Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1235190
43 NURSING SPOTLIGHT Toward the end of his time with us, we found out his wife was going to be celebrating her birthday. She had been an integral part in all his care and was truly her husband's best advocate. I worked with their daugh- ter to organize a surprise party for her in the unit's family room. I also reached out to our staff to collect money for a gi. e generosity of the team allowed for a gi card for a full spa day at a luxurious spa nearby. On her birthday, the family room was full of her friends, family and many of our staff who came in on their days off. She was so surprised and thank- ful. It was so fulfilling to provide a caregiver with a much-needed break and celebration. is was my most memorable day on the job. Kelli Hohenstein, RN. Chief Nurse Officer at Dallas Regional Medical Center (Mesquite, Texas): As a healthcare leader, I have seen so many accomplishments that have brought forth great days to remember. My most memorable day was when I received my promotion to CNO. is allowed me to effectively lead people in efforts to create a strong work- place that could drive positive trends as seen by financial profitability, a collaborative and supporting culture, staff and physician engagement, retention and patient satisfaction. Christina Hutchinson. Vice President of Nursing at Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.): My most memorable day on the job was when I was a nurse in the cardiac transplant service. I was standing next to a cardiac monitor, and I noticed that a patient was in torsades, a fatal cardiac ar- rhythmia. I ran into the room and treated the rhythm disturbance with the code team. e patient was on the waiting list for cardiac transplant. He told me that day aer he was stable, 'Christina you never know what each day brings. I was a teaching a class last week, and today I wait for someone to die so I can live.' He then asked me, 'What is something you have always wanted to do but never have?' I replied, 'Learn to horseback ride.' He said, 'Well, my wife's friend teaches horseback-riding, and you are going to check that off your bucket list next week.' Twenty five years and many horses later, I still remember those words, especially during times of stress. Michelle L. Edwards, DNP. System Senior Vice President for Ad- vanced Practice at CommonSpirit Health (Chicago): e good news about my job is that I have had many 'most memorable' days since start- ing my job at Catholic Health Initiatives over six years ago. e most challenging part of responding to a question like this is selecting just one of them to share. For example, I remember Jan. 6, 2014, as though it was yesterday. Why? Because it was truly a notable experience for me — my first day on job as the new national vice president for advanced practice. It was a brand-new position for the health system, and we believe it was the first position of its kind in the country, particularly for an organization as large as CHI. Never before had an organization sought to provide exec- utive-level leadership for designing and implementing an organizational strategy focused on optimizing the role of advanced practice providers. As a nurse practitioner, I was, and remain, incredibly grateful to have been given the gi of leading this important work, and doing so in an environment where I was able to work alongside exceptionally talented people and visionary thought leaders who were committed to transform- ing healthcare across the U.S. Fast forward to February 2020. We have just celebrated the one-year anniversary of the merger of Catholic Health Initiatives and Digni- ty Health, forming the nation's largest nonprofit healthcare ministry, CommonSpirit Health, which operates 137 hospitals in 21 states. What a great opportunity, and responsibility, to make good on our continued commitment to ensuring all people have access to high quality, safe, efficient and cost-effective care. n UC San Francisco to launch new online training for nurse practitioners By Anuja Vaidya U niversity of California San Francisco is launch- ing an online program to help nurse practi- tioners get national certification to provide psychiatric and mental health services. UCSF nursing school is working with the nursing schools at University of California-Davis and University of Califor- nia-Los Angeles to launch the program this fall. UCSF has an in-person, post-master's psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners program, one of three accred- ited, state-funded programs in California. The university will use that program's faculty and curriculum for the online course. It aims to recruit 40 students the first year. Rosalind De Lisser, RN, and Deborah Johnson, DNP, RN, both associate professors at the UCSF School of Nursing, will co-direct the program. n Suicide risk higher among nurses than general public By Mackenzie Bean N urses are at a higher risk for suicide com- pared to the general public, suggested a study published Feb. 3 in Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Health ana- lyzed 2005-16 suicide data from the CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System. The data covered 1,824 nurse suicides and 152,495 suicides among the general public. The suicide rate for female nurses was 10 per 100,000 population, compared to 7 per 100,000 for the gener- al female population. Male nurses also demonstrated higher suicide rates (33 suicides per 100,000 popula- tion compared to 27 per 100,000). "Female nurses have been at greater risk since 2005 and males since 2011," lead author Judy Davidson, DNP, RN, a research scientist at UC San Diego, said in a news release. "Unexpectedly, the data does not reflect a rise in suicide, but rather that nurse suicide has been unaddressed for years." In a related study published in the same journal, the researchers outline how suicide prevention programs like UC San Diego's Healer Education Assessment and Referral program may help reverse this trend. n