UMMConnections Newsletter

UMMC nurses have built their professional practice model around the relationships they form – with patients and with other members of the health care team. For nurses at the Medical Center, that includes making connections with colleagues around the world as global leaders in their field.

UMMC nurses flew to the aid of the surviving Haitian health care workers within days of the devastating earthquake, knowing that living and working conditions would be a huge challenge. This wasn't the first time nurses from UMMC took their skills abroad – many already had established a practice of volunteering in developing countries.

Lisa Rowen, DNSc, RN, senior vice president and chief nursing officer for UMMC, has encouraged an increased level of global leadership among UMMC nurses.

"The nurses in the Medical Center are emerging as leaders in clinical excellence, nursing education, consultation and research," Rowen says. "This level of professional collaboration speaks to our mission in the state of Maryland while advancing the practice of nursing worldwide."

UMMC nurses have become a resource for nurses in South Korea, growing from a relationship the Medical Center nursing staff has with a University of Maryland School of Nursing faculty member from South Korea, Sue Song, Phd, RN.

This spring, a group of nine nurse practitioner (NP) students and their professors from South Korea spent five days with NPs from the Medical Center in a program organized by Carmel McComiskey, MS, CRNP, director of nurse practitioners at UMMC. Student NPs shadowed UMMC nurse practitioners in oncology, cardiology, cardiothoracic and medical and surgical intensive care for four days after hearing McComiskey discuss the role of the advanced-practice nurse in the US.

Last year, student NPs from South Korea consulted with NPs here who specialize in cancer and trauma, and admired the UMMC nurses' professional partnerships with physicians and colleagues in Pharmacy Services, Rehabilitation, Laboratories of Pathology and Diagnostic Radiology, says Michelle (Bedor) Turner, CRNP, thoracic oncology nurse practitioner.

"They were impressed with our autonomy, prescription-writing capabilities and collaboration with providers of other disciplines," Turner says. "They were fascinated by our multidisciplinary approach to patient care, as some had the opportunity to shadow us in our thoracic and breast cancer multidisciplinary clinics."

Karen Johnson, PhD, RN, director of nursing research and evidence-based practice, and Kristin Seidl, PhD, RN, director of outcomes for nursing and patient care, consulted with nurse researchers from Samsung Medical Center in Seoul on how to establish a collaborative research program between academic and clinical settings. Samsung Medical Center then brought Johnson to Seoul to help the hospital establish a research program for hospital-based nurses, as UMMC has done.

Nurse managers from South Korea also came to shadow their UMMC counterparts, in a program organized by Tori Walker and Cyndy Ronald from the office of Clinical Practice and Professional Development.

University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center nurses Karen McQuillan, RN, MS, CCRN, CNRN, clinical nurse specialist, and Benjamin Laughton, MSN, MBA, CRNP, Shock Trauma manager of clinical operations and advanced practice, visited New Delhi, India, in November. They lectured at the Trauma 2009 International Congress and the Conference of the Indian Society for Trauma and Acute Care. They chaired a pre-conference program for nurses and traveled with physician colleagues to Haldwani to speak with hospital staff about the role of nurses in trauma care.

Global leadership is not new to Shock Trauma nurses, who lead nursing educational tracks at multidisciplinary trauma conferences around the world, such as in China in 2007. That relationship prompted a call from the Chinese government for aid after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Shock Trauma sent a staff nurse, Karen Karash, BSN, RN, as part of a multidisciplinary team to provide expertise and education about continuous renal replacement therapy for victims of crush injuries.

"Visits to health care facilities in these foreign countries offered opportunities for nurses from Shock Trauma to share ideas about best practices for trauma patients and to leave with an appreciation of how care is provided in countries with different cultures and – in some cases – with limited resources," McQuillan says.

"In addition, nurses from a multitude of countries have come to the Shock Trauma Center to learn about trauma care from the nursing staff," McQuillan says.

