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Awards and Recognition
ChristianaCare Way Awards
The annual ChristianaCare Way Awards recognize outstanding performance improvement work by nurses and other caregivers, demonstrating our commitment to being exceptional today and even better tomorrow. This year, 90 teams submitted entries. Award-winning initiatives with nurse leads, co-leads or team members are listed here.
President’s Award
The Wilmington Cardiac Care Unit: The Right Care in the Right Place
(Award presentation pictured above.)
Innovative Tools Award
How Images and Electronic Workflow Improve Pressure Injury Identification
Organizational Vitality Gold Award
Reimagining Diabetes Patient Education Throughout the Continuum of Care
Magnet New Knowledge, Innovations and Improvements Award
Decrease the Cycle Time from Discharge Order Entered Until Room Ready
Value Award
From Program Offering to Best in ClassTransforming the Structural Heart Program
Magnet Transformational Leadership Award
Promoting Nurse Driven Mobility of Patients with Spinal Cord Injuries in the SCCC
Health Equity Gold Award
Reducing Racial Disparity in Postpartum BP Readmissions Through Care Standardization
Exceptional Experience Gold Award
Timeliness of Service at ChristianaCare HomeHealth
Optimal Health Quality Gold Award
The International Dysphagia Diet (IDD): Patient Safety Speaks a Common Language
Resident’s Award
Postpartum Diabetes Screening
Magnet Exemplary Professional Practice Award
Pediatric Passport: Safe Passage Through Improved Documentation
Transformation Gold Award
Zero to 62 in 3.9 Months: How 62 Teams of Caregivers Launched Virtual Care
Optimal Health Safety Gold Award
OB Emergency Response Team (OBERT) Simulation Training Improves Patient Outcomes
Exceptional Experience Silver Award
Ambulatory Infusion Improving Patient Access to Ambulatory Infusion Care
Population Health Award
Innovative Tools and Effective Care Coordination Reduce Heart Failure Admissions
Optimal Health Safety Silver Award
NEWS Alert: Getting Ahead of Patient Harm
Strategic Partnerships Award
CareVio COVID-19 External Business Employee Monitoring Program
Optimal Health Quality Bronze Award
Forward Thinking: Innovative Strategies for an LVO Protocol
Transformation Silver Award
The CANDOR Program: We Tell the Truth with Courage and Empathy
Magnet Structural Empowerment Award
Reduce Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) in HomeHealth
Extraordinary People Silver Award
The Pandemic Playbook: A Strategic Walk into the Unknown
Optimal Health Quality Honorable Mention Award
Improving Compliance to the Wake Up and Breathe Protocol
Health Equity Silver Award
Addressing Social Determinants Improves Overall Health
Organizational Vitality Bronze Award
Eliminating Mom’s Delay and Decreasing Length of Stay
People’s Choice Award
Caring for Our Caregivers During COVID- 19
Excellence in Nursing Awards
The annual Excellence in Nursing Awards spotlight exceptional ChristianaCare nurses. To adhere to social distancing during COVID-19, the awards were presented individually in 2020 to 90 nurses.
National and regional nursing-specific awards
Ric Cuming, Ed.D., RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, chief nurse executive of ChristianaCare and president of ChristianaCare HomeHealth, was named to the board of the DAISY Foundation. Dannette Mitchell, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, CCRN, clinical nurse specialist on Wilmington Campus Intensive Care and Transitional Care units, was awarded the 2020 Circle of Excellence Award from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Leslie Verucci, MSN, RN, CNS, CRNP, APRN-BC, was honored with the 2020 Advocate State Award for Excellence from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Delaware Today magazine’s 2020 list of Top Nurses included 95 nurses from ChristianaCare. The list represents the full spectrum of care areas, from acute to ambulatory to rehabilitation and HomeHealth, at all levels of nursing practice.
ChristianaCare recognized some of its most extraordinary caregivers in a virtual Champions of Service Awards celebration, coordinated with participation in the Jefferson Awards community service program.
These caregivers received 2020 ChristianaCare Jefferson Awards for their passion for service in our community.
Annamarie Flick, MSN, RN-BC, NE-BC
Raquel Spencer, MSN, RN, CPHRM
Champions of Service Awards
In concert with the Jefferson Awards, ChristianaCare honors individuals and groups each year with Champions of Service Awards. This year’s ChristianaCare nurses receiving an award were:
Elizabeth (Beth) Acton, MSN, RN, VA-BC
Alexandra Colin, MSN, RN, CCRN-K
Christopher Otto, MSN, RN, CHFN, PCCN, CCRN
Sonya Stover, MSN, RN, CCRN, NE-BC
ChristianaCare Magnet Nurse of the Year
A big shoutout to Stacey Byam, MSN, RN IV, AGCNS-BC, PCCN, in Newark Campus’s Transitional Surgical Unit. Byam is ChristianaCare’s 2020 Magnet Nurse of the Year. A member of ChristianaCare’s Interprofessional Ethics Committee and consultation service, Byam is a determined advocate for health equity for LGBTQ patients, leadership in ethical clinical practice and improvements in surgical patient throughput and handoff.
