1. careers
2. nursing

42659 CHLA:30096 CHLA
3/13/08
Voice O F
THE PROFESSION
2:59 PM
Page 1
In Service in Sinaloa
B y E l e n a F. E p s t e i n
Mary Dee Hacker RN, MBA
Vice President, Patient Care Services &
Chief Nursing Officer
We listen to our nurses. You told us we
needed to communicate better with
you, and we’re trying to do just that. I
love the many opportunities I have to
talk with our nurses every day as I
move about the house. They’re great.
But, we have more than 800 RNs here,
and we have to find ways to reach all
of you more often. We’re trying to do
just that with the introduction of a
triquarterly, “Flo Sheet.” It’s been
created just for nurses at Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles.
I’m enormously grateful to the
Advisory Committee and to the scores
of nurses who participated in the focus
groups that led to this publication.
Your enthusiasm was infectious, and
your ideas were wonderful. I hope the
news and stories within these pages
enrich your experience at the hospital.
But, it’s only the beginning. There’s so
much to celebrate here, and I will rely
on you to let me know where we
should shine the spotlight in your area
or, perhaps, on someone you know.
Flo Sheet will be a forum for
dialogue and news. It will be where
you will learn about our wonderful
people and programs. For example, in
recent months we took the necessary
steps to more carefully manage the
census to our available human
resources; Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles conducted its most comprehensive
Market
Compensation
Analysis ever; and we created the
Alternate Full Time position for those
of you who want to work six 12-hour
days in a pay period and remain
benefits-eligible. We have just begun a
very aggressive recruitment campaign
to ensure adequate staffing at CHLA in
addition to the collective work across
all of nursing in the development of
the RN Residency Program.
We are committed to providing
educational and career opportunities
for our nurses. I strongly encourage
you to consider these programs. We
very much want to help you realize
your aspirations and grow in the
profession.
We want you to be involved with
Flo Sheet. We want you to be involved
in keeping Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles the special place we are proud
that it is. And, we want you to be
happy in your work.
5
FloSheet
SPRING 2003
FloSheet
Volunteers I N A C T I O N
It’s the smile on the weathered
faces of men and women, their
rough worn hands holding hers
in gratitude, that has connected
Pam Penny RN, a nurse in the
Neurology Clinic, to a small clinic in Central Mexico.
Over the past year, Penny has
spent her vacation time traveling
to the state of Sinaloa to work at
the San Blas clinic at the entrance
of Copper Canyon. She is part of
“The Flying Doctors of Mercy,”
a team of volunteers organized by
Liga International, a non-profit
group of pilots, medical professionals, students and translators.
The volunteers pay $160 to cover
the cost of the plane fuel. Penny’s
church, Congregational Church
of the Chimes in Sherman Oaks,
has sponsored her five trips.
Liga International operates
three clinics the first weekend of
every month from October
through June. Penny begins her
excursions on Friday morning
aboard a six-seat plane, departing
from airports in Van Nuys,
Whiteman or Chino. Volunteers
fly to El Fuerte, then travel
another hour on a bus or taxi to
the clinic, a two-story brick
building in the middle of a dirt
field.
“People walk for miles or take
a three-hour bus ride and some-
times wait for 12 hours or longer
to be seen,” Penny says. “We’re
the only medical care available.”
month-old baby with facial paralysis whose family had been
feeding her with an eyedropper;
and a 106-year-old man undergoing cataract surgery.
The rural conditions, sleeping
on cots, working 10-12 hour days
doesn’t bother Penny. She says
she learned from her father, who
Pam Penny RN assisting with IV start on a 2 month-old child
Penny made her first trip
accompanying a former
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
neurologist. She found the experience enormously gratifying and
now tries to go several times a
year. The clinic offers care for
various ailments such as club
foot, hernia, cleft palate, vision
and hearing loss. The volunteers
see between 300 and 600 patients
in one weekend.
What Penny has seen is often
memorable, including an eight-
$
Referral Bonus
Benefit: $5,000 bonus
Requirements: Refer an experienced RN to CHLA. Once the RN
is hired and passes the probationary period, CHLA will pay you
the referral bonus.
Additional Benefits for CHLA Nurses:
■ $1,000 bonus for referring an RN to the RN Residency Program
■ Alternate Full Time Program
■ Loan Forgiveness Program (aka RN to BSN Program)
■ Tuition Assistance Program
■ MBA through National University
■ CHLA Continuing Ed Courses (See Calendar of Events)
■ 24-Hour Child Care at CHLA
For more information call the HR Help Line (323) 669-2558
All 843 RNs Receive Mid-Year
Salary Adjustments
“Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
is determined to retain our best
people – and attract and hire the
best new people,” says Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles President
and CEO Bill Noce. “And, we
continue to be committed to
maintaining a competitive position in the marketplace for our
nurses.”
But, the nationwide nursing
shortage, acute in Los Angeles,
has made the market for RNs
particularly volatile. So, four
months ago, Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles began a comprehensive internal and external compensation analysis, including
review of 420 positions at
had been orphaned at five, that
good fortune is for sharing. She
describes the clinic as a place
where she gets to practice pure
nursing and feel a great sense of
accomplishment.
“You are making do with less,
but you are really relating to the
people,” she says. “You touch
their lives, and they touch yours.
You leave feeling energized.”
FloSheet
Nursing by the Numbers
For Your Benefit
Market-Driven Adjustment
Targets $5.3 Million for RNs
■ The first RN Residency in Pediatrics
class enrolled in July 1999.
■ 230 nurses have successfully
completed the RN Residency.
■ 36 RN Residents graduated in
the 7th class in January.
■ 23 nurse residents entered the
8th RN Residency class in February.
■ RN Residents experience more than
660 hours of one-to-one precepted
time, classroom, and skills lab
education.
■ The RN Residency in Pediatrics has
been imitated at 3 other hospitals in
Southern California (Loma Linda
Childrens Hospital, Children’s Hospital
Orange County, and Children’s
Hospital San Diego).
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
4650 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.ChildrensHospitalLA.org
Executive Sponsors:
Mary Dee Hacker RN, MBA
Vice President for Patient Care Services
Kenneth J. Wildes, Jr.
Vice President for Communications
Advisory Committee:
Sharon Chinn BSN, BA
Dee Imai RN, CPON
Gwen Kimball RN, BSN, CPON
Laura Klee RN
Sherry Nolan RN, MSN, CNS
Pam Penny RN
Karen Prommer RN, MS, CPHRM
Kathy Ruccione RN, MPH, FAAN, CPON
Editor:
Sally C. Benner
Designer:
Vince Rini Design
Photographers:
Keats Elliott
Russ Morales
Writers:
Elena Epstein
Vicki Cho Estrada
Linda Taubenreuther
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
The analysis found that 331 positions, held by 1,821 hospital
employees, were competitive in
the market – the competitive
position for 89 positions, held by
1,096 employees, had seriously
eroded in a short space of time.
Despite the $1.6 million
investment in RNs a year ago –
the third market adjustment in
four years – that brought RN I
to the market average, RN II
significantly above the market
average and RN III and IV to
the top of the market - the compensation analysis less than a year
later indicated that our competitive position in the marketplace
for all 19 RN positions at
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
required an immediate market
VOLUME 1
A T R I - Q U A R T E R LY P U B L I C A T I O N F O R N U R S E S
NUMBER 1
Extra-CHLA: L I V E S O U T S I D E T H E H O S P I T A L
A Ballad Runs Through Her
B y E l e n a F. E p s t e i n
adjustment; that is, the market
dictated that all 843 RNs should
receive increases in their salaries,
independent of scheduled performance-based increases.
On Jan. 31, 2003 Noce wrote
all employees to communicate
the results of the comprehensive
compensation analysis, making a
commitment to find $6.5 million
in recurring annual expense to
support a market adjustment,
effective with the pay period
beginning Feb.16, to make all 89
positions competitive – more
than $5.3 million of the total was
designated for the market adjustments for the 19 RN positions.
This mid-year adjustment is
market-driven, and all increases
made as a result of this analysis
will be in addition to performance-based increases as a result
of the Performance Assessment
and Development process.
Nonprofit
Organization
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Los Angeles, CA
Permit No. 22460
T
o JoAnn Boyce RN,
singing is not just a
hobby, it’s a passion.
“Music is a part of who I am,”
says Boyce, who has been at
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
since 1975.
JoAnn Boyce RN
A Clinical Information
Specialist in the Information
Technology Department, Boyce
has spent many nights on stage in
an elegant gown and shimmering
rhinestone earrings. With a riveting, sultry voice she gives her
audience a show to remember.
Boyce, whose work is rich
with influences of Billie Holiday
and Ella Fitzgerald, began singing
early. Her parents were the directors of their church choir. By the
time Boyce was seven, she was
singing duets with her five-yearold sister as the choir traveled
throughout their native Tennessee
and neighboring states.
When Boyce was a teenager
her family moved to California,
where she, her sister and cousin
formed a rhythm and blues vocal
trio called “The Debs.” They did
some backup work with legendary performer Sam Cooke
and produced several records.
“We used to say we were like
The Supremes, only better,”
Boyce recalls with a laugh.
The Debs were soon performing local “gigs” and turning quite
a few heads. But life took a turn.
Boyce got engaged and the group
eventually dissolved.
Boyce began working on a
different career. She graduated
from nursing school in 1963.
After working at several hospitals,
she came to Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles as a bedside nurse.
She later joined the Department
of Quality Management as a
Clinical Information Specialist.
She was promoted to Supervisor
and later to Manager of the
department. She has also worked
as a Clinical Care Coordinator
and facilitator for several leadership workshops.
“I knew I wanted to be a
nurse when I was 10,” Boyce
says. “I love helping people.”
