This is a remarkable year for nurses. COVID-19 brought unprecedented challenges, while also highlighting the critical role nurses have in society.
As National Nurses Month comes to a close, it’s good to remember that some of life’s biggest moments are spent with a nurse, from the moment that we are born, to the days when our lives wind down, to the many stages of our lives in between. The reality is, recognizing nurses for a week, a month, or even a year doesn’t express the depth of gratitude we have for their work. To show our appreciation in our own small way here at TigerConnect, we created a special contest to celebrate our nurse heroes and the many ways they collaborate to make a difference in our lives.
We received an overwhelming number of contest entries and were thrilled to read all of the inspirational stories and ideas about how effective communication is helping nurses make a difference at their organization.
Grand prize winner – Tiffany Heart Necklace
Cynthia Fishburn, Center Nurse Executive, Genesis Healthcare
Cynthia Fishburn, Center Nurse Executive, Genesis Healthcare
Cynthia has been a registered nurse for 22 years, having worked at a small community hospital in rural New Jersey prior to moving to Maine with her husband and four children in 2004. While living in New Jersey she worked med/surg for six years. After moving to Maine, she was a unit manager at Orono Commons for seven and a half years before transferring to Harbor Hill in December 2011 as the Director of Nursing. Since 2016, Harbor Hill has maintained a deficiency-free survey and received a five-star rating. Cynthia continues to strive to improve patient outcomes as well as promote staff education and growth.
Her passion for nursing started at a very young age, where she spent much her time beginning in her pre-school years joining her grandmother at the small family-owned and operated nursing home.
Her grandmother, a nurse, instilled in her the value of hard work and caring for elders. Her grandmother never tried to glamorize the profession or hide the difficult parts. When Cynthia turned seven, her grandmother sold the nursing home and retired, but continued to care for the elderly in her home until she passed away. She is the reason Cynthia decided to go into geriatric nursing.
Cynthia maintains open lines of communication with all staff, starting with the nursing leadership team, branching out to charge nurses, med techs, and CNAs. Having been a CNA right out of high school, she appreciates open, accurate, and thorough communication from charge nurses.
“Huddles throughout the day work well. CNAs love to feel valued and their input is key to the success of the team. Huddles enable the CNAs to be heard and empowers them to give their input.”
Runners up – JBL Headphones
Sherri Hess, CNIO, Banner Health
“One way we improved communication and decreased the amount of PPE usage was using a telehealth platform in the acute care space with our specialty providers. With the coordination of the nurse and the specialist, the specialist would video conference in the patient room to assess the patient. This assisted in keeping PPE usage down and continuing high-quality patient care.”
Cynthia Coulter, CNO, Madison County Memorial Hospital
“To improve care communication and collaboration, I would establish care pads (tablet) to assign to patients to communicate needs more efficiently to nursing staff. I would also establish telemedicine with local providers to provide for collaboration with hospitalists providing patient care.”
Michelle Suave, Team Lead RN, Mayo Clinic
“Utilize tablets to assist families with communication during the perioperative process. Patients could complete a portion of their Pre-op in the waiting room and then families could receive communication from proceduralists and recovery RNs real-time.”
Toby Bressler, Director of Nursing, Mount Sinai Health System
“We were using a dry erase marker to write information about the patient on the glass doors to communicate with one another and also we write something personal about the patient.”
Jill Batson, RN, Clinical Informaticist, CHI St. Joseph Health
“TigerConnect at our facility has increased compliance with our clinicians not sending PHI via person cell texting. In my provider support role, this has been very beneficial and allows our department to be more responsive and available to both nursing and provider clinicians.”
Katherine Rippentrop, RN, Crouse Hospital
“As a surgical nurse, pain control is huge for patients. Over the years, you learn little things that can help decrease your patients’ pain, whether it be a certain position or a warm blanket. I think having a booklet of organized suggestions from a multitude of nurses of different backgrounds could provide help for pain control for patients.”
Michelle Brown, Nurse Manager, Jefferson Health
“Staff can receive a notification each time a provider enters a note on their patient to allow for the nurse to know rounds have been made.”
Becky Cowles, Clinical Nurse Supervisor, Renown Health
“TigerConnect Clinical Collaboration Platform – Standard makes communicating with other healthcare professionals safe and easy.”
Runners up continued – JBL Headphones
Carmella Pistone, Nurse Director, Orange Regional Medical Center
Natalie Nicholson, Director of Nursing, Renown Health
Pamela Bradshaw, VP, COO/CNO, Shannon Medical Center
Nathan Wadsworth, Director of Inpatient Services, Shriners Hospitals for Children
Janette Goins, Director of Nursing, Clinical Trials, UNC Medical Center
Missy Griffin, Director of Quality, USAP Colorado
Sue Erwin, AVP, Wake Forest Baptist Health
Megan Graham, RN, BSN, Ambulatory Navigator, Memorial Hospital at Gulfport
Amy Lammers, RN, ProMedica Bay Park Hospital
Tommi Cline, Clinical Nursing Director, SSM Depaul Health Center
Alice Painter, Nurse Educator, UMass Memorial Health Care
Priscilla Duong, Assistant Nurse Manager, University of California Irvine Medical Center
Robert Payette, Nurse Manager Critical Care, University of New Mexico Health Sciences
Mollie Nordgren, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Nursing, Western Governors University
Roya Monshizadeh, Clinical Manager, St. Rose Hospital
Congratulations! From all of us at TigerConnect, we sincerely thank you for all that you do.
Would you like to learn more about how our care team collaboration platform empowers nurses? Download our latest Nurse Workflows Booklet and learn how TigerConnect can help your nurse team improve your clinical collaboration.
Nurse Workflows
For Smarter Care Team Collaboration