"These international efforts have fostered pride in our nursing care, professional growth and an appreciation for alternative ways trauma patients are cared for in other countries," McQuillan says.

"We have nurses who excel in specialized fields and bedside nurses who take pride in the safest and highest-quality care for each patient. It's the same principle no matter where you live: Nurses should strive to treat each patient in the way they’d want their own family to be treated."

Lisa Rowen, DNSc, RN,
Senior vice president and chief nursing officer

Connie Noll, MA, RN-C, nurse manager for adult psychiatry services, presented a poster last summer at the International Conference on Patient and Family Centered Care in Philadelphia.

Last fall, nurses on 11 East in the North Hospital hosted the first of what will be many conferences on HIV and AIDS after recognizing a need for more education among nurses and other partners in HIV/AIDS care throughout the state.

"Updated education about HIV and AIDS was desperately needed, and UMMC had the resources available to provide everyone with the latest information," says David McAllister, RN., nurse manager for 11 East.

To host the conference, the staff on 11 East worked with the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, the AIDS Education Training Center, Institute of Human Virology in the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

Nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Perioperative Services have hosted educational summits for their peers across the region.

The opportunity for nurses at the bedside and in leadership roles to contribute to their profession was among the reasons that UMMC was designated a Magnet institution last year by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) after a unanimous vote by that board.

For this year's ANCC National Magnet Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., the ANCC selected several UMMC nurses to give presentations: Bea Hazzard, RN, BSN, CPAN; Trish Klein, RN; and Mandy Meilke, RN, BSN, CRNFA, CNOR, will deliver an oral presentation on nurse-driven innovative strategies that improve the care of perioperative patients. And Michele Zimmer, MS, RN, of the Progressive Care Unit, will give a poster presentation on nurse-driven strategies to help patients adhere to their prescribed medication regimens – such as by suggesting lower-cost ways to purchase the drugs. Also working on this project are Kimberly Reck, MS, CRNP, and Lisa Hartin, RN, BSN. [See article, May/June 2009 issue of UMMC Connections.]

And in a slightly different sense of the word "global," Denise Choiniere, MS, RN, sustainability manager for UMMC, is among the nurses who have been at the forefront of the greening of hospitals in Maryland and nationwide. Choiniere and other patient care staff are working with disciplines across the organization to reduce the environmental impact of hospital operations through practice changes, including sustainable product procurement, waste minimization, toxicity reduction and air and water quality improvement. The effort has been global in its scope across all practices, and in its support of the planet.

A groundbreaking and hospital-wide celebration on May 13 will kick off construction of a new building that will allow thousands more patients each year to receive critical care, trauma and emergency services at UMMC. The building will enhance the Medical Center's ability to grow overall, and is being designed to meet rigorous standards for environmental sustainability.

The new construction will consist of a nine-level building attached to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and the Weinberg Building, at the corner of Penn and Lombard streets. The project is known internally as "Phase IV" – the fourth in a series of projects that began with the Shock Trauma Building (Phase I) in 1989 and continued with the Homer Gudelsky Building (Phase II) in 1994 and the Weinberg Building (Phase III), completed in 2006.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new building will be held at 10 am May 13 with elected officials, including Gov. Martin O'Malley. Later that day, from 3 to 7 pm, employees are invited to join the celebration at the site of the new building and learn about the project.

The expansion will allow growth and improved access throughout the hospital, not just for the services that will occupy the new spaces. The new building will have 10 operating rooms and 64 private patient rooms, expand the Post- Anesthesia Care Unit, increase the number of critical care beds and provide a second laboratory. This will improve the overall surgical and laboratory capacity of the Medical Center.

The construction of a second helicopter pad will benefit not only emergency and trauma patients, but also patients being transported by air from other hospitals through Maryland ExpressCare.

"We know that the demand is growing for trauma and other emergency services as well as surgical and critical care," says Jeffrey A. Rivest, president and chief executive officer. For example, Medical Center officials project that the hospital will handle nearly 80,000 emergency department visits a year by 2016, compared with nearly 64,000 visits in 2008.