But, the lure of the stage never
faded. In 1993, Boyce decided to
recapture the magic she felt as a
teenager. She took “Entertainers
Workshop” taught by cabaret
performers at Los Angeles City
College. The instructors
approached Boyce to showcase
with them at a local theater. That
first night back on stage Boyce’s
performance was bursting with
ebullience and emotion.
“It felt so natural,” Boyce
recalls. “I connected with the
audience instantly.”
SPRING 2003
Two years later, she had her
own solo show at the historic
Cinegrill in the Roosevelt Hotel
in Hollywood, where she would
leave a full house swooning in
her jazz repertoire. She also
joined the hospital choir and
began performing at various
functions. Her alluring renditions
of “Santa Baby” and “Peel Me a
Grape” have become fixtures at
the hospital’s annual holiday show.
Nearly three years ago, life
took yet another turn for Boyce.
She suffered a stroke that paralyzed the left side of her body.
Through physical therapy and a
strong will, she is back working
part-time at Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles.
Boyce is eager to put her
singing career back on track as
well. Once renovations are completed at the Cinegrill, she hopes
to take the stage once again.
“Music is the ultimate expression in my life,” Boyce says. “It
tells my life story.”
CHLA O R I G I N A L S
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Graduates 7th Class of RN Residents
National Model in
Pediatric Nursing Evolves
To reach your destination,
imagine you have to cross a
rope bridge that spans a
swiftly moving river. Now
picture a firm net in place
underneath that bridge. The journey in this case is
the giant step from nursing school to success in
your first nursing assignment; the net is the RN
Residency in Pediatrics at Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles.
In January, 36 RN Residents completed the
intensive six-month program and celebrated with
a “graduation” ceremony hosted by Charlie
Krozek RN, MN, Director, RN Residency in
Pediatrics and RN Professional Development. To
date, 230 nurses have successfully completed the
program, fast becoming a national model for others.
The RN Residency in Pediatrics (recently
renamed from “RN Internship”) was created in
1999 in response to the growing national nursing
shortage. Since then, it has bolstered nurse
recruiting, and reduced the first-year turnover
rate from 36 percent to 8 percent, and the
second-year turnover rate from 56 percent to
16 percent.
The program provides nursing school
graduates with a six-month paid residency –
a comprehensive guided clinical experience in
hospital departments key to their home units.
At the outset, the Nurse Resident is partnered
with an RN Preceptor - a practicing nurse
who sponsors the new graduate into the
nursing profession – and an RN Mentor; and
provided 660 hours of classroom and bedside
training dedicated to all aspects of patient
care.
Larissa Africa, Program Lead, Internal,
says the program has attracted applicants from
the very best nursing schools nationally. Three
other children’s hospitals have instituted the
model pioneered at Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles; others are expected to do so.
42659 CHLA:30096 CHLA
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2:59 PM
Page 2
The Anne Wilson Endowment
for Nursing Excellence
B y L i n d a Ta u b e n r e u t h e r
T
hroughout Southern
California, from the
Antelope Valley to
Palos Verdes, and from
Whittier to the ocean, nearly
2,000 dedicated volunteers are
working with a single purpose:
Making Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles the place nurses choose
to work, and the place they
choose to stay.
These enthusiastic “ambassadors” are members of the 24
Associate Groups of Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles, a powerful
force of volunteers who contribute their time, energy, money
and creativity into raising millions
of dollars for the hospital and
its most important program
initiatives.
Now, their efforts are focused
on one goal: to raise $5 million
to fund the Anne Wilson Endowment for Nursing Excellence, a
fund that will subsidize an ambitious range of programs designed
to expand ongoing education and
career development opportunities
for RNs at Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles; retain, attract and
recruit talented nurses to the hospital; and encourage more young
people to join the profession.
To meet the challenge,
Associate Groups are organizing
golf tournaments, walks and runs.
They’re hosting luncheons, card
parties and black tie dinner
dances. They’re coordinating
movie premieres and book sign2
FloSheet
SPRING 2003
ings; orchestrating fashion shows
and boutiques. They’re running
thrift shops, selling children’s
art stationery and even putting
on a nationally rated horse show.
Today, just two years into a
five-year fundraising commitment, their combined efforts
have raised $3.3 million – close
to three-quarters of the total
endowment.
Why do so many people share
such a powerful commitment to
invest in nursing? “It’s simple,”
says Bonnie McClure, volunteer
chair of the Associate and Affiliate
Groups and a member of the
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Board of Trustees. “We felt that if
we could do anything for
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles,
we wanted to do something to
make things better for nurses.
“They are the heart of our
hospital,” she says, “and the closest
connection to the children and
families we serve. They’re terribly
important to all of us.”
A critical challenge
The shortage of RNs locally,
statewide and across the country
is a real and growing problem,
and the shortages are reflected
not only in across-the-board need
for registered nurses, but also the
demand for nurses in the most
critical areas of our hospitals,
including in emergency departments, in operating rooms and in
intensive care units. The nursing
shortage is particularly acute in
California, ranked among the last
of the 50 states with only 566
working RNs per 100,000 people – the national average is
798. The situation is worse in Los
Angeles County, where there
are only 474 RNs per 100,000
people.
Several factors are combining
to exacerbate the problem: the
number of people who choose
careers in nursing has declined,
private universities are reluctant
to expand or even keep expensive
nursing programs and with the
average age of RNs at 45.2 years,
more than half of the experienced RNs will retire in the next
two decades.
In a profession that demands
extraordinary dedication of all its
practitioners, none are asked to
give more of themselves than
nurses who work with children.
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
is defined by the compassion, skill
and dedication of its nurses –
and here, the crisis-level nursing
shortage is not just a concern,
it’s a critical priority.
There are many distinguishing
characteristics of a place like
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles,
which is special among children’s
hospitals, says President and CEO
Bill Noce. “Clearly, the compassion, skill, and dedication our
nurses and other caregivers bring
to their responsibilities, that they
bring to our children and their
families, is what makes this children’s hospital such a special
place.
Penning Your Passion into Prose
Announcing the 2nd Annual Nurse Essay Contest
It might have been an experiment last year,
but now it’s a tradition. The 2nd Annual
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Nurse Essay
Contest is one of many ways Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles will commemorate
National Nurses Week which, this year, will
be celebrated May 6-12, 2003.
Last year’s winners were awarded prizes in the
amounts of $1,000, $500, and $250. The winning
essayists were, respectively, Kathy Ruccione RN,
MPH, CPON, FAAN; Dee Imai, RN, CPON; and
Sharon Chinn BSN, BA and Penelope Canel RN,
BSN who were both awarded Third Prize for their
contributions.
The theme of this year’s essay contest is:
S AV E T H E D AT E S :
“The Day I Remembered Why
I Became a Pediatric Nurse”
All nurses at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
are encouraged to submit an essay between
600-800 words in length to compete for cash
prizes. All entries will be read by a committee
of hospital executives and a review panel of
the profession’s top leaders.
May 7th NurseWeek Nurse Excellence
Recognition Ceremony and Reception
May 9th Nurse Essay Contest Reception
“One of the best parts of my
job is receiving letters and phone
calls from grateful parents,” he
says. “Sometimes, these letters and
calls come from parents who
have lost a child. But, whatever
the outcome, it is apparent how
much our nurses touch their
lives. They calm fears. They educate. They deliver care. They are
very, very important to them.”
The resources to excel
Among the range of programs
the endowment will fund are
enhanced career development
and educational opportunities for
the hospital’s nurses, developed in
collaboration with nursing
schools and the hospital’s university partners, including financial
assistance for continuing BSNand MSN-level education, annual
opportunities to conduct and
publish findings on nursing
research and support of other
opportunities for professional
growth.
Resources provided by the
endowment will also support initiatives to attract the very best
nursing talent in the nation –
including an intensified recruitment marketing program involving current and former nurses,
expansion of the hospital’s
groundbreaking RN Residency
in Pediatrics, new nurse mentoring programs and the development of nurse manager skills.
Taking nursing to new
heights
These programs will enhance an
environment that is already one
of the most supportive and
responsive in nursing. In addition
to a continuing commitment to
providing competitive salaries,
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
makes a number of quality professional education programs
available to nurses, including an
on-site RN to BSN program
through California State
University at Fullerton, which
provides eligible RNs up to
$10,000 in tuition expenses. The
hospital also offers more on-site
classes for professional certification than any other in the area.
“The endowment created
through this unprecedented support by the Associates will allow
us to care for our patients and
their families and support the
nursing workforce more effectively than ever before,” says
Nancy Blake RN, MN, CCRN,
CNAA, Director of PCS Critical
Care Services. “It will enable
us to spend the time and effort
needed to provide even better
training programs and new
opportunities to learn more –
strengthening our ability to retain
the wonderful people we have, as
well as recruit new professionals
who share our belief that nursing
is a lifelong learning process.”
The Anne Wilson Endowment
for Nursing Excellence represents
an unparalleled vote of confidence and caring for nurses, says
Mary Dee Hacker RN, MBA,
Vice President, Patient Care
Services. “Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles is truly fortunate to be
part of a community that knows
about, respects and supports our
current and future nurses,” she
says. “Very few hospitals in the
country have received such a significant expression of admiration
and respect for their nurses and
the nursing profession from
donor organizations whose members are from families who in
many cases have supported this
hospital and its mission for
generations.
“Because of the commitment
of our Associates, we will have
the resources we need to help
our nurses be the best they can
possibly be – both emotionally
and financially.”
About the Endowment’s Namesake
The Anne Wilson Endowment for Nursing
Excellence is named in honor of Anne
O’Melveny Wilson, a longtime member
and president-emeritus of the hospital’s
Board of Trustees and a past chairman of
the Associate and Affiliate Groups. Her
grandmother, Mary O’Melveny, was a signatory to the document that founded the
original hospital in 1901. Her late husband, prominent orthopedic surgeon John
C. Wilson, Jr., became the hospital’s chief
of staff in 1962 – following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. John Cree Wilson,
Sr., who was the hospital’s first intern in
1910 and served as its chief of staff from
1947 to 1950.
