May 18, 2016

51816nursesweek640It’s hard to contain the celebration of nursing to just one week at Texas Children’s. Every day there are inspirational stories that demonstrate how our nurses go above and beyond to advance patient care and enhance patient experience and outcomes.

Besides the exceptional, around-the-clock care they provide our patients, one distinct attribute that patient families admire the most about our nurses – their compassion.

Their endless compassion, comfort and support can be seen and felt across the entire organization. A nurse clutching the hands of a parent who just received tough news about their child. A nurse standing by the patient’s bedside whose family can’t be there during treatments. A nurse exchanging family time during holidays and weekends to spend time with families in the hospital. A nurse calming a mother’s fear as she prepares to give birth to her first child. As you can see, nurses leave a lasting impression on every patient and they are at the core of the experience patients have while in our care.

As we saluted nurses across the country, from May 6 to May 12, Texas Children’s celebrated our amazing team of more than 3,000 nurses. This video spotlight celebrates our nurses’ successes, accomplishments and the daily contributions they make to our patients and families at Texas Children’s.

Nurses Week activities

The theme for Nurses Week this year was Culture of Safety: It Begins with You. Texas Children’s Nursing Retention Council organized several activities that centered on health and wellness to remind our nurses how important it is to take care of themselves so they can provide the best and safest care to their patients.

Activities included educational presentations, Bike to Work Day, blessing of the hands, a Fiesta Friday bar and photo booth, massages, yoga, a healthy cooking demo and cake deliveries.

On May 10, Nursing leadership hosted the Nursing Excellence Awards luncheon honoring eight recipients for their commitment to improving nursing care and patient outcomes.

The award honorees included:

  • Staff Nurse of the year: Leah Garza
  •  Preceptor of the year: Evelyn Barren
  •  Rookie of the year: Amy Aaronson
  •  Certified nurse of the year: Christopher Sturrock
  •  Leader of the year: Amanda Wollam
  •  Teams of the Year: Central Line Maintenance and Hygiene
  •  APRN of the year: Colleen Brand
  •  Friend of Nursing: Dr. Kevin Roy

View a photo gallery below of the awards luncheon and other activities.

The Houston Chronicle Salute to Nurses included Ann Demny from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Saeed Yacouby from Anesthesiology who were among the top 10 award recipients.

Click here for more on the Houston Chronicle Salute to Nurses honorees.

In addition to the two nurses honored in the top 10, 23 Texas Children’s nurses were recognized as being among the top 150 in the Greater Houston area.

Lindsay Broom
Lisa Davenport
Sheranda Fesler
Holly Gregersen
Stephanie Gruner
Diana Harter
Amy Hemingway
Kellie Kainer
Jason McMullen
Leilani Mijares
Mary Beth Murphy
Gigi Neidinger
Tanya Nelson
Jacqueline Newton
Jonathan Rangel
Guillermo Reyes
Leslie Santos
Aleida Stark
Lois Tracy
Sharon Wahl
Becky White
Amanda Wollam
Pamela Zimmerman

To learn more about Nursing at Texas Children’s, click here to view By the Numbers.

May 10, 2016

51116CancerCenternursingconference640Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers held its inaugural “No one fights alone: enhancing nursing care of the pediatric hematology/oncology patient” conference at Texas Children’s last month. The conference provided pediatric hematology/oncology nurses with opportunities for professional enrichment and to gain industry connections to help improve the overall health and outcomes of their patients.

More than 70 participants from hospitals all across the southern region of the U.S. were in attendance and educated on the current and emerging trends in care such as popular diagnostic features, revolutionary therapies and recommended symptom management.

Numerous sessions were held during the three-day event, including a presentation on the latest therapy treatment for neuroblastoma, a survivor panel and a discussion about Texas Children’s work on the inclusion of screening for severe combined immune deficiencies in the Texas state newborn screening. This newborn screening has led to early detection and successful treatment with bone marrow transplants here at Texas Children’s. Participants also enjoyed a session on symptom management for pediatric oncology patients by keynote speaker, Dr. Marilyn Hockenberry.

Hockenberry currently serves as the associate dean for research at the Duke University School of Nursing and has over 30 years of experience in pediatric oncology nursing, almost 20 of which were spent at Texas Children’s. She was the first director and pioneer of the Nurse Practitioner (NP) program at Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers and introduced the NP post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) procedure team and the NP graduate fellowship program.

