Each year, Penn Medicine celebrates the UPHS Nursing Excellence Awards, shining a light on registered nurses throughout the Health System who every day give their most to improve the health and outcomes of patients. Although COVID prevented this year’s special recognition event from taking place, its absence by no means lessens the significance of these awards. As Colleen Mattioni, DNP, RN, HUP’s chief nursing executive, noted, recognizing the nominees’ dedication to their teams, patients and the nursing profession “has a profound and lasting impact on those who are nominated.”
Taking the time to recognize nursing excellence in the current COVID environment, she continued, “provides us all the opportunity to show gratitude for and reflect upon the impact nurses have on the overall health of the community.”
Below, read the stories behind the awards for each of this year’s winners from HUP and CPUP.
Demonstrating Exemplary Practices
Recipients of the Lillian Brunner Award must not only demonstrate the highest quality of patient care — seeing the “big picture” and collaborating with an interprofessional team — but also serve as a role model for others to help enhance their nursing practice.
Megan Holland, BSN, certainly sees the “big picture,” focusing her care on a patient’s mind, body and spirit. “I try to get to know patients I care for on an individual level and help them to bring small parts of their routine into their day: “listening to music, getting their hair washed (and braided — this is a nursing specialty skill!), looking at pictures of family members, pets, and mostly sharing stories about who they are as a person.”
Last year, when one of her home care patients expressed an interest in learning yoga and meditation to address looming anxiety over a diagnosis, Holland arranged a session of restorative yoga and meditation accompanied by use of aromatherapy to ease both the patient and caregiver. “We are surrounded by so much technology in the acute care setting and while this is vastly important and lifesaving, I believe it is the small and quiet moments between people that leave lasting impacts and help in the healing process.”
Dena Baker, BSN, of Gynecologic Oncology, has built strong relationships with her patients and their families as well as with providers and staff. Baker connects with patients shortly after they are seen in the office. “I help them navigate through the experience, from diagnosis to treatment and survivorship, offering support, education, and reassurance, and providing a conduit to the care they need,” she said. These efforts not only help establish a trusting nurse-patient relationship but also, noted the nomination, lead to “increased pre-operative compliance and better surgical outcomes… as well as increased patient satisfaction.”
Collaborative Leadership
Those chosen for the Dianne Lanham Award create an environment for the professional development of others and exhibit excellent professional interpersonal relations. Each works to bring about change, through working on committees and being involved in projects and initiatives.
Natalie W. Pierson, MSN, checks off every box. As part of CPUP’s Heart and Vascular team, Pierson creates “an environment of learning and optimal performance,” the nomination said. For many years, she’s chaired “Go Red for Women, ”an annual event to raise awareness of women’s heart disease and has also received a Penn Medicine CAREs grant for “High Blood Pressure — Treat it like a Lady.” These community-education sessions help women improve their ability to manage hypertension and provide access to more education and resources.
Pierson has also brought Penn support to the community through her leadership, hosting community education sessions to improve knowledge of heart health, improve access to care issues, and aid with cost of health care delivery in daily lives.
Marisa Codi, BSN, served as the nurse leader on Penn Medicine’s first uterus transplant, which took place in 2018 and ultimately resulted in the birth of a healthy baby boy. Working with a multidisciplinary team, “Marisa truly analyzed all of the puzzle pieces before her and put those pieces together in a way that made this groundbreaking case the success that it was and continues to be,” noted the nomination.
Calling the entire experience both “exciting and challenging,” Codi said she was especially grateful to be part of the uterine transplant team. “We developed such a strong bond. It was amazing for all of us,” she said. “I get emotional now just thinking about it.”
Establishing Relationships
Winners of the Rosalyn J. Watts Award improve the lives of those in need through selfless, courageous, creative and compassionate acts.
Sharon Young, BSN, who works in the Abramson Cancer Center, enjoys getting to know the many patients who come for regular treatment infusions. But one patient who was battling five primary cancers — “NJ” — stood out. “She was a favorite. We all enjoyed talking with her and laughing with her.” So when Young learned that NJ’s “bucket list” was one museum away from completion, she and two other nurses decided to make that dream come true — with a visit the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
Contributing their own money — and time — the three nurses took NJ on an all-expense-paid trip they called “Living the Dream with NJ” in 2018. The four flew to Pittsburgh, stayed at a hotel, and enjoyed all their meals together. And when they visited the Warhol Museum, NJ “gave us great tutorials. She was an expert!”