"Our Shock Trauma Center currently serves nearly 8,000 patients in a 20-year-old building originally designed for 3,500 patients," Rivest says. "The new building will greatly enhance our capacity to treat patients who need the highest level of trauma, emergency and surgical critical care."

By the time the building is completed, the Medical Center expects to have added another 250 employees to the work force to staff the expanded areas. Currently, the Medical Center has more than 6,800 employees.

The new building has a total of nine floors (seven stories plus basement and ground levels) and is scheduled to be completed by 2013, although renovation of adjacent floors in the existing Shock Trauma Center could continue into early 2014. The building will open in phases as services are ready.

Between now and then, the construction will affect local traffic patterns and require accommodations as needed, but Medical Center leaders will keep employees and the public apprised of the latest changes in traffic flow. A website will be dedicated to posting the latest construction updates, and the Intranet will provide an easy link to information.

QUICK FACTS

140,000 square feet of new construction; 35,000 square feet of renovated space

9 stories, including basement and ground level

Expanded Adult Emergency Department

Expanded Pediatric Emergency Department

10 state-of-the-art operating rooms

14 additional PACU (Post-Anesthesia Care Unit) beds

64 private ICU (Intensive Care Unit) rooms on third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors

Helipad on roof

National Trauma and Emergency Medicine Training Center

250 additional employees by 2013

A new entrance for the Shock Trauma Center on Lombard Street, west of the connection to the Weinberg Building

A reception desk and more private waiting area for Shock Trauma visitors and family members on the first floor.

300 construction jobs created

While the new building will have a huge impact on the hospital, the goal is to minimize its impact on the earth and its resources. The Medical Center is applying for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmentally Efficient Design) certification from the US Green Building Council as a "green" building, according to Leonard Taylor Jr., vice president for facilities.

"LEED certification means that a building is constructed to reduce energy consumption and to be environmentally responsible," Taylor says. "To meet LEED silver or gold standards, the project will incorporate a variety of planning, design and construction strategies that include everything from high-efficiency lighting fixtures and bicycle racks to sophisticated heat-recovery systems and occupancy-sensing lighting controls.

"We are going to capture rainwater to use in cooling towers, which will enable us to reduce our energy consumption and the amount of storm water being discharged into the Chesapeake Bay. This approach also reduces water usage," Taylor says.

Ballinger, a Philadelphia-based architectural firm, designed the new building after extensive collaboration with groups of UMMC staff who will be involved in using the new building.

Karen E. Doyle, MBA, MS, RN, vice president for nursing and operations for Shock Trauma, notes that teams of employees worked with the architects to address work-flow issues, as well as patient safety and comfort.

"First and foremost, we wanted the new space to be patient- and family-centered," Doyle says. "In addition, we wanted to make sure that it was user-friendly for our staff."

The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) Foundation is launching a major campaign to raise $35 million for the expansion. Former state senator and UMMS board member Francis X. Kelly will chair the campaign. Baltimore hometown hero and major-league baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr. has agreed to serve as honorary campaign chairman. Contributions are also coming from state and federal grants.

In February, US Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger announced the project would receive $2.4 million in federal appropriations to start, with more to come. He and US Rep. Elijah Cummings, also a strong supporter of Shock Trauma and the new building, cited the role played by the Shock Trauma Center in training military personnel who in turn treat US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It shouldn't surprise anyone when a nurse is willing to volunteer time to care for people in need. This profession is rooted in the spirit of commitment to the broader community. Nurses who observe the world around them don't have to look far for an opportunity to make a difference. I admire these men and women for generously sharing their skills, their energy and their precious time to make the world a better place for everyone.

Several nurses at UMMC have traveled to countries in Africa to share their clinical expertise with colleagues there, raising both the level of training and morale among the nurses in these developing countries and providing desperately needed care and medical supplies to patients and their providers.

