cynthia (Cindy) Young, RN, BSN, MHA, Emergency Services Manager, Memorial Medical Center (Sutter Health). Young turned an ED with long waits into a fast-triage unit. She combined critical-care and ED education in orienting new RNs, changed patient flow patterns, and started flex staffing. The “left without being seen” rate has fallen 30%, and patient satisfaction has leapt from 27% to 82%.

Mentoring

• Jane Beard, RN, Clinical Nurse III, City of Hope. Beard creates a warm, inspirational learning environment. Her presentations have not only helped nurses understand concepts, but have often generated much laughter and discussion. She also makes annual trips to Mount Kenya, where she has helped organize a maternity ward, taught nursing students, and done outreach in HIV awareness.

• LaTanya D. Davidson-Wilson, RN, MSN, CNS, CNOR, Coordinator, RCH Nursing Partnership, Riverside Community Hospital. Davidson-Wilson teaches CSU San Bernardino students who agree to be RNs at the hospital after graduation and mentors them during clinical rotations. As an OR nurse at the hospital and a clinical instructor at the university, Davidson-Wilson challenges students to think critically and excel while making learning fun.

• Betty L. Dobbs, RN, MHA, MSN – education in progress, Nursing Workforce Development Specialist, Little Company of Mary. Dobbs' passion is a program that pays employees for full-time work while they work part time and attend classes. Under her coaching, 30 nurses have graduated. Last year, she trained 25 nurses as mentors. Dobbs also runs a program to train high school students as volunteers and holds a workshop for former RNs who want to return to practice.

• Dolores “Dolly” McCarthy, RN, BS, CRRN, CCM, Nurse Manager, Utilization Review/Case Management Program, The Permanente Medical Group Kaiser Northern California. Until her retirement in May, McCarthy had multiple roles overseeing case management and utilization review. She provided resources for various initiatives, operational plans, regulatory compliance, and workers' compensation issues. She also acted as a liaison and provided training in occupational health issues.

• Lidia A. Pusnik, RN, BSN, Nurse Educator, Citrus Valley Medical Center – Inter-Community Campus. Pusnik never misses an opportunity to coach and support the nursing staff. She will even show up at midnight to see how new nurses are doing. When one new RN was in tears, Pusnik remained at her side to help her reorganize. After code blue situations, Pusnik gathers nurses for debriefings.

Teaching

• Lorraine S. Evangelista, RN, PhD, Assistant Professor, UCLA School of Nursing. Evangelista has helped launch, manage, and teach higher-degree programs while juggling her goals in biobehavioral research. As an expert communicator, Evangelista coordinated efforts to develop simulation and skills labs. She also serves as a role model by actively participating in professional organizations.

• Marilyn Pires, RN, MS, CRRN-A, FAAN, Rehabilitation Clinical Nurse Specialist, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. Pires is one of fewer than 100 worldwide to hold an advanced certificate in rehabilitation nursing and has been on the cutting edge of the field. She has given expert testimony on bowel/bladder incontinence and published on such topics as spinal cord rehab, physical disabilities, and ostomy and wound care.

• Joanne D. Pittard, RN, MS, Professor of Allied Health Emerita/Nursing Education Consultant, Hemodialysis, Inc. At Glendale Community College, Pittard directed California's first college-level hemodialysis education course, which was recently cut due to economics. She continues to help advance the knowledge of end-stage renal disease by volunteering on quality assurance committees and publishing monographs for continuing education.

• Richard J. Ramos, RN, MS, CNS, PNP, CPON, Staff Nurse IV, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. As a lecturer on pediatrics and oncology for several nursing school programs, Ramos often helps students remember material with his computer wizardry and legendary sense of humor. He also precepts nursing students on clinical rotation. Ramos uses his bilingual talents when he teaches nurses on volunteer trips to Central and South America.

• Suzanne Taylor, RN, MSN, EMT, Manager, Patient Care Services Staff Development, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Taylor coordinates hospital-wide education and manages the staff development budget. She initiated a “circle” concept for mentoring several new nurses in a setting. Taylor, who has been a part-time college faculty member, has also volunteered by training disaster service workers and traveling on a medical mission to Malawi.