BEDSIDE’S
Best
Standing Tall With
Her Patients
By Vicki Cho Estrada
Ask Phyllis D’Ambra
RN, BS, MPA why she has
dedicated her 35-year
nursing career to clinical
practice and she will tell
you, “Having contact with
patients and their families is
the most fulfilling part of
nursing.
“I feel I’m part of their
families,” D’Ambra says,
adding she has attended
weddings, bar mitzvahs and
other milestones in the lives
Phyllis D’Ambra RN, BS, MPA
of her patients. “I don’t ever
want to lose that contact.” One need only observe D’Ambra’s
gentle hand on a young patient’s back to grasp how her
encouraging touch brings comfort to her patients.
A Clinical Nurse IV in the Department of Orthopaedic
Surgery, D’Ambra has spent her entire nursing career at
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. After completing a two-year
RN program at Harbor College, she came to Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles in 1968 as a staff nurse on 6 East, where she later
became Assistant Head Nurse and Patient Specialist.
In 1980, D’Ambra was promoted to Supervisor in the
Orthopaedic Clinic. While working full-time, she went back to
school and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from
Cal State Los Angeles.
“I knew that in order to get to move to the next level in
nursing, I had to get an advanced degree,” D’Ambra said. She
remained in Orthopaedics and was promoted to Clinical Nurse
III in 1995 and Clinical Nurse IV last year.
D’Ambra is one of only a handful of nurses at Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles at the IV level, according to Nancy Blake
RN, MN, CCRN, CNAA, Director, PCS Critical Care Services.
“The hospital recently added the IV level to give nurses the
opportunity to remain at the bedside, yet move up to a higher
nursing level.You have to demonstrate particularly strong leadership and clinical skills.”
During her career, D’Ambra has seen many changes in clinical
practice. “We used to work with patients and their parents. Now,
we’re working with extended families,” she says. “There’s also
more collaboration with physicians. They ask us our opinions on
how to make a patient’s stay better. I feel like I’m a team player.
I didn’t feel like one before.”
D’Ambra now oversees the daily clinical operations of the
Orthopaedic Clinic. “I make sure the work flow is going
smoothly – triaging for patient placement, determining what’s
urgent and what’s not, and making sure it’s a pleasant experience
for the family.”
She also conducts spine screenings at area schools twice a
week – visiting about 450 schools annually – and participates in
numerous activities with the Spine Research Society.
“So far, this is the best job I’ve ever had,” D’Ambra says. “I get
to work with children in the hospital and in the community. I
learn something new from them everyday.”
Flo Sheet Chronicles
P O L I C Y & P R O C E D U R E S U P D AT E
Beth Devenis RNC, BSN, Education Manager, CTICU,
and Chair of the PCS Policy and Procedure Committee,
reports that the committee is compiling a new PCS
Policy & Procedure Manual. The PCS Policy & Procedure
Committee, made up of staff nurses from most units
and three managers, meets on a monthly basis. The
group has reorganized the new manual to make
navigation easier. The Committee members volunteer to
review policies and send them to the authors for
revisions, when needed. In the last two years, the
change has been to evidence-based practice, so all
policies are based on a combination of research,
literature and best practice guidelines. Devenis says,
“There was a time when practice drove the policies, but
we have progressed to policies driving our practice. Our
staff nurses drive this committee’s work and ensure that
the finished products are clear, concise and user-friendly,
and have been reviewed by our hospital experts in the
area in which the policy pertains.” The new PCS Policy
& Procedure Manual is scheduled to be available in the
units by March.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
April 21-24 Annual Nurse Managers Update and
Critical Care Update Las Vegas, NV. For information:
(800) 573-5575 (www.npeinursing.com).
Stana Fustar RN, CRNI, 4 East Surgical-Oncology Nurse
Coordinator, received the 2000 Southern California
Excellence in Pediatric Oncology Nursing Award.
April 25-28 American Nephrology Nurses Association
34th Annual National Symposium Chicago, IL. For
more information: (609) 256-2320
(http://anna.inurse.com)
Cathy Goodhue RN, CPNP, Allergy-Immunology, is
past-president of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPNAP
(National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners).
May 1-4 Oncology Nursing Society 28th Annual
Congress Denver, CO. For more information:
(866) 257-4ONS
May 8-9 SCAPON (Southern California Association of
Pediatric Oncology Nurses) Annual Conference
Newport Beach (12 CEUs). For information: Gwen
Kimball RN Ext.3462
May 8-10 Contemporary Forums Presents: Nursing
Care of the Hospitalized Child Atlanta, GA.
For information: (800) 377-7707 Ext. 0
(www.contemporaryforums.com)
May 17-21 National Association of Orthopedic Nurses
Orlando, FL. For more information: (609) 256-2310
(www.orthonurse.org)
Hospital-Sponsored Continuing Education:
March 24
CCRN*
Chemotherapy Class*
March 25 Advanced Cardiac Workshop*
Chemotherapy Class*
April 2
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
April 7
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
NRP*
April 10
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
Transplant*
April 21
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
April 22-28 Critical Care Orientation*
April 23
ENPC*
April 24
ENPC*
April 25
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
April 28
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
April 29
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
Advanced Cardiac Workshop*
May 1 & 2 PALS Certification*
May 6-12 National Nurses Week
May 7
NRP*
May 8
Hemofiltration*
Swanz Ganz*
May 9
PALS Re-Certification*
May 12-19 Critical Care Orientation*
May 27
Advanced Cardiac Workshop*
^Contact Debbie Reid Ext.5191
*Contact Rosa Holguin, CHLA Education
Department, Ext.5962
Professional Development:
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles reimburses full-time
employees for 75% of tuition expenses, up to $300 per
quarter. Full-time RNs, LVNs, and RCPs also are eligible
for a $250 per year education allowance. Part-time RNs,
LVNs, and RCPs are eligible for a $125 education
allowance per year. Additionally, CHLA offers 16 hours
per year in education time for all full-time RNs, LVNs,
and RCPs; and 8 hours per year for part-time RNs, LVNs,
and RCPs. Your manager can advise you on how to
access these education benefits.
March 15 NAPNAP-LA (National Association of
Pediatric Nurse Practitioners) Annual Spring
Conference Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
(6 contact hours). For more information:
Anne Hacker (310) 423-7140 or email
[email protected]
April 4-6 Society of Pediatric Nurses Annual
Conference Kansas City, MO: (Tentatively: 29.1
Contact Hours) Speakers include Patricia Benner Ph.D.,
RN, FRCN, FAAN; and Cecily Betz Ph.D., RN, FAAN of
CHLA, USC, and UCD. For information: (800) 7232902, (www.pedsnurses.org).
April 10-13 American Academy of Ambulatory Care
Nursing 28th Annual Conference
Tampa, FL. For more information: (609) 256-2350
(www.aaacn.org)
May 17-21 American Association of Critical-Care
Nurses 2003 National Teaching Institute and Critical
Care Exposition San Antonio, TX. For information:
(800) 899-2226 (www.aacn.org)
June 1-4 Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric,
and Neonatal Nurses Milwaukee, WI. For more
information: (800) 673-8499 (www.awhonn.org)
June 24-28 Case Management Society of America
San Antonio, TX. For more information:
(501) 225-2229 (www.cmsa.org)
June 28 –July 3 American Academy of Nurse
Practitioners Anaheim, CA. For more information:
(512) 442-4262 (www.aanp.org)
L I F E C E L E B R AT I O N S
Heidi Kristall RN, BSN, CPON adopted a baby boy,
Gabriel Wilburn Kristall. He was born in Long Beach
Hospital on Jan. 2, 2003, arriving at 7 lbs 5 oz and 20
1/2 inches. Heidi is a Neuroblastoma/ABMT Care
Manager and has worked at the hospital for eight years,
in BMT, 4 West, and the Hem/Onc Clinic.
5 East - Sherry Nolan RN, MSN, CNS, Clinical
Manager, announces that 5 East has published a cookbook called “5 EATS.” It was published in December as
a gift from the managers to their staff. Sample recipes:
Avocado Egg Rolls with Tamarind Cilantro Sauce; White
Sangria aka Truth Serum; Chinese Chicken Salad;
Korean Fish; and Almost Better Than Kisses Cake. You
can purchase a copy of “5 EATS” from the 5 East
managers for $13.00, of which a portion will go toward
the Endowment for Nursing Excellence Campaign. The
remainder will go toward defraying the cost of the next
edition.
Submit news about your colleagues and units –
engagements, marriages, births, adoptions, birthday
milestones, retirements, parties – this is your column.
Submissions should be sent to Ken Wildes, VP for
Communications, ([email protected]) or to his
attention through interoffice mail at M.S. 1.
PROFESSIONAL MILESTONES
Nancy Blake RN, MN, CCRN, CNAA, Director of PCS
Critical Care Services, serves on the Los Angeles County
Bioterrorism Task Force; the NACHRI Advisory Panel on
Bioterrorism; the California Healthcare Association’s
EMS and Trauma Committee; and is the Emergency
Nurse Association’s Southern California Regional
Director for Emergency Nursing Pediatric Certification.
Blake is a candidate for the board of AACN (American
Association of Critical-Care Nurses).
Joyce D. Derrickson RN, BSN, CPON Neural Tumors
Care Manager, 4 East D. Hematology/Oncology, is president of SCAPON (Southern California Chapter of the
Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses). She recently
accepted an award of excellence on behalf of the
SCAPON chapter from the national APON organization.