Yemi Olalekan, BA, BSN, who works on 13 East and West in the North Hospital building, has a knack for evaluating work flow on patient units. She travels often to her native country, Nigeria, with her husband, who is managing director for the Nigeria affiliate program of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

"Since I travel to Nigeria frequently, it was very important to me to me to give something back to my country," Olalekan says. "I met with the nurse practitioner for the program, and she was delighted to have me accompany her to the sites to counsel patients and evaluate the work flow, and give them suggestions as needed."

Pauline Ifeoma Esoga, RN, ONC, BL (LLB), is a nurse on 6 Gudelsky West, where she works alongside other highly skilled nurses. But her global perspective drives her to work with Calvary Torch Missions, a private nonprofit organization that organizes mission trips to Africa to enhance nursing practice.

She accompanied a group of nurses to Ghana in March to give a five-day seminar for nurses and lead a three-day health screening fair in Peki Kpalime.

"Our mission is to reach out to our professional colleagues across the continent," Esoga says. "We were in Nigeria in 2007 and 2009. During this time, we conducted nursing education seminars, CPR training for health care personnel and health-screening fairs, and we donated medical supplies collected from here in the USA."

The group opened a continuing-education library at the University of Nigeria teaching hospital, Enugu Nigeria, filling it with nursing books, journals, newsletters and magazines donated by UMMC's Office of Clinical Practice and Professional Development, as well as from individual UMMC nurses.

Danielle Warren, BSN, RN, has wanted to go on international missions ever since deciding to become a nurse. Last year, when she signed on for a mission to Uganda through Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, her coworkers on 11 East sent her off with suitcases full of donated goods and medical supplies.

"I have a love for people suffering from HIV both here in the states and abroad," says Warren, who is a nurse on 11 East, which specializes in treating patients with infectious diseases, including AIDS.

"This is what attracted me to 11 East originally," she says. "When I began working here, I discovered that many of my co-workers are equally as passionate about our local HIV patients and also the worldwide HIV population. By taking this trip, I could also help my co-workers participate in touching lives across the world, even if they did not have the flexibility to go with me."

She started by letting her co-workers on the unit know she was accepting practical goods such as toothpaste, gauze, band-aids and clothing. Her manager, David McAllister, RN, helped her connect with UMMC leaders who agreed to donate some surplus medical supplies.

"We had so many supplies that the entire team of 24 who went agreed to pack only one suitcase for clothes and personal items and leave the other 75-pound luggage allowance for the donated supplies and clothing," Warren says.

In Kiburara, the rural Western Uganda area where she and the mission trip were based, 50 percent of the population is infected with HIV, and an estimated 300 to 500 orphans are among the 3,000 residents.

Warren is continuing her studies at the University of Maryland School of Nursing to become a family nurse practitioner (FNP) who specializes in working with AIDS/HIV patients.

When he was quite young, Victor Casamento, RN, BSN, MS, CNOR, took an oath. It had a lot to do with honor, leadership and taking care of others, but at the time, it had nothing to do with nursing. It was his Boy Scout oath, which he can still recite by heart.

One reason the oath is still so fresh in his mind is that he still lives by those principles in his life and in his work, and he passes those ideals on every week to the Boy Scouts at St. Philip Neri Roman Catholic Church in Linthicum.

"We try to teach them morals and values to use for a lifetime, not just while they're in scouting," Casamento says. Casamento has been helping to turn boys into leaders there since his own three sons joined Troop 447, beginning in 1986 as a Scoutmaster.

Casamento is clinical database coordinator for Perioperative Services. He is a former Navy corpsman who did his nursing training at Marymount College of Virginia while working at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. He began his career at UMMC as an OR nurse in 1980, and worked in various capacities while continuing his education.

