2003 C.A.R.E. Awards for Nursing Excellence

New Jersey Nurse, May/Jun 2003

2003 Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice

Margaret A. Estelle RN, CWS practices in the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Department of Kimball Medical Center in Lakewood, New Jersey. Margaret, better known as Peg, developed a Wound Action am at Kimball that educates staff, suggests areas for improvement and trials new products. As a result, the nosocomial infection rate has declined each quarter. The team has developed a Wound, Ostomy and Continence resource manual for each unit and, in conjunction with Physical Therapy, nurses collaboratively use adjunctive therapies for wound care that had not been used before at Kimball.

Peg participates in competency assessment at all levels, and has implemented Wound Fairs where vendors display the products that are newly available.

She also has raised the awareness of her colleagues toward the morbidly obese who are often seen as being weak-willed, overindulgent and lazy. Instead, Peg sees someone in a tremendous amount of emotional, physical, spiritual and mental anguish. She communicates this to the staff in orientation and during one to one care of these challenging patients. She also conducts a support group in her home for people who are interested in gastric by-pass surgery and/or those who have had gastric bypass procedures for continued support.

Pegs own words give us an insight to her success in practice. "The human being in each of us touches the human being for whom we care. I feel the healer within me is what makes me a unique nurse."

2003 Award for Excellence Nursing Administration

Maureen A. Schneider, MSN, RN, CNAA is Vice President of Patient Care Services at Community Medical Center in Jbms River, and has held this position since 1998. Her accomplishments in just five years are remarkable.

On March 5 2003, Community Medical Center was awarded a Magnet Designation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. This award came on the heels of a string of innovative and exciting programs and processes for nursing at CMC.

A shared governance model was introduced in 2001 and she initiated the Staff Nurse Advisory Council, which prompted additional 401 K plans to be added to the entire Saint Barnabus Health Care System benefit program.

Maureen developed the role of Senior Nurse Clinician, modeled on the Clinical Nurse Specialist, to serve as staff nurse support for practice, education and leadership. Maureen is proud of the positions she has created that support her staff nurse and managers. In addition to the senior Nurse Clinicians she has added a patient care finance manager, a Bioethics/ Bereavement Coordinator and a Nursing Research Coordinator, supported by a PhD nursing consultant. She is Principal Investigator on a nursing research study, "The Use of a Senior Nurse Clinician to Improve Patient Outcomes, Nurse Satisfaction, and Critical Thinking."

She has embraced a wide range of technological advances for her nursing staff including wireless methods of documentation which has proven to be a nurse satisfier. Maureen was appointed and is currently serving on the Governor's Advisory Council to Promote the Profession of Nursing in New Jersey.

2003 Care Award for Nursing Excellence in Nursing Research

Marylou Nancy Yam, Ph.D., R.N.,C. is Associate Dean of Nursing, Saint Peter's College, Department of Nursing.

Dr. Yam earned her MA and Med degrees in Nursing Education with a concentration in adult health from Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her PhD in Nursing Science from Adelphi University and currently is a postdoctoral fellow in violence research at the School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Yam's research related to intimate partner abuse has focused on examining the ways in which nurses intervene to help battered women. As a fellow, she is working on a proposal aimed at testing an intervention to mediate the psychological effects of abuse. Dr. Yam disseminates her findings widely through publications and presentations. As a primary or coinvestigator, her work has been published in Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice, International Journal of Nursing Research, Journal of Emergency Nursing and Journal of Case Management. In addition, her research was reported in chapters of the texts, Nursing Care in a Violent Society and Graduate Issues in Nursing.

Dr. Yam is a talented teacher of research having taught nursing research for over 15 years at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. She has addressed education in her published work on "Feminist Pedagogical Strategies for the Nursing Research Classroom" and in "Teaching Nursing Students to Critique Research for Gender Bias". Highly respected for her knowledge and mentoring ability she has inspired many students to pursue graduate studies and incorporate research into their practices.

Dr. Yam was a selected participant in the 2001 National Institute of Nursing Research aining Program in Bethesda, Maryland. She served as a member of the Scientific Review & Planning Committees at the 2001 Eastern Nursing Research Conference and she is a member of the Nursing Research Council at Hackensack University Medical Center.