Winners of the Nurse.com 2011 Nursing Excellence Awards are, clockwise from top left, Karen E.B. Evans (Mentoring), Lori Geisler (Teaching), Marie Lynn (Management), Lisa Rowen (Advancing and Leading the Profession), Ann-Marie Lee-Wilkins (Community Service) and Paula Goodman (Clinical Care).
(Photo by Keith Weller)
Nurses from throughout the DC/Maryland/Virginia region spent the evening of June 7 celebrating the profession.
A group of 29 finalists and six winners were recognized during the Nurse.com's 2011 Nursing Excellence Awards gala at Martin's Crosswinds in Greenbelt, Md.
"We wait with great anticipation all year for this night, and it is one of the year's highlights for us," said Eileen Williamson, RN, MSN, who serves as Nurse.com's senior vice president of nursing communications and initiatives. "It is because of you and your fellow nurses that healthcare in the United States, and the lives of patients all over the nation, are made better each and every day."
Two members of Nurse.com's regional advisory board — Terry Bennett, RN, BSN, CHCR, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, and Maureen Swick, RN, PhD, CNE of Inova Health System — were honored with Special Recognition Awards. Nurse.com also recognized the evening's group of Silver Sponsors for the event, which were Chamberlain College of Nursing, Franklin Square Hospital Center, Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, University of Maryland Medical Center and Shore Health System.
ADVANCING AND LEADING THE PROFESSION
Lisa Rowen, RN, DNSc, FAAN
Senior Vice President of Nursing and Patient Care Services and CNO
University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore
Lisa Rowen recognized a need for information on how to care for overweight and obese patients, in light of America’s obesity epidemic, and realized her love of nursing and writing could fill that void.
Rowen founded the Bariatric Nursing and Surgical Patient Care journal and served as its editor-in-chief for five years. The online and print publication is read in more than 140 countries.
The publication addresses safety issues, such as skin care and mobility, for obese and overweight patients, she said.
“It’s an important and relevant topic in healthcare today,” she said.
Along with her own publication, she has had more than 60 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.
CLINICAL CARE
Paula Goodman, RN, BSN, OCN
Clinical Staff Nurse
Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, D.C.
Paula Goodman cries a lot about her work.
As a nurse who is dedicated to end-of-life care, Goodman cries “every time” one of her patients passes away, she said. Although the deaths are sad, Goodman said she feels rewarded helping patients be comfortable and accept death.
Goodman’s natural ability to put people at ease hadn’t been put to use in nursing until she joined the profession at age 50. Her son, then-10-year-old Andrew, heard of a nursing shortage and suggested to his mother that she would make a good nurse, she said. After raising four children, she pursued a nursing career.
“I became what I probably should have become 30 years ago,” Goodman said.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Ann-Marie Lee-Wilkins, RN, BSN, CRRN
Head Nurse
Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore
The organization that Ann-Marie Lee-Wilkins founded in 2005 is about more than providing education to students in the U.S. and her native St. Vincent, a Caribbean island.
The Sister Patricia Douglas Youth Empowerment Foundation is about honoring the group’s namesake, who was Lee-Wilkins’ high school principal, “mentor, my second mom and my best friend,” she said.
Lee-Wilkins had been a late bloomer in academics, but Douglas pushed her to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse, Lee-Wilkins said.
The foundation, organized after Douglas’ death in 2005, now gives scholarships to students in St. Vincent and Maryland, she said.
Lee-Wilkins said Douglas would be proud of her work. “I think she’s looking down smiling,” she said.
MANAGEMENT
Marie Lynn, RN, BSN
Nurse Manager
Inova Alexandria (Va.) Hospital
Hiring talented staff is one of Marie Lynn’s many skills as a nurse manager.
For example, one of her nurses — Maria Cachafeiro-Cavadas, RN, BSN — was a finalist for the Nurse.com Nursing Spectrum Nursing Excellence Awards in the Clinical Care category.
“It thrills me” to see staff succeed, Lynn said.
Lynn, who has worked as a manager for 20 years, focuses on providing the best care for a diverse patient population, she said. Her med/surg unit at Inova Alexandria has received the facility’s quality award because of the unit’s efforts to decrease falls and pressure ulcer rates.
Lynn also likes to “grow and develop nurses” and recently obtained grants for 11 memberships to professional nursing organizations to advance her staff’s professional development, she said.
MENTORING
Karen E.B. Evans, RN, MSN, CM/DN
Regional Manager of Education
FutureCare Health and Management, Pasadena, Md.
Some nurses can have trouble working with the elderly, but Karen E.B. Evans makes sure nurses at FutureCare Health and Management are especially caring at difficult times, she said.
In her training of more than 2,500 employees, Evans promotes treating patients like human beings and as a nurse would want a loved one to be treated, she said.
Evans is a hands-on mentor who “not only coaches our team, [but] she suits up and plays in the game,” wrote her nominator for the Mentoring award.
While Evans mentors others, she also learns from her own mentor and boss, who has taught her patience as well as the business side of nursing, she said.
“I’m just so happy I chose that career,” Evans said.
TEACHING
Lori Geisler, RN, MSN, CCRN
Clinical Nurse Specialist
Shore Health System, Easton, Md.
Lori Geisler used to think the best job was nursing.
“Then I learned the best thing is to teach other people to be nurses,” she said during her acceptance of the Nurse.com Nursing Spectrum Nursing Excellence Award in the Teaching category.
Geisler’s effectiveness as a teacher is due to her 18 years as an ICU nurse.
“I don’t teach them anything I can’t do,” she said.