Casamento does other volunteer work for the Scouts, serving on the Four River District Health and Safety Committee from 1988 to the present, staffing the First Aid Station for four or five events a year. He is also a First Aid Merit Badge counselor for his troop and district, and serves as the chair for the Health and Safety Committee for the Baltimore Area Council of the Boys Scouts of America.

These responsibilities would be enough for most civic-minded volunteers, but Casamento also fills in as Sunday-school teacher at his church and has made seven volunteer trips to Ecuador, most recently in 2004, to care for disadvantaged patients in need of surgery. He was the coordinating OR nurse for many of those trips: dealing with supplies, making sure instrument sets were ready and assisting in surgeries.

His devotion to scouting, where he can teach young boys the principles of leadership, is going strong even though his own sons have grown up.

"These principles carry over into the rest of your life. They become part of who you are and how you work and how you do things. It's just the way I view life. 'To help others' — it's part of the scouting oath. And I grew up with that."

While growing up in Dallas, Texas, Susan Holt, RN, BSN, always wanted a horse.

Her parents dropped her off to ride at the stables on the weekends, but she couldn't have a horse because she lived in the suburbs. So Holt, who works in the Ambulatory Surgical Care Unit, considers her sponsorship of a rescue horse — at Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation in Monkton — a gift to herself as well as to the 39 horses living there, 13 of which are rescued from situations of abuse or neglect.

"I thought, 'I could be around and help, and enjoy their beauty — they're so regal and wonderful — and I wouldn't have to own one,' " Holt says.

The horse rescue facility takes in animals that otherwise would be destined for slaughter. When Holt visits twice a week, she helps care for them, and if she wants to, she can ride. She sponsors Enchanted Embers, a 29-year-old Appaloosa mare.

"She had been abused early in her life, and you could just see she needed some TLC," Holt says. "It took a while to get her to trust me, but now she considers me her Mom. She comes to me, she calls to me. That's something they do when they're comfortable with you."

Holt, who has been a nurse for 32 years (11 of them at UMMC), is involved with several other animal rescue programs as well.

"Nurses like to be around animals and people that need you," she says. "They do need us, and it's our job to make their lives better."

After a 35-year nursing career, Dianne Mackert, RN, BSN, CCRN, scaled back to working just a few shifts each month on the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. That allows her to continue volunteering locally and abroad.

Mackert has joined medical missions through Ecuadent, which provides free medical and dental care to Ecuadoran children in need. She traveled with her church's mission committee to Mississippi and Louisiana to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina and works through the Linthicum Women's Club, her church and various social service agencies in Anne Arundel County to provide shelter, food, triage and health screening.

Mackert says she is hardly unique among UMMC staff. In fact, one of her other volunteer gigs includes an occasional Saturday night dinner that Mount Vernon United Methodist Church in Baltimore provides for about 250 guests who are homeless. Another UMMC nurse, Anne D. Williams, RN, MS, manager of the Patient Resource Center, regularly volunteers to put on this meal as a member of that church.

"I know there are a lot of other nurses doing community work," she says. "UMMC has some really motivated, caring employees!"

Through word of mouth from friends and co-workers, Mary Sue Franklin, RN, BSN, takes a few students under her wing each year to help them with math. It's a blending of the skills and qualities that are a foundation of good nursing: communication, patience, logic and higher-level thinking.

"Some of these students who are struggling with math have learning disabilities," says Franklin, a nurse on 13 East and West. The students – from elementary to nursing graduate school – usually don't want peers to know they need tutoring, so Franklin is very discreet.

"I have been blessed with the ability to be able to explain to these students alternative ways to comprehend the math in a way that they are able to understand," Franklin says. "I feel honored to help these students. They are very gifted people who just learn in a different way than the average student. I am touched when I am able to attend a high school or college graduation knowing that these people could achieve this when others told them they couldn't."

