Our Nurse of the Week is Cami
Loritz, an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse from Wisconsin who donated part of
her liver for a transplant
that saved an 8-year-old boy’s life. Loritz is an ICU nurse at Froedtert
Hospital in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
The boy’s mother,
Ruth Auten, says she now considers Loritz a part of their family. Auten’s son,
Brayden Auten, was diagnosed with an aggressive
virus that was attacking his liver this past April at the Milwaukee
Children’s Hospital. Brayden’s parents were devastated to learn that their son
was in need of a partial liver transplant.
Desperate to find
a donor, they shared Brayden’s story online. They were flooded with positive
responses, but no one who reached out was a match. Then Loritz showed up, a
perfect match, and Brayden’s doctors immediately moved forward with the
lifesaving transplant.
Brayden
was able to go home in July and is now preparing to return to school as a
healthy 8-year-old. Brayden and Loritz showed off their surgery scars in a
photo shoot, which shows them wearing matching shirts and wide smiles.
Brayden’s parents told People.com, “What she did was completely selfless and she saved his life, plain and simple. We can’t thank her enough. She’s a true miracle. We consider her one of us, one of our family.”
To learn more about Cami Loritz, an ICU
nurse from Wisconsin who donated part of her liver for a transplant that saved
an 8-year-old boy’s life, visit here.
Students earning their doctorate of nursing practice (DNP) degree require field placements to meet their degree requirements and to help positively influence their employment after graduating.
Pamela Ann McGranahan, director of the DNP program and associate clinical professor of nursing, tells news.wisc.edu, “To help meet our goal of educating nurses for the entire state, the School of Nursing is emphasizing relationships like the one with Monroe. Some of our students really respond to a well-run clinic that is large enough to offer a fairly intricate level of specialties and technology, but not so large as to become anonymous.”
Monroe Clinic operates 11 clinics in Wisconsin and Illinois, with more than 85 physicians, over 200,000 annual patient visits, and 40 to 50 advanced practice practitioners, primarily nurses. In four years offering clinical placements to UW–Madison DNP students, three have returned to work there as nurse practitioners.
UW–Madison offers DNP degrees to nurses who hold a bachelor’s or masters degree in nursing with one year of working experience. The coursework can be completed in-person and online and prepares nurses to use advanced clinical expertise, advocacy, leadership skills, and research understandings to provide up-to-date practices and best clinical outcomes.
To learn more about the UW–Madison School of Nursing’s partnership with the Monroe Clinic-SSM Health to offer rural placements for nursing students to help address rural healthcare shortages, visit here.
The American Academy of Nursing has named Gina Bryan, a professor in the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison) School of Nursing and a leading state and national policy expert on the opioid crisis and addiction, to its 2019 class of fellows. Being named a fellow in the academy is one of nursing’s highest honors and is reserved for nurses who demonstrate a sustained and significant impact on the profession.
Bryan is a psychiatric advanced practice nurse. She directs the UW–Madison School of Nursing’s post-graduate psychiatric nurse certificate program as well as the psychiatric mental health track of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree program. She also teaches in both graduate and undergraduate programs at the School of Nursing and in the School of Pharmacy.
Bryan has spent her career working to expand access to mental health care, particularly by arguing for the removal of legal barriers that limit advanced nurses from practicing to the full extent of their education and licensure. These legal restrictions prevent advanced practice nurses from playing a bigger role in meeting mental health needs in Wisconsin. She has also secured grants to fund programs to expand opioid recovery services in underserved areas, to train students on addiction detection strategies, and to support faculty recruitment and financial aid for graduate students pursuing careers in psychiatric nursing.
Linda D. Scott, dean and professor of the UW–Madison School of Nursing, tells news.wisc.edu, “In addition to the quality of her direct instruction and mentoring as a faculty member at the School of Nursing, Dr. Bryan exemplifies the role of a nurse leader whose work improves health access and outcomes. Her advocacy and voice representing nursing are critical to conversations that improve mental health. Dr. Bryan’s significant contributions to the field in practice, education, and policy are worthy of induction to the academy, which is our profession’s highest honor.”
According to news.wisc.edu, Bryan is a national expert on medical and nursing ethics and serves on the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s committee reviewing the federal Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. She joins 231 new fellows who will be inducted at the academy’s annual policy conference in October.
To learn more about Gina Bryan, a professor in the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing and a leading state and national policy expert on the opioid crisis and addiction, who was recently named an American Academy of Nursing 2019 fellow, visit here.
I provide executive leadership and complex managerial and administrative tasks that impact critical healthcare issues and the activities that influence the organizational mission, healthcare and policy. My leadership has helped develop a professional practice environment that fosters excellence in nursing services, evidence-based practice, staff recruitment and retention, nursing research and scholarly inquiry, and customer satisfaction.
Describe your specialties and how you apply these skills in the care you provide to Veterans.
As a Nurse Executive, I help guide policy, mentor my Service Chiefs and Managers, and work with the executive team to make the Madison VA the best place to work and the best place for Veterans to receive care.
What was appealing about a career at VA?
