Volume 12│Issue 1│Spring 2021 Carilion Medical Center, 1906 Bel leview Ave, Roanoke, VA 24014 https://www.insidecarilion.org/hub/nursing -research-evidence-based-practice nursingresearch@carilionclinic.org (540)266 -6216
Farewell from a CNS: 4 Decades of a satisfying and rewarding career Cathy Jennings, DNP, RN, ACNS-BC, FNAP
Nursing colleagues and friends, I have been asked to share some thoughts with you as I prepare to retire from Carilion after 38 incredible years. It is so very bittersweet to leave the place and people who have shaped my career and raised me from a baby nurse! While I have limited wisdom to give to you, I want to take this opportunity to tell you how very proud I am of the huge progress we have made in Nursing research, quality improvement, and evidence-based practice (EBP) work here over the past 4 decades. This year, I am celebrating my 41st year in nursing since completing my BSN. Though it happened so many years ago, I still recall taking the nursing research course, a class in which I had little interest but was required to complete to graduate. “I cannot imagine ever being a researcher because I want to TAKE CARE OF PATIENTS, not do research,” I believe I said on more than one occasion! Little did I know then that years later I would BECOME a nurse researcher to take EVEN BETTER care of patients. I did not realize then how much I would grow to appreciate the critical importance and broad reach of clinical nursing research. As a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), my career focus has been the clinical care, education, navigation, and support of the cardiac surgery patient population and care team. My CNS colleagues and I have been leaders or participants with our nurses in many quality improvement and evidence-based practice projects over the years. Carilion nurses have historically loved learning, growing, thinking creatively, and supporting patients and their families to manage their own health. In the early 2000s, however, the focus on nursing inquiry intensified here. In 2003, Carilion Medical Center received its first MAGNET® designation. Implementation and incorporation of clinical research and inquiry are pillars of the American Nurses’ Credentialing Center’s MAGNET Recognition Program®. In 2006, several nurse colleagues and I entered a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree program. This education, supported by Carilion, had long been a dream of mine, and it provided the tools and ignited my interest in conducting clinical nursing research. In 2007, with the encouragement and full support of forward-thinking Nurse Executive Nancy Agee and Chief Nursing Officer Carolyn Webster, a new nursing role was introduced at Carilion to encourage and mentor our nurses in research and inquiry. The first Senior Director of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice, Dr. Rebecca Culver Clark, solidified Carilion’s research agenda by forming the Nursing Research Council (which included frontline, leadership, and nursing faculty members) and founding the Nursing Research Fellowship. Now led by Dr. Kimberly Ferren Carter, Senior Director of Nursing Research, EBP, and Excellence, the Nursing Research Fellowship is in its 11th year and has showcased the work of more than 30 Nursing Research Fellows to date. As nursing research work at Carilion has grown, so has our culture of inquiry. Carilion nurses have completed an astounding number of research and quality improvement projects, and the body of work only continues to grow! Study topics include postoperative hypothermia, cardiac rehabilitation, pain and delirium assessment, interprofessional team work, yoga therapy, influenza vaccinations, chest tube dressings/care, unplanned extubations, sleep enhancement, sternotomy dressings, specialty readmissions, moral distress, and breast supports … and the list goes on and on! The 2019-2020 Magnet Research Chart (ask Magnet Coordinator Pam Lindsey to share it with you if you have not seen it) includes 24 Nursing studies. Without a doubt, Carilion has become a solid center of excellence for Nursing research, quality improvement, and evidence-based practice work. Continued on page 3
Carilion Clinic Roanoke Campus