The conference concluded with a special, inspirational performance by Purple Songs Can Fly, a partner of the Periwinkle Arts In Medicine program at Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers that provides patients the opportunity to write, record and share their own songs.

May 3, 2016

5416NursesWeek640This year’s National Nurses Week theme is “Culture of Safety: It Starts with You,” which perfectly describes what our more than 3,000 nurses do every day at Texas Children’s. From reducing central line infections to preventing pressure ulcers to helping a child walk down the hallway after surgery, our nurses are leading change, advocating and caring for our patients and improving their outcomes.

To celebrate our amazing nurses and their nursing colleagues around the country, May 6 through May 12 is designated as National Nurses Week. Each year during this time, we pause to recognize and applaud the successes, accomplishments and contributions that our nurses make to their patients and their profession.

The Nursing Retention Council has taken great pride in developing a schedule of events that are designed to ensure that nurses from across our system know how deeply valued they are. This Friday, May 6, will kick off an exciting week full of memorable events, activities and educational opportunities, including fun activities for nurses on their individual units.

On Tuesday, May 17, Connect will feature event highlights from Nurses Week, including special recognitions of our 2016 Nursing Excellence Awards winners as well as our nurses who have been recognized among the Houston Chronicle Salute to Nurses Top 150 and Top 10.

For a complete schedule of Nurses Week activities, click here and to view the recent By the Numbers flyer spotlighting Nursing at Texas Children’s, click here.

March 8, 2016

38165northceleb350Texas Children’s recently held a ribbon cutting to officially mark the opening of the newly renovated 16-bed acute inpatient care unit at 5 North Abercrombie.

The unit opened one week ahead of schedule on February 26 following last month’s flooding caused by a damaged water line that impacted patient care areas of 7 South Abercrombie. To optimize patient flow, the accelerated opening of the unit was successfully achieved as a result of meticulous collaboration and coordination from our clinical and nonclinical leadership and staff across the organization.

Dedicated leaders and employees representing several departments – Facilities, Nursing, Information Services, Security, Supply Chain, Bio-med, Environmental Services and Ancillary Services – met twice each day to ensure the successful opening of 5 North.

“Several crews worked overtime to ensure the unit construction was complete and all patient supplies and equipment were in place prior to the delivery of patient care,” said Monica Simmons, assistant clinical director for the patient units in Abercrombie. “A specific emphasis was placed on ensuring emergency routes were tested to allow for safe patient transport to critical care when needed.”

Prior to opening the unit, a Simulation-based Clinical System Test was conducted to identify and correct any latent safety concerns in the newly renovated hospital environment, systems and processes of care.

“Since the unit was new, it was ideal to use simulation to stress the emergency response systems, codes or other high-risk or high-impact patient care scenarios before actually putting patients in the unit,” said Dr. Jennifer Arnold, medical director of Texas Children’s Simulation Center.

The clinical staff at 5 North participated in several simulations including scenarios on an RRT to code response, an adult IMT to code response and a security response scenario. These simulations ensured that our response teams were aware of the location, the equipment and supplies for emergency response were available and staff members were prepared to respond to all types of medical emergencies.

Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) is the primary admitting service to Abercrombie and consistently partners with acute care nursing to care for children with a variety of pediatric illnesses.

“Fostering a culture of family-centered, effective and efficient patient care has been the mission of PHM and the care teams in Abercrombie are key collaborators in this effort,” said Dr. Brent Mothner, medical director of Abercrombie. “Patient care, safety, and overall family satisfaction are our top priority. The tireless effort by nursing and hospital leadership to create this unit and rise to the challenge are a testament to their dedication to our patients.”

February 23, 2016

22416SSAngelinaRangelinside175Angelina Rangel of Nursing Professional Development is the latest Texas Children’s Super Star leader. “A super star is someone who is constantly striving to improve, constantly learning, working to be the best they can be as a person and as a coworker,” Rangel said. “Also this person takes ownership.” Read more of Rangel’s interview and find out how you can nominate a Super Star

Q&A: Angelina Rangel, October – December 2015 Leader

Your name, title and department. How long have you worked here?
Angie Rangel, MSN, RN, CCRN, LNC – Assistant Director of Nursing Professional Development. I have been at Texas Children’s Hospital for 24 years.