I was already serving in the Wisconsin Army National Guard as a medic and a career as a nurse caring for Veterans seemed like a logical fit. Before I finished nursing school, I had a final clinical at the Madison VA and was hired before I had graduated.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
That becomes a twofold answer. I am honored to lead a Nursing Service that provides exemplary care to our Veterans, which is clear from the positive comments we receive in the Director’s office and from the Veterans we meet when we do unit rounding. The other rewarding part is watching our nursing staff grow from novice to expert and embrace shared decision making as they become part of our facility-based nursing practice council.
How has VA helped you grow in your career?
I’ve received numerous opportunities to grow throughout my career with VA, including preceptor (instructor) opportunities as a new graduate, leadership courses at the local level and Veterans Integrated Service Network-wide leadership training. As I delved into my new role as Nurse Executive, the VA Office of Nursing Services paired me with a mentor from a similarly sized facility and established monthly mentoring calls. Within the first year, I received the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) New Executive Training (NExT) orientation with peers from across VA. VA’s annual Nurse Executive Conference is partnered with the annual Chief of Staff Conference, where we receive timely information from subject matter experts from VHA and VA Central Office. (Learn more about leadership opportunities for VA nurses in the brochure PDF.)
What are a few key benefits of working at VA?
Working for VA provides a plethora of benefits that only increase in value as the years go by. Nursing receives up to five weeks of annual leave starting on day one, along with 13 sick days and 10 federal holidays. You can also participate in the Thrift Savings Plan — the government’s 401(k) — where VA will match up to the first 5 percent of contributions. This is paired with a pension plan that, once vested in five years, will help you plan for retirement. VA nursing careers also have unique ladders for promotions and salary increases not often seen in other healthcare organizations.
What do you find most surprising about working at VA?
In my current role I often spend some upfront time with the new nursing hires. Although many admit they worried about coming to work for VA, once they started orientation, spent time with the Veterans and truly understood our mission, they fell in love with their new role.
What story do you most often tell people about your work?
Since 2004, we have been a Magnet facility, which is an American Nurses Credentialing Center designation indicating that our facility is committed to excellence in healthcare and support for our nurses. Even as we work on our second redesignation, our work is never done, and we do not claim to be a perfect facility. We always seek ways to support VA nurses as they lead evidence-based practice projects and make improvements that lead to great Veteran and staff experiences.
What would you tell other nurse leaders interested in choosing a career at VA?
The mission of VA is noble and, once you start working with Veterans, this is a career that becomes endearing. Veterans are so thankful for the care they receive, and they partner with you to improve their overall healthcare experience.
What else would you like us to know about your work?
The opportunities are endless for nurses coming to VA — I have had six distinctly different roles throughout my career at the Madison VA, each with its own unique challenges and rewards. I tell staff to always be prepared for whatever the next opportunity may be. Even if they are not thinking of changing roles, I still encourage VA nurses to take the courses, get the next level of education and be prepared for opportunities as they arise.
Linsey Steege, PhD, a professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) School of Nursing, has announced a new study on nurse stress and fatigue, which will ultimately improve nurses’ health. Steege will use Fitbits to track the activities of selected nurses throughout the day, gathering data on their steps, heart rate, and sleep to identify factors that cause fatigue and stress in this vital care provider population.
Steege tells mhealthintelligence.com, “I became interested in focusing on how to improve how we support nurses so that they in turn can be safe and provide the highest quality patient care. But when I looked around, there was a lot of research on physical fatigue and sleep deprivation for medical residents, but much less on how nursing work is contributing to fatigue and how fatigue is contributing to stress, burnout, and worst of all, medical error.”
Data can positively impact how we care for ourselves and Steege wants to use data to help nurses understand what contributes to their fatigue. She also wants to collect data on the nurse’s work environment, including noise levels, pages and calls, time spent navigating the hospital’s electronic health record platform, nurse movement patterns, shift staffing reports, and more.
Steege has found that hospitals tend to focus on patient safety while not considering nurse safety and wellbeing at the same time. If health systems don’t account for the burden of fatigue on their nurses, medical errors, turnover, and costs increase. Hospitals have used data to improve workflow in the past, but now they can also look at individual health data and look for specific triggers that cause provider fatigue and stress.
To learn more about new research from Linsey Steege, a nursing professor at UW-Madison who is using Fitbit data to identify factors that cause nurse fatigue and stress, visit here.
The International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame was created in 2010 to recognize nurse researchers who have achieved significant recognition and whose research has improved the profession and the people it serves. Bowers is one of 20 individuals from around the world to be inducted into the Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame this year. Those selected will be formally inducted at the Sigma International Nursing Research Congress in Melbourne, Australia, this July.
Bowers is known internationally for her contributions to the science and practice of nursing in the care of older adults, especially those in long-term care or residential settings. Her research career spans three decades, making Bowers renowned for her influence on gerontological science, healthcare policy, and research methodology. Bowers also founded and now directs the Center for Aging Research and Education which is housed in the School of Nursing and helps put aging research into action in communities throughout Wisconsin and beyond.
Nursing School Dean Dr. Linda D. Scott tells News.Wisc.edu, “Dr. Bowers has made a significant impact on the science of nursing, the study of gerontology, and the UW-Madison School of Nursing. Her vast body of work reflects her lifelong commitment to improving the lives of older adults and their caregivers, and she has inspired countless others to focus their careers not only on addressing the needs of the aging but also on changing the way society perceives older adults and the people who support them.”
To learn more about Bowers and her influential career in nursing research, visit here.