Debbie Harris RN, MSN, CPNP, 4 East Hematology/
Oncology, was a guest speaker at the Educational
Workshop on Sickle Cell Disease, sponsored by the
State of California Health Services, Sickle Cell Counselor
and Training Program in January. She spoke on the
“Medical Management of Pediatric Patients With Sickle
Cell D Disease: Examples From Early, Middle and Late
Childhood.” She is co-author of “Differentiation
Between Bone Infarction and Acute Osteomyelitis in
Children with Sickle Cell Disease with Use of Sequential
Radionuclide Bone-Marrow and Bone Scans.” Skaggs,
D., Kim, S., Greene, N., Harris, D., and Miller, J. The
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1810-1813, (2001);
and “Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management
of Thalassemia Patients: California Consensus,”
Quirolo, K., Coates, T., Singer, T., Harmatz, P., Daaboul,
J., Gilsanz, V., Wood, J., Walters, M., Kapour, N.,
Compagno, L., Ang, R., Foote, D., Harris, D., Carson, S,
and Vichinsky, E. Pasadena, California, 1-30. (June
2000).
Gwen Kimball RN, BSN, CPON, Clinical Care
Coordinator, Bone Marrow Transplant, is a board
member of SCAPON (Southern California Association of
Pediatric Oncology Nurses).
Charlie Krozek RN, MN, Director of the RN Residency
in Pediatrics and RN Professional Development, is chair
of California’s Health Occupation Advisory Committee,
and has been nominated to the Los Angeles County
Workforce Investment Board. He spoke at the annual
meeting of NACHRI (National Association of Childrens
Hospitals and Related Institutions) in Seattle in October
of last year. Krozek has traveled the country promoting
the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles RN Residency in
Pediatrics, recently addressing Vanderbilt University
Children’s Hospital, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in
Memphis, Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Dallas
Children’s Hospital, and Seattle Children’s Hospital. In
June he will speak at the 2003 Healthcare Quality
Summit sponsored by Inside the Joint Commission. He
was honored as a finalist for NurseWeek’s “Nurse
Excellence” Award in 2002. He co-authored “RN
Internship: Outcomes of a One-Year Pilot Program” with
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles colleagues Pauline C.
Beecroft Ph.D, RN, FAAN and Lucy Kunzman MS, RN.
Their article was published in The Journal of Nursing
Administration (Dec. 2001).
Arlene Lovejoy-Bluem RN, MS, PNP, CNS Surgical
Admitting, is a board member of the Los Angeles
Chapter of NAPNAP (National Association of Pediatric
Nurse Practitioners).
Mary Baron Nelson RN, MS, CPNP, CPON is president
of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPNAP (National
Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners).
Debbie Reid RN, BSN, CPON, 4 East Education
Manager, Hematology/Oncology, is president-elect of
SCAPON (Southern California Chapter of the
Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses).
Melissa Reider-Demer RN, MN, CPNP, Surgical
Admitting, is president-elect of the Los Angeles Chapter
of NAPNAP (National Association of Pediatric Nurse
Practitioners).
Karen Rodriguez RN, MN, CPNP, Surgical Admitting, is
a board member of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPNAP
(National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners).
Kathy Ruccione RN, MPH, FAAN, CPON, Nursing
Administrator, Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood
Diseases, has been inducted into the American
Academy of Nursing as a Fellow. AAN Fellows are
distinguished by their outstanding contributions to
nursing over and above those that are required in one’s
position of employment by conducting research,
authoring books or articles, and influencing health
policy. Fellows are celebrated also for their dedication to
the nursing profession.
FloSheet
SPRING 2003
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Page 2
The Anne Wilson Endowment
for Nursing Excellence
B y L i n d a Ta u b e n r e u t h e r
T
hroughout Southern
California, from the
Antelope Valley to
Palos Verdes, and from
Whittier to the ocean, nearly
2,000 dedicated volunteers are
working with a single purpose:
Making Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles the place nurses choose
to work, and the place they
choose to stay.
These enthusiastic “ambassadors” are members of the 24
Associate Groups of Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles, a powerful
force of volunteers who contribute their time, energy, money
and creativity into raising millions
of dollars for the hospital and
its most important program
initiatives.
Now, their efforts are focused
on one goal: to raise $5 million
to fund the Anne Wilson Endowment for Nursing Excellence, a
fund that will subsidize an ambitious range of programs designed
to expand ongoing education and
career development opportunities
for RNs at Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles; retain, attract and
recruit talented nurses to the hospital; and encourage more young
people to join the profession.
To meet the challenge,
Associate Groups are organizing
golf tournaments, walks and runs.
They’re hosting luncheons, card
parties and black tie dinner
dances. They’re coordinating
movie premieres and book sign2
FloSheet
SPRING 2003
ings; orchestrating fashion shows
and boutiques. They’re running
thrift shops, selling children’s
art stationery and even putting
on a nationally rated horse show.
Today, just two years into a
five-year fundraising commitment, their combined efforts
have raised $3.3 million – close
to three-quarters of the total
endowment.
Why do so many people share
such a powerful commitment to
invest in nursing? “It’s simple,”
says Bonnie McClure, volunteer
chair of the Associate and Affiliate
Groups and a member of the
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Board of Trustees. “We felt that if
we could do anything for
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles,
we wanted to do something to
make things better for nurses.
“They are the heart of our
hospital,” she says, “and the closest
connection to the children and
families we serve. They’re terribly
important to all of us.”
A critical challenge
The shortage of RNs locally,
statewide and across the country
is a real and growing problem,
and the shortages are reflected
not only in across-the-board need
for registered nurses, but also the
demand for nurses in the most
critical areas of our hospitals,
including in emergency departments, in operating rooms and in
intensive care units. The nursing
shortage is particularly acute in
California, ranked among the last
of the 50 states with only 566
working RNs per 100,000 people – the national average is
798. The situation is worse in Los
Angeles County, where there
are only 474 RNs per 100,000
people.
Several factors are combining
to exacerbate the problem: the
number of people who choose
careers in nursing has declined,
private universities are reluctant
to expand or even keep expensive
nursing programs and with the
average age of RNs at 45.2 years,
more than half of the experienced RNs will retire in the next
two decades.
In a profession that demands
extraordinary dedication of all its
practitioners, none are asked to
give more of themselves than
nurses who work with children.
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
is defined by the compassion, skill
and dedication of its nurses –
and here, the crisis-level nursing
shortage is not just a concern,
it’s a critical priority.
There are many distinguishing
characteristics of a place like
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles,
which is special among children’s
hospitals, says President and CEO
Bill Noce. “Clearly, the compassion, skill, and dedication our
nurses and other caregivers bring
to their responsibilities, that they
bring to our children and their
families, is what makes this children’s hospital such a special
place.
Penning Your Passion into Prose
Announcing the 2nd Annual Nurse Essay Contest
It might have been an experiment last year,
but now it’s a tradition. The 2nd Annual
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Nurse Essay
Contest is one of many ways Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles will commemorate
National Nurses Week which, this year, will
be celebrated May 6-12, 2003.
Last year’s winners were awarded prizes in the
amounts of $1,000, $500, and $250. The winning
essayists were, respectively, Kathy Ruccione RN,
MPH, CPON, FAAN; Dee Imai, RN, CPON; and
Sharon Chinn BSN, BA and Penelope Canel RN,
BSN who were both awarded Third Prize for their
contributions.
The theme of this year’s essay contest is:
S AV E T H E D AT E S :
“The Day I Remembered Why
I Became a Pediatric Nurse”
All nurses at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
are encouraged to submit an essay between
600-800 words in length to compete for cash
prizes. All entries will be read by a committee
of hospital executives and a review panel of
the profession’s top leaders.
May 7th NurseWeek Nurse Excellence
Recognition Ceremony and Reception
May 9th Nurse Essay Contest Reception
“One of the best parts of my
job is receiving letters and phone
calls from grateful parents,” he
says. “Sometimes, these letters and
calls come from parents who
have lost a child. But, whatever
the outcome, it is apparent how
much our nurses touch their
lives. They calm fears. They educate. They deliver care. They are
very, very important to them.”
The resources to excel
Among the range of programs
the endowment will fund are
enhanced career development
and educational opportunities for
the hospital’s nurses, developed in
collaboration with nursing
schools and the hospital’s university partners, including financial
assistance for continuing BSNand MSN-level education, annual
opportunities to conduct and
publish findings on nursing
research and support of other
opportunities for professional
growth.
Resources provided by the
endowment will also support initiatives to attract the very best
nursing talent in the nation –
including an intensified recruitment marketing program involving current and former nurses,
expansion of the hospital’s
groundbreaking RN Residency
in Pediatrics, new nurse mentoring programs and the development of nurse manager skills.
Taking nursing to new
heights
These programs will enhance an
environment that is already one
of the most supportive and
responsive in nursing. In addition
to a continuing commitment to
providing competitive salaries,
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
makes a number of quality professional education programs
available to nurses, including an
on-site RN to BSN program
through California State
University at Fullerton, which
provides eligible RNs up to
$10,000 in tuition expenses. The
hospital also offers more on-site
classes for professional certification than any other in the area.
“The endowment created
through this unprecedented support by the Associates will allow
us to care for our patients and
their families and support the
nursing workforce more effectively than ever before,” says
Nancy Blake RN, MN, CCRN,
CNAA, Director of PCS Critical
Care Services. “It will enable
us to spend the time and effort
needed to provide even better
training programs and new
opportunities to learn more –
strengthening our ability to retain
the wonderful people we have, as
well as recruit new professionals
who share our belief that nursing
is a lifelong learning process.”
The Anne Wilson Endowment
for Nursing Excellence represents
an unparalleled vote of confidence and caring for nurses, says
Mary Dee Hacker RN, MBA,
Vice President, Patient Care
Services. “Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles is truly fortunate to be
part of a community that knows
about, respects and supports our
current and future nurses,” she
says. “Very few hospitals in the
country have received such a significant expression of admiration
and respect for their nurses and
the nursing profession from
donor organizations whose members are from families who in
many cases have supported this
hospital and its mission for
generations.
