Each year, Penn Medicine’s Distinguished Nursing Clinician Academy brings in new members who not only exemplify clinical excellence but also exhibit compassion and empathy in the direct care of patients and families. As Juliane Jablonski, DNP, RN, Critical Care Systems Strategist, noted at the induction ceremony that took place earlier this year, “they are our role models and the nurses we all aspire to be.”
This recognition especially resonates in 2020, which the World Health Organization has named the Year of the Nurse and Midwife.
Nominations for the Academy come from the nurses’ peers who observe first-hand the enormous positive impact these nurses have on staff, patients and families. This year, nine nurses from throughout Penn Medicine were inducted into the Academy, including CPUP’s Karen Leary, RN, of Radiation Oncology, Mary Campbell, BSN, of the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), and Lisa Wajda, BSN, of the Surgical ICU.
Passion for Her Patients
Over her 25 years in oncology nursing, Karen Leary has worked as both an inpatient nurse and clinical trials nurse but a “passion for the patient,” her nomination noted, led her back to direct patient care in Radiation Oncology. Leary has helped develop many nurse-driven initiatives, for example, educating inpatient oncology nurses on the patient experience in Radiation Oncology, enabling them to provide patients with accurate information as they moved between units and treatment modalities. Leary also helped standardize nursing order sets for medications frequently needed by the patient population, which helped improve clinic flow and patient satisfaction.
Patients often specifically ask for Leary, both during treatment and in follow-up visits, even years after treatment. And she also “works tirelessly to support her fellow nurses.” One colleague said, “It has been an honor to work alongside Karen.”
Mentor and Motivator
Mary Campbell is both mentor and motivator to her colleagues while providing exceptional care and compassion to her patients and their families. Her years of experience in overseeing the unit’s operational needs and the work/life balance of staff opened doors to leadership roles but Campbell wanted to stay at the bedside.
Campbell proactively educates and involves family members in the physical and emotional care of their loved one. Recognized for her “tough love and strong, continuous encouragement,” she has a positive impact on both patient outcomes and experience.
“Every day she can see the difference that can be made by the bedside nurse and is proud to be one!”
Committed to Patient Care
Lisa Wajda has been part of the SICU on Rhoads 5 for 25 years. As one of the unit’s original clinical nurses, she helped create not only the unit’s culture but also its scheduling guidelines, which have been adopted by patient care units at both HUP and throughout UPHS. They ensure that the unit is safely staffed and that staff is satisfied with their work/life balance.
Wajda also represented the voice of the bedside nurse on HUP’s inaugural Magnet Steering Committee and contributed to designing the shared governance nursing councils. And she has successfully onboarded 120 new hires!
But her connection to patients remains strong and committed. In reflecting upon her time as a nurse, she wrote “After 33 years I remain 100 percent committed and feel most satisfaction being at the patient’s bedside.”
To read more about the Distinguished Nursing Clinician Academy, go to pennmedicine.org/systemnews.