The patients on the Cardiac Care Unit where senior clinical nurse Karen Cossentino, RN, BSN, CCRN, and patient care technician Jemeceia Buchanan, PCT, work are a constant reminder of how important it is to promote heart health. Their patients get the highest quality of care – the unit has won a Beacon Award from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses – but Cossentino, (right), and Buchanan, (left), are driven to educate the public about ways to prevent heart disease in the first place. Their goal: that fewer people will ever need such an intense level of cardiac nursing care.

Cossentino and Buchanan volunteer for the American Heart Association at health fairs and within the Medical Center for employees and visitors.

They helped to organize the Senior Day at Patterson Park in the fall of 2009. In early 2010 they participated in "Spring into Good Health." And for many years now, Cossentino has been the lead on the Heart Walk Campaign through the American Heart Association for the CCU and Progressive Care Unit.

"I have always felt prevention is the key – the more you educate people, the better off they will be," says Buchanan.

Cossentino and Buchanan say their biggest priority is raising awareness among the UMMC staff to pay attention to their own heart health. They arrange education lectures for staff, screenings, cholesterol tests and weekly employee walks.

"Volunteering with AHA is rewarding for us because, at the Medical Center, we work with heart patients," Cossentino says. "We understand the other side of things. Heart patients, especially those who have received transplants, return to volunteer every year. They love to come back and their support is inspiring."

A fter 19 years of working at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, Darlene Carco, RN, BSN, could be expected to enjoy a few well-deserved vacations.

Her high-pressure job as a charge nurse involves being responsible for the day-to-day functions of the operating room, including the coordination of patient flow throughout the OR.

So, at least once a year for the past four years, Carco has hopped on a plane to Ecuador — to spend her vacation time assisting in even more surgeries.

She has taken six trips with the Ecuadent Foundation, which takes volunteers on medical and dental missions to care for children in need. Several UMMC nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists and other clinicians have volunteered with this organization. For this year's trip, Carco recruited Paul Ricks in Materials Management, the Medical Center department that orders and monitors patient care supplies. It is one of the areas that directly supports the work of clinicians.

"They're the ones who order all supplies – like suction tubes and dressings – so that we know we have what we need to perform all of the surgeries," Carco says.

"Paul organized and inventoried our supplies in Ecuador, and he also acted as a runner transporting supplies from the supply room to the OR," Carco says. "He did an excellent job!"

Carco and Ricks are among several UMMC staff and physicians who have volunteered with Ecuadent.

"The very first time that you go down there is a lifechanging experience for a lot of nurses," Carco says.

Before a mission, Carco collects supplies to take with her that ordinarily would be discarded. She says that, unlike hospitals in the US, which operate under strict guidelines about using sterile equipment, those in Ecuador can't afford to use an item only once and then throw it away. "They will re-sterilize them and reuse them 15 or 20 times," she says.

Upon returning from the Ecuadent mission, Carco was back at work for a week, then left again on a hospital- sponsored trip to Haiti to help earthquake victims, working on orthopedic cases and general surgeries. Ricks went to Haiti about a month later, also to work with the University of Maryland Medical Team that is a partnership of UMMC, the University of Maryland School of Medicine Institute of Human Virology and Catholic Relief Services.

Beyond the obvious benefit to patients, Carco says these medical missions also foster nurses' creativity. "I think going on these trips is excellent for new nurses. It definitely gets their critical thinking going," she says. "Because you don't have what you have here at home, you have to say to yourself, 'This is what you have; figure out how to make it work.' "

In a normal workday, Shawna Coffin, RN, BSN, CCRN, often finds herself sitting in an ambulance with a paramedic, an EMT and a child who needs help.

As a pediatric critical care transport nurse with UMMC'S Maryland ExpressCare, her job might involve a routine patient transfer, or it might bring a high-stress case requiring all of her skills. Coffin is used to rolling with the punches.

Her adaptability serves her well in her volunteer work for Children of the Americas, a Kentucky-based organization that takes medical missions to Guatemala every January. So far, she has made five of these trips since 2005.