“Because of the commitment
of our Associates, we will have
the resources we need to help
our nurses be the best they can
possibly be – both emotionally
and financially.”
About the Endowment’s Namesake
The Anne Wilson Endowment for Nursing
Excellence is named in honor of Anne
O’Melveny Wilson, a longtime member
and president-emeritus of the hospital’s
Board of Trustees and a past chairman of
the Associate and Affiliate Groups. Her
grandmother, Mary O’Melveny, was a signatory to the document that founded the
original hospital in 1901. Her late husband, prominent orthopedic surgeon John
C. Wilson, Jr., became the hospital’s chief
of staff in 1962 – following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. John Cree Wilson,
Sr., who was the hospital’s first intern in
1910 and served as its chief of staff from
1947 to 1950.
BEDSIDE’S
Best
Standing Tall With
Her Patients
By Vicki Cho Estrada
Ask Phyllis D’Ambra
RN, BS, MPA why she has
dedicated her 35-year
nursing career to clinical
practice and she will tell
you, “Having contact with
patients and their families is
the most fulfilling part of
nursing.
“I feel I’m part of their
families,” D’Ambra says,
adding she has attended
weddings, bar mitzvahs and
other milestones in the lives
Phyllis D’Ambra RN, BS, MPA
of her patients. “I don’t ever
want to lose that contact.” One need only observe D’Ambra’s
gentle hand on a young patient’s back to grasp how her
encouraging touch brings comfort to her patients.
A Clinical Nurse IV in the Department of Orthopaedic
Surgery, D’Ambra has spent her entire nursing career at
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. After completing a two-year
RN program at Harbor College, she came to Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles in 1968 as a staff nurse on 6 East, where she later
became Assistant Head Nurse and Patient Specialist.
In 1980, D’Ambra was promoted to Supervisor in the
Orthopaedic Clinic. While working full-time, she went back to
school and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from
Cal State Los Angeles.
“I knew that in order to get to move to the next level in
nursing, I had to get an advanced degree,” D’Ambra said. She
remained in Orthopaedics and was promoted to Clinical Nurse
III in 1995 and Clinical Nurse IV last year.
D’Ambra is one of only a handful of nurses at Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles at the IV level, according to Nancy Blake
RN, MN, CCRN, CNAA, Director, PCS Critical Care Services.
“The hospital recently added the IV level to give nurses the
opportunity to remain at the bedside, yet move up to a higher
nursing level.You have to demonstrate particularly strong leadership and clinical skills.”
During her career, D’Ambra has seen many changes in clinical
practice. “We used to work with patients and their parents. Now,
we’re working with extended families,” she says. “There’s also
more collaboration with physicians. They ask us our opinions on
how to make a patient’s stay better. I feel like I’m a team player.
I didn’t feel like one before.”
D’Ambra now oversees the daily clinical operations of the
Orthopaedic Clinic. “I make sure the work flow is going
smoothly – triaging for patient placement, determining what’s
urgent and what’s not, and making sure it’s a pleasant experience
for the family.”
She also conducts spine screenings at area schools twice a
week – visiting about 450 schools annually – and participates in
numerous activities with the Spine Research Society.
“So far, this is the best job I’ve ever had,” D’Ambra says. “I get
to work with children in the hospital and in the community. I
learn something new from them everyday.”
Flo Sheet Chronicles
P O L I C Y & P R O C E D U R E S U P D AT E
Beth Devenis RNC, BSN, Education Manager, CTICU,
and Chair of the PCS Policy and Procedure Committee,
reports that the committee is compiling a new PCS
Policy & Procedure Manual. The PCS Policy & Procedure
Committee, made up of staff nurses from most units
and three managers, meets on a monthly basis. The
group has reorganized the new manual to make
navigation easier. The Committee members volunteer to
review policies and send them to the authors for
revisions, when needed. In the last two years, the
change has been to evidence-based practice, so all
policies are based on a combination of research,
literature and best practice guidelines. Devenis says,
“There was a time when practice drove the policies, but
we have progressed to policies driving our practice. Our
staff nurses drive this committee’s work and ensure that
the finished products are clear, concise and user-friendly,
and have been reviewed by our hospital experts in the
area in which the policy pertains.” The new PCS Policy
& Procedure Manual is scheduled to be available in the
units by March.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
April 21-24 Annual Nurse Managers Update and
Critical Care Update Las Vegas, NV. For information:
(800) 573-5575 (www.npeinursing.com).
Stana Fustar RN, CRNI, 4 East Surgical-Oncology Nurse
Coordinator, received the 2000 Southern California
Excellence in Pediatric Oncology Nursing Award.
April 25-28 American Nephrology Nurses Association
34th Annual National Symposium Chicago, IL. For
more information: (609) 256-2320
(http://anna.inurse.com)
Cathy Goodhue RN, CPNP, Allergy-Immunology, is
past-president of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPNAP
(National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners).
May 1-4 Oncology Nursing Society 28th Annual
Congress Denver, CO. For more information:
(866) 257-4ONS
May 8-9 SCAPON (Southern California Association of
Pediatric Oncology Nurses) Annual Conference
Newport Beach (12 CEUs). For information: Gwen
Kimball RN Ext.3462
May 8-10 Contemporary Forums Presents: Nursing
Care of the Hospitalized Child Atlanta, GA.
For information: (800) 377-7707 Ext. 0
(www.contemporaryforums.com)
May 17-21 National Association of Orthopedic Nurses
Orlando, FL. For more information: (609) 256-2310
(www.orthonurse.org)
Hospital-Sponsored Continuing Education:
March 24
CCRN*
Chemotherapy Class*
March 25 Advanced Cardiac Workshop*
Chemotherapy Class*
April 2
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
April 7
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
NRP*
April 10
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
Transplant*
April 21
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
April 22-28 Critical Care Orientation*
April 23
ENPC*
April 24
ENPC*
April 25
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
April 28
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
April 29
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
Advanced Cardiac Workshop*
May 1 & 2 PALS Certification*
May 6-12 National Nurses Week
May 7
NRP*
May 8
Hemofiltration*
Swanz Ganz*
May 9
PALS Re-Certification*
May 12-19 Critical Care Orientation*
May 27
Advanced Cardiac Workshop*
^Contact Debbie Reid Ext.5191
*Contact Rosa Holguin, CHLA Education
Department, Ext.5962
Professional Development:
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles reimburses full-time
employees for 75% of tuition expenses, up to $300 per
quarter. Full-time RNs, LVNs, and RCPs also are eligible
for a $250 per year education allowance. Part-time RNs,
LVNs, and RCPs are eligible for a $125 education
allowance per year. Additionally, CHLA offers 16 hours
per year in education time for all full-time RNs, LVNs,
and RCPs; and 8 hours per year for part-time RNs, LVNs,
and RCPs. Your manager can advise you on how to
access these education benefits.
March 15 NAPNAP-LA (National Association of
Pediatric Nurse Practitioners) Annual Spring
Conference Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
(6 contact hours). For more information:
Anne Hacker (310) 423-7140 or email
[email protected]
April 4-6 Society of Pediatric Nurses Annual
Conference Kansas City, MO: (Tentatively: 29.1
Contact Hours) Speakers include Patricia Benner Ph.D.,
RN, FRCN, FAAN; and Cecily Betz Ph.D., RN, FAAN of
CHLA, USC, and UCD. For information: (800) 7232902, (www.pedsnurses.org).
April 10-13 American Academy of Ambulatory Care
Nursing 28th Annual Conference
Tampa, FL. For more information: (609) 256-2350
(www.aaacn.org)
May 17-21 American Association of Critical-Care
Nurses 2003 National Teaching Institute and Critical
Care Exposition San Antonio, TX. For information:
(800) 899-2226 (www.aacn.org)
June 1-4 Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric,
and Neonatal Nurses Milwaukee, WI. For more
information: (800) 673-8499 (www.awhonn.org)
June 24-28 Case Management Society of America
San Antonio, TX. For more information:
(501) 225-2229 (www.cmsa.org)
June 28 –July 3 American Academy of Nurse
Practitioners Anaheim, CA. For more information:
(512) 442-4262 (www.aanp.org)
L I F E C E L E B R AT I O N S
Heidi Kristall RN, BSN, CPON adopted a baby boy,
Gabriel Wilburn Kristall. He was born in Long Beach
Hospital on Jan. 2, 2003, arriving at 7 lbs 5 oz and 20
1/2 inches. Heidi is a Neuroblastoma/ABMT Care
Manager and has worked at the hospital for eight years,
in BMT, 4 West, and the Hem/Onc Clinic.
5 East - Sherry Nolan RN, MSN, CNS, Clinical
Manager, announces that 5 East has published a cookbook called “5 EATS.” It was published in December as
a gift from the managers to their staff. Sample recipes:
Avocado Egg Rolls with Tamarind Cilantro Sauce; White
Sangria aka Truth Serum; Chinese Chicken Salad;
Korean Fish; and Almost Better Than Kisses Cake. You
can purchase a copy of “5 EATS” from the 5 East
managers for $13.00, of which a portion will go toward
the Endowment for Nursing Excellence Campaign. The
remainder will go toward defraying the cost of the next
edition.
Submit news about your colleagues and units –
engagements, marriages, births, adoptions, birthday
milestones, retirements, parties – this is your column.
Submissions should be sent to Ken Wildes, VP for
Communications, ([email protected]) or to his
attention through interoffice mail at M.S. 1.