What month are you Super Star for?
October – December 2015

Tell us how you found out you won a super star award.
My leader set up a meeting to discuss events for the week. He asked me meet him in the conference room. When I arrived at the conference room, the entire team from Nursing Professional Development was there to surprise me with cake, food and gifts.

What does it mean to be recognized for the hard work you do? How has the organization helped you achieve your personal and professional goals?
I was touched and honored by this recognition. Prior to being employed at Texas Children’s, one of my personal goals was to find an organization where I felt good about going to work. A positive work environment gives any employee motivation throughout the day. I started my career at Texas Children’s as a registered nurse in the NICU-3 in 1991. Honestly I don’t remember a day when I did not feel valued and appreciated by my coworkers and leaders. In turn, I appreciate all of my colleagues as well. With the support of Texas Children’s Hospital’s tuition reimbursement program, I was able to go back to school for MSN/MBA and advance my career from bedside nurse to charge, preceptor, educator, manager and currently as the assistant director of Nursing Professional Development. In every role that I have held, I have felt appreciated and recognized for even the small things that I felt that really didn’t matter. Texas Children’s is a great place to work.

What do you think makes someone at Texas Children’s a super star?
Someone who is constantly striving to improve, constantly learning, working to be the best they can be as a person and as a coworker. Someone who takes ownership, and apologizes if appropriate. Someone who brings high energy, commitment and enthusiasms that causes others around them to respond positively.

What is your motivation for going above and beyond every day at work?
When one feels valued and appreciated, it is a natural motivation to go above and beyond.

What is the best thing about working at Texas Children’s?
As social beings, we naturally seek support from our peers and seek to belong to a group. I found the sense of unity with every team that I have had the privilege of working with at Texas Children’s. A strong team spirit. I appreciate the acceptance and tolerance of differences in perspectives and working styles between team mates. I especially am blessed to be working alongside my current teammates and leaders. There is such cohesiveness among this team.

What does it mean to you that everyone at Texas Children’s is considered a leader? What is your leadership definition?
It means that everyone has a voice. It means leading a life of action. Taking action in your own life, and making the changes that you want to see and focusing on the things you can control. Leadership is a style of persuading. It is about setting an example of inspiration and service. A true leader is a servant, ethical and authentic.

Anything else you want to share?
     Many years ago my father told me “if you want to be a leader, you need to be a servant”. Although at that time, I didn’t understand his statement. But later I understood exactly what he meant. The idea of servant leadership isn’t new. Robert K. Greenleaf first coined the term servant-leadership in a 1970 essay.
     In his works, Greenleaf discusses the need for a better approach to leadership, one that puts serving others – including employees, customers, and community – as the number one priority. Servant leadership emphasizes increased service to others, a holistic approach to work, promoting a sense of community, and the sharing of power in decision making. In his works, Greenleaf discusses the need for a better approach to leadership, one that puts serving others – including employees, customers, and community – as the number one priority. Servant leadership emphasizes increased service to others, a holistic approach to work, promoting a sense of community, and the sharing of power in decision making.
     Some of the characteristics of the servant leader are what I see in the leaders that I work with at Texas Children’s. I have seen the servant leader characteristics in the staff from environmental services to Mr. Mark Wallace. That is why this organization is where it is today. I thank God that I am part of this great organization with leaders who exhibit the philosophy and model of a servant leader. Some of the characteristics of the servant leader are what I see in the leaders that I work with at Texas Children’s. I have seen the servant leader characteristics in the staff from environmental services to Mr. Mark Wallace. That is why this organization is where it is today. I thank God that I am part of this great organization with leaders who exhibit the philosophy and model of a servant leader.

January 12, 2016

11316perioperativeinside640If you ask Nakeisha Archer, president-elect of the Greater Houston Chapter of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), who inspired her to pursue nursing, there’s one person who comes to mind – her grandmother.

“When I was a little girl, my grandmother shared stories about how she loved taking care of patients in their homes,” Archer said. “She was a private duty nurse and the joy she derived from helping others motivated me to become a nurse.”