The patient passed away just four months after the trip but the memories remain. “It was such a great girlfriend trip,” Young said. “We all enjoyed the comradery. She got to know us on a more personal level… and she smiled a lot!”
Heddie Williams, BSN, loves giving back to the community. For example, she organized a clothing and toiletry drive for Cedar Park, a West Philadelphia residential facility for homeless women diagnosed with mental health and substance abuse disorders that is part of the nonprofit Resources for Human Development. She also coordinated several opportunities for Staffing for All Seasons (SFAS) nurses to feed the homeless alongside Chosen 300 Ministries. And she has planned several opportunities for SFAS to host dinner at the Clyde F. Barker Penn Transplant house. “I have to go out there and fill people’s needs where they are, providing support and care,” as both a health advocate and educator, she said.
Williams loves giving back to patients as well, connecting with them “on a personal level, to see what they want. What can I do to uplift them?” she said. “It’s something innate in my soul.”
Integrating Research and Innovation
The Helen McClelland Award for Research and Innovation recognizes nurses who integrate evaluation, research and/or the evidence based practice process in delivering patient care, using innovative strategies.
Jennifer Marvelous, MSN, of Penn Family Care, combined these qualities in the diabetes education class she created. While she normally works as a triage nurse with the practice, two years ago she was asked to start the class and jumped at the opportunity to work with patients. After personally reaching out to individual patients in the practice with diabetes, she began holding weekly sessions. Topics in each of the eight sessions ranged from “what is diabetes” to “how to eat healthy and stay active.” She also provided local resources to help patients reach their goals, such as healthy cooking classes at the Free Library of Philadelphia and the "We Walk PHL" walking program by the Fairmount Park Conservancy.
Since starting the course in 2018, 8 of 12 graduates had lower glucose levels, helping to keep their kidneys healthy and avoid more serious conditions, such as cardiovascular disease.
Although COVID has temporarily put the classes on hold, some participants still get in touch with her “just to tell me their levels. The patients were motivated — they just wanted to learn,” she said. “And I miss it.
Felicia Morrison, MSN, MBA, is part of HUP’s Staffing for All Seasons, a resource pool that assigns nurses and CNAs to inpatient units throughout HUP and ambulatory practices. Because it’s a “virtual” unit, there’s been no easy way for its staff to share knowledge and best practices. Morrison closed this knowledge gap by creating the Journal for All Seasons (JFAS), a virtual journaling club. “She now oversees a committee that produces a quarterly scholarly article for SFAS that can be accessed and evaluated in a myriad of ways such as web-based learning, or hard copies located in the Nursing Network Center,” noted the nomination.
In addition to selecting and thoroughly reviewing an article, Morrison also creates a quiz and evaluation form as a learning assessment, which generates one continuing education credit for each participant. “Participation doubled in the first year since inception.”
Providing Transformational Leadership
The Victoria L. Rich Award honors an exceptional nurse leader at Penn Medicine who inspires, motivates and influences others to improve patient care and fosters a culture of organizational excellence.
As the clinic nurse manager in Otorhinolaryngology at PCAM, Paige Venezia, MSN, oversees everything in the daily operations in the department’s outpatient clinic — whether they be patient concerns or other situations like equipment problems — and she reaches out quickly to resolve them. “I’ll work in the clinic if we have callouts. I help doctors get the supplies and space they need for procedures,” she said. She’s even been out front in the clinic doing temperature screenings when a medical assistant isn’t available. “I’m always on the floor, either troubleshooting or helping where somebody needs me.”
This willingness to always help has not gone unnoticed. As her nomination noted, “She is visible and responsive to all she works with including the physicians, staff and Administration. She is highly regarded by all.”
The nomination for Sebastian Ramagnano, BSN, nurse manager of Rhoads 5 SICU, described his “transformational” leadership in caring for what was “one of the most critically ill patients ever admitted to the ICU.” The condition of the young woman, who was suffering from both severe sepsis and ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) “was so tenuous she wasn’t a candidate for any of the traditional treatments.”
Within a day, Ramagnano had rented a specialty bed that flipped the patient so her stomach was facing the floor, to help improve oxygenation. He then stayed late and came in on the weekend to educate and support the staff with the equipment. But, when the patient’s condition continued to deteriorate, he provided staff with another type of support: closure during this emotionally trying time. “Sebastian’s actions throughout this family’s course exemplifies his kindness, and his ability to be an inspiration and a ray of hope in the seemingly darkest of situations.”