PROFESSIONAL MILESTONES
Nancy Blake RN, MN, CCRN, CNAA, Director of PCS
Critical Care Services, serves on the Los Angeles County
Bioterrorism Task Force; the NACHRI Advisory Panel on
Bioterrorism; the California Healthcare Association’s
EMS and Trauma Committee; and is the Emergency
Nurse Association’s Southern California Regional
Director for Emergency Nursing Pediatric Certification.
Blake is a candidate for the board of AACN (American
Association of Critical-Care Nurses).
Joyce D. Derrickson RN, BSN, CPON Neural Tumors
Care Manager, 4 East D. Hematology/Oncology, is president of SCAPON (Southern California Chapter of the
Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses). She recently
accepted an award of excellence on behalf of the
SCAPON chapter from the national APON organization.
Debbie Harris RN, MSN, CPNP, 4 East Hematology/
Oncology, was a guest speaker at the Educational
Workshop on Sickle Cell Disease, sponsored by the
State of California Health Services, Sickle Cell Counselor
and Training Program in January. She spoke on the
“Medical Management of Pediatric Patients With Sickle
Cell D Disease: Examples From Early, Middle and Late
Childhood.” She is co-author of “Differentiation
Between Bone Infarction and Acute Osteomyelitis in
Children with Sickle Cell Disease with Use of Sequential
Radionuclide Bone-Marrow and Bone Scans.” Skaggs,
D., Kim, S., Greene, N., Harris, D., and Miller, J. The
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1810-1813, (2001);
and “Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management
of Thalassemia Patients: California Consensus,”
Quirolo, K., Coates, T., Singer, T., Harmatz, P., Daaboul,
J., Gilsanz, V., Wood, J., Walters, M., Kapour, N.,
Compagno, L., Ang, R., Foote, D., Harris, D., Carson, S,
and Vichinsky, E. Pasadena, California, 1-30. (June
2000).
Gwen Kimball RN, BSN, CPON, Clinical Care
Coordinator, Bone Marrow Transplant, is a board
member of SCAPON (Southern California Association of
Pediatric Oncology Nurses).
Charlie Krozek RN, MN, Director of the RN Residency
in Pediatrics and RN Professional Development, is chair
of California’s Health Occupation Advisory Committee,
and has been nominated to the Los Angeles County
Workforce Investment Board. He spoke at the annual
meeting of NACHRI (National Association of Childrens
Hospitals and Related Institutions) in Seattle in October
of last year. Krozek has traveled the country promoting
the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles RN Residency in
Pediatrics, recently addressing Vanderbilt University
Children’s Hospital, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in
Memphis, Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Dallas
Children’s Hospital, and Seattle Children’s Hospital. In
June he will speak at the 2003 Healthcare Quality
Summit sponsored by Inside the Joint Commission. He
was honored as a finalist for NurseWeek’s “Nurse
Excellence” Award in 2002. He co-authored “RN
Internship: Outcomes of a One-Year Pilot Program” with
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles colleagues Pauline C.
Beecroft Ph.D, RN, FAAN and Lucy Kunzman MS, RN.
Their article was published in The Journal of Nursing
Administration (Dec. 2001).
Arlene Lovejoy-Bluem RN, MS, PNP, CNS Surgical
Admitting, is a board member of the Los Angeles
Chapter of NAPNAP (National Association of Pediatric
Nurse Practitioners).
Mary Baron Nelson RN, MS, CPNP, CPON is president
of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPNAP (National
Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners).
Debbie Reid RN, BSN, CPON, 4 East Education
Manager, Hematology/Oncology, is president-elect of
SCAPON (Southern California Chapter of the
Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses).
Melissa Reider-Demer RN, MN, CPNP, Surgical
Admitting, is president-elect of the Los Angeles Chapter
of NAPNAP (National Association of Pediatric Nurse
Practitioners).
Karen Rodriguez RN, MN, CPNP, Surgical Admitting, is
a board member of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPNAP
(National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners).
Kathy Ruccione RN, MPH, FAAN, CPON, Nursing
Administrator, Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood
Diseases, has been inducted into the American
Academy of Nursing as a Fellow. AAN Fellows are
distinguished by their outstanding contributions to
nursing over and above those that are required in one’s
position of employment by conducting research,
authoring books or articles, and influencing health
policy. Fellows are celebrated also for their dedication to
the nursing profession.
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The Anne Wilson Endowment
for Nursing Excellence
B y L i n d a Ta u b e n r e u t h e r
T
hroughout Southern
California, from the
Antelope Valley to
Palos Verdes, and from
Whittier to the ocean, nearly
2,000 dedicated volunteers are
working with a single purpose:
Making Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles the place nurses choose
to work, and the place they
choose to stay.
These enthusiastic “ambassadors” are members of the 24
Associate Groups of Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles, a powerful
force of volunteers who contribute their time, energy, money
and creativity into raising millions
of dollars for the hospital and
its most important program
initiatives.
Now, their efforts are focused
on one goal: to raise $5 million
to fund the Anne Wilson Endowment for Nursing Excellence, a
fund that will subsidize an ambitious range of programs designed
to expand ongoing education and
career development opportunities
for RNs at Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles; retain, attract and
recruit talented nurses to the hospital; and encourage more young
people to join the profession.
To meet the challenge,
Associate Groups are organizing
golf tournaments, walks and runs.
They’re hosting luncheons, card
parties and black tie dinner
dances. They’re coordinating
movie premieres and book sign2
FloSheet
SPRING 2003
ings; orchestrating fashion shows
and boutiques. They’re running
thrift shops, selling children’s
art stationery and even putting
on a nationally rated horse show.
Today, just two years into a
five-year fundraising commitment, their combined efforts
have raised $3.3 million – close
to three-quarters of the total
endowment.
Why do so many people share
such a powerful commitment to
invest in nursing? “It’s simple,”
says Bonnie McClure, volunteer
chair of the Associate and Affiliate
Groups and a member of the
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Board of Trustees. “We felt that if
we could do anything for
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles,
we wanted to do something to
make things better for nurses.
“They are the heart of our
hospital,” she says, “and the closest
connection to the children and
families we serve. They’re terribly
important to all of us.”
A critical challenge
The shortage of RNs locally,
statewide and across the country
is a real and growing problem,
and the shortages are reflected
not only in across-the-board need
for registered nurses, but also the
demand for nurses in the most
critical areas of our hospitals,
including in emergency departments, in operating rooms and in
intensive care units. The nursing
shortage is particularly acute in
California, ranked among the last
of the 50 states with only 566
working RNs per 100,000 people – the national average is
798. The situation is worse in Los
Angeles County, where there
are only 474 RNs per 100,000
people.
Several factors are combining
to exacerbate the problem: the
number of people who choose
careers in nursing has declined,
private universities are reluctant
to expand or even keep expensive
nursing programs and with the
average age of RNs at 45.2 years,
more than half of the experienced RNs will retire in the next
two decades.
In a profession that demands
extraordinary dedication of all its
practitioners, none are asked to
give more of themselves than
nurses who work with children.
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
is defined by the compassion, skill
and dedication of its nurses –
and here, the crisis-level nursing
shortage is not just a concern,
it’s a critical priority.
There are many distinguishing
characteristics of a place like
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles,
which is special among children’s
hospitals, says President and CEO
Bill Noce. “Clearly, the compassion, skill, and dedication our
nurses and other caregivers bring
to their responsibilities, that they
bring to our children and their
families, is what makes this children’s hospital such a special
place.
Penning Your Passion into Prose
Announcing the 2nd Annual Nurse Essay Contest
It might have been an experiment last year,
but now it’s a tradition. The 2nd Annual
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Nurse Essay
Contest is one of many ways Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles will commemorate
National Nurses Week which, this year, will
be celebrated May 6-12, 2003.
Last year’s winners were awarded prizes in the
amounts of $1,000, $500, and $250. The winning
essayists were, respectively, Kathy Ruccione RN,
MPH, CPON, FAAN; Dee Imai, RN, CPON; and
Sharon Chinn BSN, BA and Penelope Canel RN,
BSN who were both awarded Third Prize for their
contributions.
The theme of this year’s essay contest is:
S AV E T H E D AT E S :
“The Day I Remembered Why
I Became a Pediatric Nurse”
All nurses at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
are encouraged to submit an essay between
600-800 words in length to compete for cash
prizes. All entries will be read by a committee
of hospital executives and a review panel of
the profession’s top leaders.
May 7th NurseWeek Nurse Excellence
Recognition Ceremony and Reception
May 9th Nurse Essay Contest Reception
“One of the best parts of my
job is receiving letters and phone
calls from grateful parents,” he
says. “Sometimes, these letters and
calls come from parents who
have lost a child. But, whatever
the outcome, it is apparent how
much our nurses touch their
lives. They calm fears. They educate. They deliver care. They are
very, very important to them.”
The resources to excel
Among the range of programs
the endowment will fund are
enhanced career development
and educational opportunities for
the hospital’s nurses, developed in
collaboration with nursing
schools and the hospital’s university partners, including financial
assistance for continuing BSNand MSN-level education, annual
opportunities to conduct and
publish findings on nursing
research and support of other
opportunities for professional
growth.
Resources provided by the
endowment will also support initiatives to attract the very best
nursing talent in the nation –
including an intensified recruitment marketing program involving current and former nurses,
expansion of the hospital’s
groundbreaking RN Residency
in Pediatrics, new nurse mentoring programs and the development of nurse manager skills.
Taking nursing to new
heights
These programs will enhance an
environment that is already one
of the most supportive and
responsive in nursing. In addition
to a continuing commitment to
providing competitive salaries,
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
makes a number of quality professional education programs
available to nurses, including an
on-site RN to BSN program
through California State
University at Fullerton, which
provides eligible RNs up to
$10,000 in tuition expenses. The
hospital also offers more on-site
classes for professional certification than any other in the area.