After graduating from nursing school with several clinical rotations under her belt, Archer spent six years as a labor and delivery nurse, which included a few years as a travel nurse. Before obtaining her MBA in health care management, she realized her niche was in the operating room (OR).

“I spent a lot of time in the OR as a labor and delivery nurse but I knew there was more to learn,” Archer said. “After completing a perioperative internship program, that’s when my passion for periop began.”

As assistant director of Perioperative Services at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, Archer leads a dynamic team of more than 40 nurses who assist with the planning, implementation and evaluation of patient care before, during and after surgery. These activities include patient assessment, creating and maintaining a sterile and safe surgical environment, providing pre- and post-operative patient education, monitoring the patient’s physical and emotional well-being and working closely with the surgical team to provide safe patient care during each phase of the surgical care process. Archer also collaborates with her non-nursing team whose roles are critical to the perioperative process. These include secretaries who schedule new cases, surgical technologists who scrub the cases, and perioperative care technicians and anesthesia technicians who provide specialized team support.

“Perioperative includes the entire surgical experience,” Archer said. “We see between 175 to 210 cases per month which include open, robotic and laparoscopic surgeries to treat a number of gynecological conditions including cancers, urological issues, as well as general surgery, fetal interventions, caesarean deliveries and in vitro fertilization procedures.”

The Pavilion for Women has four Main OR’s, two OR’s in labor and delivery, one procedure suite in the Main OR, and two procedure rooms in the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Clinic. Two more Pavilion for Women Main OR surgical suites will open in May 2016 bringing the total to six OR’s to meet the increasing demand for perioperative services.

Archer says the need to hire and retain experienced perioperative nurses to fill these new positions is one of her top priorities. She says the best way to home “grow” our nursing staff is by providing consistent educational tools and internship programs to cultivate their skills so they can easily adapt to this fast-growing nursing specialty.

“We have a lot of openings right now in periop on the Pavilion side because we’re growing,” Archer said. “Most hospitals that do not have a shortage of experienced OR nurses offer a consistent internship and residency program every six months. When you keep that pipeline going and keep those nurses coming in and consistently train them, they will be ready to be placed in their new roles.”

Since joining the Pavilion for Women two years ago, Archer is thrilled to offer the second perioperative internship program for nurses later this month. This endeavor, which will continue every six months, is part of a joint partnership with Texas Children’s Pediatric Perioperative Services.

When Archer assumes her position as AORN president in May, her passion to advance educational opportunities for nurses will be one of her primary goals.

“One of the things that I think we as leaders don’t always do is have a really good succession plan for our nurse leaders as well as our nurses who are leading at the bedside,” Archer said. “We need to provide them with opportunities to grow and re-energize their periop voices by engaging members around issues that impact them.”

Leading a multi-generational nursing workforce has become a tremendous challenge too. Archer plans to collaborate with nursing leaders to help reframe perceptions about generational differences and to view these attitudinal and behavioral differences as potential strengths.

While much of Archer’s day is spent attending meetings, rounding with nursing and physician staff and staying abreast of all the cases scheduled for each day, she says at the end of the day, her greatest joy is taking care of her patients – just like her grandmother did.

“On a really good day, I can go to our waiting area and have conversations with some of the patients and families, and make sure that things are going well,” Archer said. “That’s really the fun parts of the job. If we could do that all day, it would be really good.”

December 22, 2015

122315nurseresident640The July 2015 class of nurse residents were recognized at their graduation ceremony on December 10. Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre delivered an inspirational welcome to the graduates and guests – encouraging the graduates to get involved and to stay connected with their fellow nurse residents.

The 47 graduates were applauded by proud friends, family members, co-workers and leaders as they received their certificates. Each nurse resident was required to select a project to work on during their residency. The posters illustrating their respective projects were on display at the graduation ceremony. All attendees were encouraged to view the poster projects and graduates were available to respond to questions.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, graduates and their guests enjoyed refreshments.

Nursing Professional Development Specialist Megnon Stewart, who shepherded the graduates through their residency program, described the July 2015 class as “extraordinary. The nurse residents went above and beyond to give back to their units as shown through their evidence based and/or quality improvement projects.”

Stewart also recognized Clinical Training and Development Coordinator Jaime Choate who helped co-lead the group; as well as the educators, clinical nurse specialists and the nurse residents preceptors who ensured that each resident had a successful orientation.