"We do a little bit of everything, but our primary function is cleft lip and palate repairs," Coffin says. This might include working with malnourished babies to help them grow stronger so they will be able to have surgeries in the following year. "Also, we did over 100 hernia repairs in kids over four days."

The volunteers pay their own way there and work 12-hour shifts. They stay in pretty basic accommodations (last year there was a gecko living in the hotel shower) and work through terrible heat, cold, earthquakes and rainstorms. But they form a tight team that pulls together to work really well.

"It kind of brings back why I went into the profession in the beginning. When you go there, you're just able to help so many people, and they're so happy for your help," she says.

Coffin described one patient who was special to her — a boy who needed an orthopedic surgery. He showed up with his family on one of the team's last days there. She spent hours with the family, trying to get X-rays and helping them get ready to meet with a surgeon to see if the boy's clubfoot could be repaired.

"He was a teenager and had lived with it for quite a long time. By the end of that day, I knew the kid, I knew the mom, and we went to the surgeon and he said yes," Coffin says.

"This simple surgery that in the United States we wouldn't think twice about doing was such a life-changing event for this boy. He had stopped going to school; people were picking on him. ... So to bring that life change to him, it kind of fills your bank of joy for the whole year when you're not there."

The generous support from UMMS staff and others in the community has allowed University of Maryland Medical Teams to treat more than 2,000 Haitians injured in the Jan. 12 earthquake that destroyed most of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince.

The teams have performed more than 400 surgeries in addition to the triage and medical care. But the need continues, and so does the effort to raise money both internally through UMMC staff willing to donate $2 per pay period or two hours of vacation time in the Give 2 for Haiti campaign, and externally in the larger community and through philanthropic organizations.

"It is incredibly satisfying to know that we are contributing in a very meaningful way," says Karen Doyle, MBA, MS, RN, vice president for nursing and operations at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. "It is truly amazing – the number of men and women who have volunteered their services in Haiti. Equally amazing is the number of employees who have contributed significantly 'back home.' There are many individuals in the background who are scheduling staff, coordinating vaccines and passports, gathering supplies, ordering medications, packing supplies and coordinating transportation. Without these efforts, we would not be able to manage the mission. We really are fortunate to have such an amazing team."

"Serious health concerns and medical needs continue to blanket the Port-au-Prince region, and the current rainy season compounds the challenges facing an already-compromised population," says John H. Spearman, senior vice president for external affairs at UMMC, who is coordinating the Haiti effort.

The UM Medical Teams are supported by the collaborative efforts of the University of Maryland Medical Center, the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Catholic Relief Services, doing all they can to address the gap in medical care at St. François de Sales Hospital in Port-au-Prince.

UMMC employees have helped significantly in funding of the UM Medical Teams by raising more than $85,000 toward a $125,000 goal. In addition, a major campaign to raise more money beyond the Medical Center is being launched with the help of IMRE Communications, a Baltimore-based firm that is donating its services.

IMRE staff have been working with UMMC's communications staff to develop a public awareness campaign and a unique blog, called MD4Haiti, to generate contributions to support the ongoing care provided by the UM Medical Teams in Haiti.

"This is an important effort that has deep meaning for so many people in Baltimore and Maryland," says Dave Imre, partner and CEO of IMRE, a full-service marketing and public relations agency with a specialty in health care and social marketing. "We're proud to support this long-term commitment that UMMC is making to the people of Haiti and to have a role making sure that this crucial initiative will continue unimpeded."

Support is also coming from philanthropic organizations such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which is based in Baltimore.

"Our work on behalf of the Haitian patients and families is as important today as it was immediately after the earthquake," Spearman says. "We continue to deliver hope and care through the support of UMMC employees, physicians and friends."

A total of 13 UM Medical Teams have gone to Haiti, each made up of about 12 to 15 physicians, nurses, surgical technicians and other clinicians or support staff.