DAISY Awards
The international DAISY Awards for Extraordinary Nurses acknowledge nurses who meet and exceed patient and family needs and expectations by displaying exceptional clinical skills, compassion, respect and partnership. ChristianaCare’s Professional Nurse Council selects ChristianaCare awardees from patient, family and colleague nominations. Congratulations to our 2020 DAISY Awards recipients.
Corinne Banter, BSN, BS, RN
Surgical Unit, Newark Campus
Megan Bastianelli Sungail, MSN, RN III-BC
4D Surgical Stepdown Unit, Newark Campus
Karla Hasben, ADN, RN-BC
Inpatient Psychiatry Unit, Wilmington Campus
Laura Klein, BSN, RN-BC
4D Surgical Unit, Newark Campus
Taylor Murphy, BSN, RN, CCRN
Cardiovascular Critical Care Complex
Kelin Stanley, BSN, RN-BC
Center for Advanced Joint Replacement
Melanie Sweeney-Smolka, LPN
ChristianaCare HomeHealth
Elsa Szczerba, BSN, RN
Surgical Critical Care Complex
Gillian Tilley, BSN, RN, CEN, TCRN
Heart and Vascular Interventional Services Virtual Interventional Labs
Jenna Townsend, RN
Labor and Delivery Team, Newark Campus
Inaugural 2020 HealthImpact
DAISY Nurse Leader Award
Annamarie Flick, MSN, RN-BC, NE-BC
5B Medical Unit, Newark Campus
2020 DAISY Nurse Leader Award
Dennis Harris Jr., MSN, MA Ed., RN-BC,
NE-BC Acute Care of the Elderly Unit
2020 DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award
Nora Katurakes, MSN, RN, OCN
Community Health Outreach and
Education
2020 DAISY Team Award Surgical Critical Care Complex
Beacon Award for Excellence
The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes caregivers in outstanding units whose consistent and systematic approach to evidencebased care optimizes patient outcomes.
In 2020, ChristianaCare’s Transitional Medical Unit (TMU) earned a Silver Beacon Award for excellence in professional nursing practice, optimal patient outcomes and exceptional experiences for critically ill patients and their families.
Of the seven Beacon Award winning patient care units in Delaware, six are at ChristianaCare. They are the Transitional Medical Unit, Transitional Surgical Unit, Neuro Critical Unit, Cardiovascular Critical Care Complex, Medical Intensive Care Unit and Cardiology Short Stay Unit.
Development Support Helping health care heroes
Nearly 800 ChristianaCare neighbors supported the ChristianaCare Caregiver Relief Fund. The Fund supported ChristianaCare nurses and other caregivers who faced unexpected challenges—such as school and daycare support, meals and temporary housing— while protecting and healing our community during the COVID-19 crisis.
In total, the Fund raised more than $360,000, thanks to a matching $100,000 pledge from generous donors Dan and Susan Katzin (pictured).
Junior Board supports the healing power of touch
Healing Touch therapy is a form of energy healing used to decrease pain, nausea, anxiety and more in patients. ChristianaCare’s Systemwide Pain Committee worked with Stacy Noel, BSN, MSN, nursing professional development specialist, to start a Healing Touch program in the health system. To help get it off the ground during a pandemic, ChristianaCare’s Junior Board made a generous gift of $3,600. The gift supported the Healing Touch training of 24 nurses, helping to drive ChristianaCare’s longer-term plan to implement Healing Touch and other integrative therapy across all campuses and practice settings.
New Knowledge, Innovations and Improvement
ChristianaCare Nursing and HomeHealth caregivers never rest with the status quo. They continuously seek new knowledge and pursue innovations and improvements, using evidence to build new models of care, change policies and drive outcomes.
Advancing evidence-based practice
Evidence-Based Practice Fellowship
ChristianaCare’s Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Fellowship uses the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice model. The nine-month mentorship program helps clinical nurses develop their leadership, problem-solving and critical EBP competency skills. An EBP Mentor—clinical nurse specialist, educator or other expert—mentors fellows in the development, implementation and evaluation of EBP initiatives.