“The endowment created
through this unprecedented support by the Associates will allow
us to care for our patients and
their families and support the
nursing workforce more effectively than ever before,” says
Nancy Blake RN, MN, CCRN,
CNAA, Director of PCS Critical
Care Services. “It will enable
us to spend the time and effort
needed to provide even better
training programs and new
opportunities to learn more –
strengthening our ability to retain
the wonderful people we have, as
well as recruit new professionals
who share our belief that nursing
is a lifelong learning process.”
The Anne Wilson Endowment
for Nursing Excellence represents
an unparalleled vote of confidence and caring for nurses, says
Mary Dee Hacker RN, MBA,
Vice President, Patient Care
Services. “Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles is truly fortunate to be
part of a community that knows
about, respects and supports our
current and future nurses,” she
says. “Very few hospitals in the
country have received such a significant expression of admiration
and respect for their nurses and
the nursing profession from
donor organizations whose members are from families who in
many cases have supported this
hospital and its mission for
generations.
“Because of the commitment
of our Associates, we will have
the resources we need to help
our nurses be the best they can
possibly be – both emotionally
and financially.”
About the Endowment’s Namesake
The Anne Wilson Endowment for Nursing
Excellence is named in honor of Anne
O’Melveny Wilson, a longtime member
and president-emeritus of the hospital’s
Board of Trustees and a past chairman of
the Associate and Affiliate Groups. Her
grandmother, Mary O’Melveny, was a signatory to the document that founded the
original hospital in 1901. Her late husband, prominent orthopedic surgeon John
C. Wilson, Jr., became the hospital’s chief
of staff in 1962 – following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. John Cree Wilson,
Sr., who was the hospital’s first intern in
1910 and served as its chief of staff from
1947 to 1950.
BEDSIDE’S
Best
Standing Tall With
Her Patients
By Vicki Cho Estrada
Ask Phyllis D’Ambra
RN, BS, MPA why she has
dedicated her 35-year
nursing career to clinical
practice and she will tell
you, “Having contact with
patients and their families is
the most fulfilling part of
nursing.
“I feel I’m part of their
families,” D’Ambra says,
adding she has attended
weddings, bar mitzvahs and
other milestones in the lives
Phyllis D’Ambra RN, BS, MPA
of her patients. “I don’t ever
want to lose that contact.” One need only observe D’Ambra’s
gentle hand on a young patient’s back to grasp how her
encouraging touch brings comfort to her patients.
A Clinical Nurse IV in the Department of Orthopaedic
Surgery, D’Ambra has spent her entire nursing career at
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. After completing a two-year
RN program at Harbor College, she came to Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles in 1968 as a staff nurse on 6 East, where she later
became Assistant Head Nurse and Patient Specialist.
In 1980, D’Ambra was promoted to Supervisor in the
Orthopaedic Clinic. While working full-time, she went back to
school and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from
Cal State Los Angeles.
“I knew that in order to get to move to the next level in
nursing, I had to get an advanced degree,” D’Ambra said. She
remained in Orthopaedics and was promoted to Clinical Nurse
III in 1995 and Clinical Nurse IV last year.
D’Ambra is one of only a handful of nurses at Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles at the IV level, according to Nancy Blake
RN, MN, CCRN, CNAA, Director, PCS Critical Care Services.
“The hospital recently added the IV level to give nurses the
opportunity to remain at the bedside, yet move up to a higher
nursing level.You have to demonstrate particularly strong leadership and clinical skills.”
During her career, D’Ambra has seen many changes in clinical
practice. “We used to work with patients and their parents. Now,
we’re working with extended families,” she says. “There’s also
more collaboration with physicians. They ask us our opinions on
how to make a patient’s stay better. I feel like I’m a team player.
I didn’t feel like one before.”
D’Ambra now oversees the daily clinical operations of the
Orthopaedic Clinic. “I make sure the work flow is going
smoothly – triaging for patient placement, determining what’s
urgent and what’s not, and making sure it’s a pleasant experience
for the family.”
She also conducts spine screenings at area schools twice a
week – visiting about 450 schools annually – and participates in
numerous activities with the Spine Research Society.
“So far, this is the best job I’ve ever had,” D’Ambra says. “I get
to work with children in the hospital and in the community. I
learn something new from them everyday.”
Flo Sheet Chronicles
P O L I C Y & P R O C E D U R E S U P D AT E
Beth Devenis RNC, BSN, Education Manager, CTICU,
and Chair of the PCS Policy and Procedure Committee,
reports that the committee is compiling a new PCS
Policy & Procedure Manual. The PCS Policy & Procedure
Committee, made up of staff nurses from most units
and three managers, meets on a monthly basis. The
group has reorganized the new manual to make
navigation easier. The Committee members volunteer to
review policies and send them to the authors for
revisions, when needed. In the last two years, the
change has been to evidence-based practice, so all
policies are based on a combination of research,
literature and best practice guidelines. Devenis says,
“There was a time when practice drove the policies, but
we have progressed to policies driving our practice. Our
staff nurses drive this committee’s work and ensure that
the finished products are clear, concise and user-friendly,
and have been reviewed by our hospital experts in the
area in which the policy pertains.” The new PCS Policy
& Procedure Manual is scheduled to be available in the
units by March.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
April 21-24 Annual Nurse Managers Update and
Critical Care Update Las Vegas, NV. For information:
(800) 573-5575 (www.npeinursing.com).
Stana Fustar RN, CRNI, 4 East Surgical-Oncology Nurse
Coordinator, received the 2000 Southern California
Excellence in Pediatric Oncology Nursing Award.
April 25-28 American Nephrology Nurses Association
34th Annual National Symposium Chicago, IL. For
more information: (609) 256-2320
(http://anna.inurse.com)
Cathy Goodhue RN, CPNP, Allergy-Immunology, is
past-president of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPNAP
(National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners).
May 1-4 Oncology Nursing Society 28th Annual
Congress Denver, CO. For more information:
(866) 257-4ONS
May 8-9 SCAPON (Southern California Association of
Pediatric Oncology Nurses) Annual Conference
Newport Beach (12 CEUs). For information: Gwen
Kimball RN Ext.3462
May 8-10 Contemporary Forums Presents: Nursing
Care of the Hospitalized Child Atlanta, GA.
For information: (800) 377-7707 Ext. 0
(www.contemporaryforums.com)
May 17-21 National Association of Orthopedic Nurses
Orlando, FL. For more information: (609) 256-2310
(www.orthonurse.org)
Hospital-Sponsored Continuing Education:
March 24
CCRN*
Chemotherapy Class*
March 25 Advanced Cardiac Workshop*
Chemotherapy Class*
April 2
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
April 7
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
NRP*
April 10
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
Transplant*
April 21
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
April 22-28 Critical Care Orientation*
April 23
ENPC*
April 24
ENPC*
April 25
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
April 28
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
April 29
Hematology/Oncology Orientation^
CPR Quarterly Marathon*
Advanced Cardiac Workshop*
May 1 & 2 PALS Certification*
May 6-12 National Nurses Week
May 7
NRP*
May 8
Hemofiltration*
Swanz Ganz*
May 9
PALS Re-Certification*
May 12-19 Critical Care Orientation*
May 27
Advanced Cardiac Workshop*
^Contact Debbie Reid Ext.5191
*Contact Rosa Holguin, CHLA Education
Department, Ext.5962
Professional Development:
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles reimburses full-time
employees for 75% of tuition expenses, up to $300 per
quarter. Full-time RNs, LVNs, and RCPs also are eligible
for a $250 per year education allowance. Part-time RNs,
LVNs, and RCPs are eligible for a $125 education
allowance per year. Additionally, CHLA offers 16 hours
per year in education time for all full-time RNs, LVNs,
and RCPs; and 8 hours per year for part-time RNs, LVNs,
and RCPs. Your manager can advise you on how to
access these education benefits.
March 15 NAPNAP-LA (National Association of
Pediatric Nurse Practitioners) Annual Spring
Conference Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
(6 contact hours). For more information:
Anne Hacker (310) 423-7140 or email
[email protected]
April 4-6 Society of Pediatric Nurses Annual
Conference Kansas City, MO: (Tentatively: 29.1
Contact Hours) Speakers include Patricia Benner Ph.D.,
RN, FRCN, FAAN; and Cecily Betz Ph.D., RN, FAAN of
CHLA, USC, and UCD. For information: (800) 7232902, (www.pedsnurses.org).
April 10-13 American Academy of Ambulatory Care
Nursing 28th Annual Conference
Tampa, FL. For more information: (609) 256-2350
(www.aaacn.org)
May 17-21 American Association of Critical-Care
Nurses 2003 National Teaching Institute and Critical
Care Exposition San Antonio, TX. For information:
(800) 899-2226 (www.aacn.org)
June 1-4 Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric,
and Neonatal Nurses Milwaukee, WI. For more
information: (800) 673-8499 (www.awhonn.org)
June 24-28 Case Management Society of America
San Antonio, TX. For more information:
(501) 225-2229 (www.cmsa.org)
June 28 –July 3 American Academy of Nurse
Practitioners Anaheim, CA. For more information:
(512) 442-4262 (www.aanp.org)
L I F E C E L E B R AT I O N S
Heidi Kristall RN, BSN, CPON adopted a baby boy,
Gabriel Wilburn Kristall. He was born in Long Beach
Hospital on Jan. 2, 2003, arriving at 7 lbs 5 oz and 20
1/2 inches. Heidi is a Neuroblastoma/ABMT Care
Manager and has worked at the hospital for eight years,
in BMT, 4 West, and the Hem/Onc Clinic.
5 East - Sherry Nolan RN, MSN, CNS, Clinical
Manager, announces that 5 East has published a cookbook called “5 EATS.” It was published in December as
a gift from the managers to their staff. Sample recipes:
Avocado Egg Rolls with Tamarind Cilantro Sauce; White
Sangria aka Truth Serum; Chinese Chicken Salad;
Korean Fish; and Almost Better Than Kisses Cake. You
can purchase a copy of “5 EATS” from the 5 East
managers for $13.00, of which a portion will go toward
the Endowment for Nursing Excellence Campaign. The
remainder will go toward defraying the cost of the next
edition.