The teams initially focused on emergency care, orthopedic surgeries to address complications from the initial injuries and medical care for infections, and now are also helping the Haitian health care workers reestablish the country's health care system from the devastating earthquake that killed many of the country's physicians and nurses, and hundreds of nursing students.

Blood and Marrow Transplant Team Takes First Place Award, Lands on Magazine Cover

The UMMC Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) unit has won first place for "Best Nursing Team" in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, region from ADVANCE for Nurses magazine.

Dozens of nursing teams across the region submitted entry forms, and a panel of three judges evaluated the entries for initiative, adaptability, expertise and outreach.

"Receiving this award illustrates the professionalism of the nurses on the BMT team and highlights their advocacy for practicing in a way that continuously improves patient care and outcomes," says Lisa Rowen, DNSc, RN, senior vice president and chief nursing officer for UMMC.

The BMT team, led by nurse manager Amanda Choflet, BSN, RN, OCN, is featured on the cover of ADVANCE for Nurses May 3 issue.

The application for the award was written by Mylene R. de Vera, BSN, RN, OCN, a nurse on the unit, which is part of the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center.

In her application, de Vera highlighted the interdisciplinary nurse-led rounds conducted on the unit every morning. She wrote: "The attending physician, fellow, nurse practitioner, dietician, case manager, pharmacist and social worker attend the rounds. Nurses go into the report room to talk about their patients – brief history, reason for admission, present clinical problems, significant assessment findings, recommendations as well as clarifications/questions – and patient's concerns are addressed. Each member of the team plays a significant part... It is like brainstorming when we 'round,' since each member contributes toward better patient care."

UMMC has earned Quality Respiratory Care Recognition (QRCR) for the fourth year in a row.

The recognition is part of a national program aimed at helping patients and families make informed decisions about the quality of the respiratory care services available in hospitals throughout the nation.

Respiratory therapists work under physicians' orders to provide a wide range of breathing treatments and other services to people with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, lung cancer, AIDS and other lung or lung-related conditions.

Only 15 percent of hospitals in the United States have been awarded this designation that ensures they provide a level of respiratory care consistent with national standards and guidelines.

Kristin Seidl, PhD, RN, director of outcomes for nursing and patient care, and Melissa Custer, BSN, RN, a nurse in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), have been named regional finalists in the 2010 Nursing Spectrum Excellence Awards.

Seidl is a finalist in the category "Advancing and Leading the Profession." Custer is a finalist for the "Clinical Care" category. As finalists, Seidl and Custer are among 30 nurses from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia who will be honored June 8 at the annual Nursing Excellence Awards Banquet.

Progressive Care Unit Wins Beacon Award from AACN

The Progressive Care Unit (PCU) has received the prestigious Beacon Award from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). The award recognizes the top intensive care units in the country. The PCU is the next step for many heart patients who have been in the Cardiac Care Unit (CCU), which last year won the Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence from the AACN.

"I am so proud of the PCU staff. This award is very well deserved," says Karen Vojtko, RN BSN CCRN, the nurse manager for both the PCU and CCU.

The PCU is the first progressive care unit in Maryland to win this award. Progressive care is a transition from the higher-acuity critical care model for patients who are progressing but still need more care than on a typical acute floor.

To receive the award, the staff on a unit must submit an application with data demonstrating that the unit meets rigorous criteria for excellence, exhibits high-quality standards and provides exceptional care for patients and their families. The unit must also show that it fosters and sustains a healthy work environment. Units are evaluated on patient outcomes; evidence-based practice and research; leadership and organizational ethics; excellence and innovation in recruitment and retention; education, training and mentoring; and promoting healing environments.

"The PCU team has set very high standards for the level of patient care they provide," says Lisa Rowen, DNSc, RN, senior vice president and chief nursing officer. "The Beacon Award is an instantly recognizable designation that affirms the staff 's work and outcomes and tells the world that our PCU nurses provide world-class care to patients."

The AACN is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world, representing more than 400,000 nurses who work with critically ill patients.

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