Return to Main Menu

White honored with excellence in nursing award  Ambulatory Care Services held the annual Recognition and Presentation luncheon for the Jane Rothaermel Award for Excellence in Nursing Leadership on Nov. 4  at the Wickliffe House.   Each year, Ambulatory Care Services recognizes a registered nurse whose professional achievement and contributions exemplify excellence in leadership in ambulatory care nursing.    This year’s nominees for the award were: Deborah Adams, R.N., clinical care coordinator, Family Medicine; Kathy Morris, R.N., clinical care coordinator, Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery; and Sue White, R.N., clinical care coordinator, Pediatric Primary Care.   At the luncheon, Sherry Gillespie Miller, clinical director, read excerpts from the nominations for each of the nominees. Ambulatory Cares administrator Dave Neff also invited faculty members and managers attending with nominees for additional comments about Adams, Morris, and White, each of whom demonstrated outstanding leadership skills and made a positive impact in their respective clinics. The nominees received a certificate and a corsage in recognition.   White is this year's award recipient. The recipient of this year’s Jane Rothaennel Excellence Award is nurse Sue White, center. With White are Kathy Sellers, from left, Dr. Kristine Gustafson, Dr. Paul Darden, Dr. Routt Reigart, and Dr. Carol Dobos. The award was established in 1995 to the honor and memory of Jane Rothaermel, who was the nursing manager of Medical Surgical Subspecialities. She is remembered fondly by those who worked with her, not only for her excellent leadership skills and professionalism, but also for the compassion and caring that she demonstrated.   The following are excerpts from White's nominations. “Sue has been an innovative manger who works closely with her staff to get them to see and believe in changes that need to occur to benefit patients.  She was instrumental in changing the delivery of care in PPC to accomplish not only implementation of the AAACN standards of care, but also to impact  patient wait-time in the clinic. Under her leadership, nurses are assessing and planning care delivery before a physician sees a patient. Many times, patients wait up to 30 minutes in a room. Nurses in primary care are using this time to perform routine procedures, administer immunizations and provide age and diagnosis- appropriate parent/patient teaching. This new approach to the patient visit was valued and supported by physicians working in PPC.” “Sue currently has three of her four registered nurses pursuing the career ladder for clinical nurse leader designation. This would not have happened were it not for her encouragement as a leader and her ability to identify staff to pursue this goal. In addition, she helped them to determine an area of focus that benefits their professional growth as well as the growth of the unit.” “All the clinical care coordinators in Pediatric Ambulatory Care agree that Sue helped each one of us view situations in a different light, and her management expertise influenced group decisions as well as how each CCC manages individual employee events. As we move forward with Hardwiring for Excellence and identifying those success stories and units that work, Sue’s PPC unit has become the model that we are all striving to achieve.” “Under Sue’s leadership PPC holds interdisciplinary team conferences on a monthly basis. The team includes all nurses, PCT’s, physicians, social workers, and registration staff. Other staff are invited as appropriate. I attended these meetings as a guest and the collegial relationships are evident. All those present discuss issues and agree on plans to resolve problems or make decisions on how to handle unit issues.” “Sue recognizes that in order to drive unit initiatives forward, staff needs must also be met. Her staff approached her with the idea of working 10-hour shifts. Sue was able to implement a contracted, written agreement with her staff to try nine-hour shifts. Each staff member has a half day off each week, overtime is not incurred and staff  increased their satisfaction because they believe their manager is trying to address their needs. This change required cooperation from all staff members to be successful and required adaptability on Sue’s part to think outside the box in making staff schedule changes happen.” “PPC is one of the few units in Pediatric Ambulatory Care to successfully implement the electronic medical record. All staff, physicians, scheduling, social work and nursing use all aspects of the electronic record and no paper charts are created. Sue was chosen by her peers to present this success story at the 2004 NACHRI conference.” “Sue is a highly competent, calm manager who is able to participate in all levels of patient care in her area. Her ability to shift from manager to staff nurse allows staff to attend in-services, committees and participate together in elevating the standard of care in PPC. By assuming the role of staff nurse, Sue demonstrates those qualities she believes are important in the practice arena: safety, quality care, and education, so families can make informed decisions about their child’s care.”   Family Medicine nurse Deborah Adams, left, second from right, was nominated for the award. With Adams is Dr. Barry Hainer, from left, Dr. Carolyn Thiedke, and Paul Provenzano. Left photo: Nurse Kathy Morris, center, was one of three nominated for the award. With her are Dave Neff and Sherry Gillespie Miller. In addition to receiving an engraved plaque and a floral basket, White will have the opportunity to attend a professional nursing meeting. Her name was added to the Jane Rothaermel Excellence Award perpetual plaque, which will hang in Pediatric Primary Care this year. Friday, Dec. 2, 2005 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 petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.