EBP Facilitators: Michelle McHugh, MSN, RN, VA-BC and Karen Allicock, MSN, RN, NPD-BC
2020 Evidence-Based fellows’ projects include:
Use of incentive spirometry in postoperative abdominal patients
Fellows: Tricia Harvey, BSN, RN-BC and Natalie Roddy, BSN, RN-BC Mentor: Denise Lottero, MSN, MSM, RN, NE-BC, CNOR
Deimplementation of checking gastric residual volume in patients receiving enteral nutrition through external access devices
Fellows: Lisa Markiewicz, MSN, MSM, RN, CCRN and Angela Drenth, BSN, RN Mentor: Susan Birkhoff, Ph.D., RN
Decreasing patient falls in stroke patients
Fellow: Kathleen King, BSN, RN Mentor: Jamie Ayala, DNP, RN, NE-BC, RN-BC
Use of continuous noninvasive blood pressure (cNIBP) monitoring and patient outcomes
Fellows: Deb Wambold, BSN, RN, CEN and Christina Hoddinott, MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN Mentor: Doreen Nord, MSN, RN, CEN, NPD-BC
Venipuncture/line placement on the side of axillary node dissection
Fellow: Kristen Otlowski, BSN, RN, OCN Mentors: Kate Shady, BSN, BA, RN, CCLS, OCN and Courtney Crannell, DNP, MSN,OCN, NE-BC
Nurse-led Lean Six Sigma Black Belt projects
ChristianaCare’s rigorous Lean Six Sigma program enables nurses to advance their leadership skills using process-improvement methodologies designed to improve patient experience, clinical effectiveness and organizational vitality. In 2020, Gwen Ebbert, MSN, BA, RN-BC, CPHQ, and Carmen Pal, MSN, MBA, RN, were certified as Lean Six Sigma Black Belts for their joint project—Decrease the Cycle Time from Discharge Order Entered Until Room Ready—which also received a ChristianaCare Way Award.
Out with the old, in with the new surveys
To make it as easy and efficient as possible for patients to share assessments of their care experiences, ChristianaCare Nursing and Patient Experience teams instituted digital NRC Health Patient Experience surveys and real-time feedback management for caregivers.
The process begins with a brief digital survey, created in consultation with nurses, sent to a patient after an ambulatory or acute care experience. The survey collects a mix of openended and fixed feedback via Interactive Voice Response, text or email. Negative comments trigger an alert to our Patient Experience team.
Since replacing non-HCAHPS patient satisfaction surveys with the NRC digital surveys in April 2020, patient response rates have increased from 18% to 40%.
Nurse-led research
Impacting Oncology Patients’ Anxiety and Self-efficacy Using Virtual Reality
Susan Birkhoff, Ph.D., RN, Cindy Waddington, MSN, RN, AOCN, NE-BC, Jordan Williams, BSN, RN, OCN, Leslie Verucci, MSN, APRN-BC, Maureen Dominelli, BSN, RN and Richard Caplan, Ph.D. found that after watching a virtual reality educational video, first time chemotherapy patients’ anxiety levels decreased and their perceived ability to cope with chemotherapy increased.
An exploration of characteristics and behavioral traits of DAISY honorees and nominees: A qualitative study
Julie McCulloh Nair, Ph.D., RN, APHN-BC, CCRE, Paige Merring, BSN, RN, CCRN and Bradley Jones, BSN, RN-BC, with outside researcher Senem Guney, Ph.D., CPXP found DAISY nurses are highly engaged in care, create a positive environment of care and are dedicated to care and competence of care.
Barriers to Care and Root Cause Analysis of LGBTQ+ Patients’ Experiences: A Qualitative Study
Julie McCulloh Nair, Ph.D., RN, APHN-BC, CCRE, Alex Waad, MA, Stacey Byam, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, PCCN, Madeline Maher, BSN, RN, and ChristianaCare’s Health Equity team explored the barriers to quality care faced by the LGBTQ+ communities, finding found three primary themes across the cases: lack of provider knowledge, lack of patient-centered care and lack of institutional infrastructures associated with providing affirming care to LGBTQ+ individuals.
Facilitators and Challenges in the Adoption of a Virtual Nurse Visit in the Home Health Setting
Susan D. Birkhoff Ph.D., RN, Julie McCulloh Nair Ph.D., RN, APHN-BC, CCRE, Kelly Bald BS, RN, HCS-O, HCS-D, Tracey Frankum BSN, RN, Sophie R. Sanchez and Alicia L. Salvatore DrPH, MPH explored heart failure patients’ perception of facilitators and barriers influencing adoption of virtual nurse visits (VNV) during the pandemic. Four themes emerged: perceived safety during COVID-19, preferences for delivery of care, user experiences and challenges with the VNV service and satisfaction with the VNV service. The System Usability Scale results revealed over half of the participants perceived the VNV service to be usable.
ChristianaCare nurse-led conferences
15th Annual Nursing Research Conference
ChristianaCare held its 15th Annual Nursing Research Conference in partnership with regional health systems and education institutions. The theme—2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife: Creating and Sustaining Evidence Based Practice Culture—and agenda was designed for professional nurses and students seeking to use research and evidence-based practices to improve patient outcomes.
ChristianaCare Nursing participation in national conferences
ChristianaCare and Creative Health Care Management hosted a national roundtable discussion on See Me as A Person (SMAAP) and Relationship-Based Care (RBC). Led by Mary Koloroutis, CEO of Creative Health Care Management, who wrote the books on SMAAP and RBC, the virtual roundtable featured ChristianaCare See Me as a Person facilitators sharing their experiences and what they’ve learned from SMAAP participants.
