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Award recognizes physicians excelling in patient care, collaboration by Heather Woolwine Public Relations As part of MUSC’s continuous pursuit of excellence, the Nurse Alliance Leadership Council has developed the Monthly Magnetic MD, or M-cubed, award to recognize physicians who exhibit excellence in patient care and collaboration with nursing staff.   The first physician to receive the award was Patricia McBurney, M.D., Department of Pediatrics. Colleagues called her compassionate, studious, and devoted to her patients.   In nominating McBurney, one colleague said, “Dr. Patricia McBurney is an asset to the Department of Pediatrics. I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. McBurney since she returned to MUSC, and she is a true role model. She is caring and goes beyond the expectations of her role. She truly treats each patient and family member as if they were her only focus that day. When she is treating a complex patient, she spends hours reading, researching, calling, and consulting in order to be able to provide the best care available. A patient’s mother used to worry about her because she would see her at the nurse’s station on 7A very late at night still reading and researching on the computers in an attempt to find new information to treat and diagnose [her mother’s] daughter’s illness.   “Dr. McBurney is empathetic toward her families, and strives to communicate with them frequently. She will call families herself (as opposed to asking residents or students to do this), and accept calls from them, no matter how trivial the question or the hour of day. In pediatrics, we do not have many deaths on the general wards. Recently, there was an infant who was a DNR [do not resuscitate] while she was on service. The infant died one evening, and Dr. McBurney never left the unit. She stayed with the family during and after the death. She wanted to be sure that they knew her care and concern for them and their baby. Dr. McBurney is a great educator. She coordinates medical students, and enjoys working with them. Her teaching rounds are pertinent, and she never makes anyone feel inferior. The nurses all respect her, and are confident that she will respond to the needs of their patients and parents. I cannot think of a more deserving physician to receive this award than Dr. McBurney, and it is my pleasure to nominate her.”   The outstanding physician that is selected each month “is a cut above other physicians, as he or she can be nominated by a patient or peer for providing excellence in practice,” said Pam Smith, R.N., Children’s Emergency Department clinical operations coordinator and Nurse Alliance chair-elect.   Each month, nominations are submitted via the Intranet at http://www.musc.edu/medcenter/formsToolbox/DocAward/. A subgroup of the leadership council considers nominations following a process to remove identifiers and ensure fairness. The nominations are restarted at the beginning of the month, so if a physician does not win during a particular month, then staff may nominate him or her again.     Recipients of the award receive a certificate recognizing their achievement, as well as a bag of M&Ms. “Typically, in the medical community, these initials are seen in a negative way because they mean morbidity and mortality,” Smith said. “Physicians who present at M&M are typically in the hot seat during their presentation because of the complex issues involved, so to put a positive spin on these typically negative initials, we present them with the bag of candy.”     Friday, June 9, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publication at 849-1778, ext. 201.