Geisler, who has been a clinical nurse specialist for 10 years, draws on her experience to put her teachings in terms that fellow nurses can understand easily, she said. As a result, she’s often asked to instruct new nurses in the health system’s Critical Care University program.
Karen Long is a freelance writer.
A group of 29 finalists and six winners were recognized during the Nurse.com's 2011 Nursing Excellence Awards gala at Martin's Crosswinds in Greenbelt, Md.
"We wait with great anticipation all year for this night, and it is one of the year's highlights for us," said Eileen Williamson, RN, MSN, who serves as Nurse.com's senior vice president of nursing communications and initiatives. "It is because of you and your fellow nurses that healthcare in the United States, and the lives of patients all over the nation, are made better each and every day."
Two members of Nurse.com's regional advisory board — Terry Bennett, RN, BSN, CHCR, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, and Maureen Swick, RN, PhD, CNE of Inova Health System — were honored with Special Recognition Awards. Nurse.com also recognized the evening's group of Silver Sponsors for the event, which were Chamberlain College of Nursing, Franklin Square Hospital Center, Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, University of Maryland Medical Center and Shore Health System.
ADVANCING AND LEADING THE PROFESSION
Lisa Rowen, RN, DNSc, FAAN
Senior Vice President of Nursing and Patient Care Services and CNO
University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore
Lisa Rowen recognized a need for information on how to care for overweight and obese patients, in light of America’s obesity epidemic, and realized her love of nursing and writing could fill that void.
Rowen founded the Bariatric Nursing and Surgical Patient Care journal and served as its editor-in-chief for five years. The online and print publication is read in more than 140 countries.
The publication addresses safety issues, such as skin care and mobility, for obese and overweight patients, she said.
“It’s an important and relevant topic in healthcare today,” she said.
Along with her own publication, she has had more than 60 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.
CLINICAL CARE
Paula Goodman, RN, BSN, OCN
Clinical Staff Nurse
Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, D.C.
Paula Goodman cries a lot about her work.
As a nurse who is dedicated to end-of-life care, Goodman cries “every time” one of her patients passes away, she said. Although the deaths are sad, Goodman said she feels rewarded helping patients be comfortable and accept death.
Goodman’s natural ability to put people at ease hadn’t been put to use in nursing until she joined the profession at age 50. Her son, then-10-year-old Andrew, heard of a nursing shortage and suggested to his mother that she would make a good nurse, she said. After raising four children, she pursued a nursing career.
“I became what I probably should have become 30 years ago,” Goodman said.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Ann-Marie Lee-Wilkins, RN, BSN, CRRN
Head Nurse
Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore
The organization that Ann-Marie Lee-Wilkins founded in 2005 is about more than providing education to students in the U.S. and her native St. Vincent, a Caribbean island.
The Sister Patricia Douglas Youth Empowerment Foundation is about honoring the group’s namesake, who was Lee-Wilkins’ high school principal, “mentor, my second mom and my best friend,” she said.
Lee-Wilkins had been a late bloomer in academics, but Douglas pushed her to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse, Lee-Wilkins said.
The foundation, organized after Douglas’ death in 2005, now gives scholarships to students in St. Vincent and Maryland, she said.
Lee-Wilkins said Douglas would be proud of her work. “I think she’s looking down smiling,” she said.
MANAGEMENT
Marie Lynn, RN, BSN
Nurse Manager
Inova Alexandria (Va.) Hospital
Hiring talented staff is one of Marie Lynn’s many skills as a nurse manager.
For example, one of her nurses — Maria Cachafeiro-Cavadas, RN, BSN — was a finalist for the Nurse.com Nursing Spectrum Nursing Excellence Awards in the Clinical Care category.
“It thrills me” to see staff succeed, Lynn said.
Lynn, who has worked as a manager for 20 years, focuses on providing the best care for a diverse patient population, she said. Her med/surg unit at Inova Alexandria has received the facility’s quality award because of the unit’s efforts to decrease falls and pressure ulcer rates.
Lynn also likes to “grow and develop nurses” and recently obtained grants for 11 memberships to professional nursing organizations to advance her staff’s professional development, she said.
MENTORING
Karen E.B. Evans, RN, MSN, CM/DN
Regional Manager of Education
FutureCare Health and Management, Pasadena, Md.
Some nurses can have trouble working with the elderly, but Karen E.B. Evans makes sure nurses at FutureCare Health and Management are especially caring at difficult times, she said.
In her training of more than 2,500 employees, Evans promotes treating patients like human beings and as a nurse would want a loved one to be treated, she said.
Evans is a hands-on mentor who “not only coaches our team, [but] she suits up and plays in the game,” wrote her nominator for the Mentoring award.
While Evans mentors others, she also learns from her own mentor and boss, who has taught her patience as well as the business side of nursing, she said.
“I’m just so happy I chose that career,” Evans said.
TEACHING
Lori Geisler, RN, MSN, CCRN
Clinical Nurse Specialist
Shore Health System, Easton, Md.
Lori Geisler used to think the best job was nursing.
“Then I learned the best thing is to teach other people to be nurses,” she said during her acceptance of the Nurse.com Nursing Spectrum Nursing Excellence Award in the Teaching category.
Geisler’s effectiveness as a teacher is due to her 18 years as an ICU nurse.
“I don’t teach them anything I can’t do,” she said.
Geisler, who has been a clinical nurse specialist for 10 years, draws on her experience to put her teachings in terms that fellow nurses can understand easily, she said. As a result, she’s often asked to instruct new nurses in the health system’s Critical Care University program.
Karen Long is a freelance writer.
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