Submit news about your colleagues and units –
engagements, marriages, births, adoptions, birthday
milestones, retirements, parties – this is your column.
Submissions should be sent to Ken Wildes, VP for
Communications, ([email protected]) or to his
attention through interoffice mail at M.S. 1.
PROFESSIONAL MILESTONES
Nancy Blake RN, MN, CCRN, CNAA, Director of PCS
Critical Care Services, serves on the Los Angeles County
Bioterrorism Task Force; the NACHRI Advisory Panel on
Bioterrorism; the California Healthcare Association’s
EMS and Trauma Committee; and is the Emergency
Nurse Association’s Southern California Regional
Director for Emergency Nursing Pediatric Certification.
Blake is a candidate for the board of AACN (American
Association of Critical-Care Nurses).
Joyce D. Derrickson RN, BSN, CPON Neural Tumors
Care Manager, 4 East D. Hematology/Oncology, is president of SCAPON (Southern California Chapter of the
Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses). She recently
accepted an award of excellence on behalf of the
SCAPON chapter from the national APON organization.
Debbie Harris RN, MSN, CPNP, 4 East Hematology/
Oncology, was a guest speaker at the Educational
Workshop on Sickle Cell Disease, sponsored by the
State of California Health Services, Sickle Cell Counselor
and Training Program in January. She spoke on the
“Medical Management of Pediatric Patients With Sickle
Cell D Disease: Examples From Early, Middle and Late
Childhood.” She is co-author of “Differentiation
Between Bone Infarction and Acute Osteomyelitis in
Children with Sickle Cell Disease with Use of Sequential
Radionuclide Bone-Marrow and Bone Scans.” Skaggs,
D., Kim, S., Greene, N., Harris, D., and Miller, J. The
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1810-1813, (2001);
and “Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management
of Thalassemia Patients: California Consensus,”
Quirolo, K., Coates, T., Singer, T., Harmatz, P., Daaboul,
J., Gilsanz, V., Wood, J., Walters, M., Kapour, N.,
Compagno, L., Ang, R., Foote, D., Harris, D., Carson, S,
and Vichinsky, E. Pasadena, California, 1-30. (June
2000).
Gwen Kimball RN, BSN, CPON, Clinical Care
Coordinator, Bone Marrow Transplant, is a board
member of SCAPON (Southern California Association of
Pediatric Oncology Nurses).
Charlie Krozek RN, MN, Director of the RN Residency
in Pediatrics and RN Professional Development, is chair
of California’s Health Occupation Advisory Committee,
and has been nominated to the Los Angeles County
Workforce Investment Board. He spoke at the annual
meeting of NACHRI (National Association of Childrens
Hospitals and Related Institutions) in Seattle in October
of last year. Krozek has traveled the country promoting
the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles RN Residency in
Pediatrics, recently addressing Vanderbilt University
Children’s Hospital, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in
Memphis, Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Dallas
Children’s Hospital, and Seattle Children’s Hospital. In
June he will speak at the 2003 Healthcare Quality
Summit sponsored by Inside the Joint Commission. He
was honored as a finalist for NurseWeek’s “Nurse
Excellence” Award in 2002. He co-authored “RN
Internship: Outcomes of a One-Year Pilot Program” with
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles colleagues Pauline C.
Beecroft Ph.D, RN, FAAN and Lucy Kunzman MS, RN.
Their article was published in The Journal of Nursing
Administration (Dec. 2001).
Arlene Lovejoy-Bluem RN, MS, PNP, CNS Surgical
Admitting, is a board member of the Los Angeles
Chapter of NAPNAP (National Association of Pediatric
Nurse Practitioners).
Mary Baron Nelson RN, MS, CPNP, CPON is president
of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPNAP (National
Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners).
Debbie Reid RN, BSN, CPON, 4 East Education
Manager, Hematology/Oncology, is president-elect of
SCAPON (Southern California Chapter of the
Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses).
Melissa Reider-Demer RN, MN, CPNP, Surgical
Admitting, is president-elect of the Los Angeles Chapter
of NAPNAP (National Association of Pediatric Nurse
Practitioners).
Karen Rodriguez RN, MN, CPNP, Surgical Admitting, is
a board member of the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPNAP
(National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners).
Kathy Ruccione RN, MPH, FAAN, CPON, Nursing
Administrator, Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood
Diseases, has been inducted into the American
Academy of Nursing as a Fellow. AAN Fellows are
distinguished by their outstanding contributions to
nursing over and above those that are required in one’s
position of employment by conducting research,
authoring books or articles, and influencing health
policy. Fellows are celebrated also for their dedication to
the nursing profession.
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Voice O F
THE PROFESSION
2:59 PM
Page 1
In Service in Sinaloa
B y E l e n a F. E p s t e i n
Mary Dee Hacker RN, MBA
Vice President, Patient Care Services &
Chief Nursing Officer
We listen to our nurses. You told us we
needed to communicate better with
you, and we’re trying to do just that. I
love the many opportunities I have to
talk with our nurses every day as I
move about the house. They’re great.
But, we have more than 800 RNs here,
and we have to find ways to reach all
of you more often. We’re trying to do
just that with the introduction of a
triquarterly, “Flo Sheet.” It’s been
created just for nurses at Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles.
I’m enormously grateful to the
Advisory Committee and to the scores
of nurses who participated in the focus
groups that led to this publication.
Your enthusiasm was infectious, and
your ideas were wonderful. I hope the
news and stories within these pages
enrich your experience at the hospital.
But, it’s only the beginning. There’s so
much to celebrate here, and I will rely
on you to let me know where we
should shine the spotlight in your area
or, perhaps, on someone you know.
Flo Sheet will be a forum for
dialogue and news. It will be where
you will learn about our wonderful
people and programs. For example, in
recent months we took the necessary
steps to more carefully manage the
census to our available human
resources; Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles conducted its most comprehensive
Market
Compensation
Analysis ever; and we created the
Alternate Full Time position for those
of you who want to work six 12-hour
days in a pay period and remain
benefits-eligible. We have just begun a
very aggressive recruitment campaign
to ensure adequate staffing at CHLA in
addition to the collective work across
all of nursing in the development of
the RN Residency Program.
We are committed to providing
educational and career opportunities
for our nurses. I strongly encourage
you to consider these programs. We
very much want to help you realize
your aspirations and grow in the
profession.
We want you to be involved with
Flo Sheet. We want you to be involved
in keeping Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles the special place we are proud
that it is. And, we want you to be
happy in your work.
5
FloSheet
SPRING 2003
FloSheet
Volunteers I N A C T I O N
It’s the smile on the weathered
faces of men and women, their
rough worn hands holding hers
in gratitude, that has connected
Pam Penny RN, a nurse in the
Neurology Clinic, to a small clinic in Central Mexico.
Over the past year, Penny has
spent her vacation time traveling
to the state of Sinaloa to work at
the San Blas clinic at the entrance
of Copper Canyon. She is part of
“The Flying Doctors of Mercy,”
a team of volunteers organized by
Liga International, a non-profit
group of pilots, medical professionals, students and translators.
The volunteers pay $160 to cover
the cost of the plane fuel. Penny’s
church, Congregational Church
of the Chimes in Sherman Oaks,
has sponsored her five trips.
Liga International operates
three clinics the first weekend of
every month from October
through June. Penny begins her
excursions on Friday morning
aboard a six-seat plane, departing
from airports in Van Nuys,
Whiteman or Chino. Volunteers
fly to El Fuerte, then travel
another hour on a bus or taxi to
the clinic, a two-story brick
building in the middle of a dirt
field.
“People walk for miles or take
a three-hour bus ride and some-
times wait for 12 hours or longer
to be seen,” Penny says. “We’re
the only medical care available.”
month-old baby with facial paralysis whose family had been
feeding her with an eyedropper;
and a 106-year-old man undergoing cataract surgery.
The rural conditions, sleeping
on cots, working 10-12 hour days
doesn’t bother Penny. She says
she learned from her father, who
Pam Penny RN assisting with IV start on a 2 month-old child
Penny made her first trip
accompanying a former
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
neurologist. She found the experience enormously gratifying and
now tries to go several times a
year. The clinic offers care for
various ailments such as club
foot, hernia, cleft palate, vision
and hearing loss. The volunteers
see between 300 and 600 patients
in one weekend.
What Penny has seen is often
memorable, including an eight-
$
Referral Bonus
Benefit: $5,000 bonus
Requirements: Refer an experienced RN to CHLA. Once the RN
is hired and passes the probationary period, CHLA will pay you
the referral bonus.
Additional Benefits for CHLA Nurses:
■ $1,000 bonus for referring an RN to the RN Residency Program
■ Alternate Full Time Program
■ Loan Forgiveness Program (aka RN to BSN Program)
■ Tuition Assistance Program
■ MBA through National University
■ CHLA Continuing Ed Courses (See Calendar of Events)
■ 24-Hour Child Care at CHLA
For more information call the HR Help Line (323) 669-2558
All 843 RNs Receive Mid-Year
Salary Adjustments
“Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
is determined to retain our best
people – and attract and hire the
best new people,” says Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles President
and CEO Bill Noce. “And, we
continue to be committed to
maintaining a competitive position in the marketplace for our
nurses.”
But, the nationwide nursing
shortage, acute in Los Angeles,
has made the market for RNs
particularly volatile. So, four
months ago, Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles began a comprehensive internal and external compensation analysis, including
review of 420 positions at
had been orphaned at five, that
good fortune is for sharing. She
describes the clinic as a place
where she gets to practice pure
nursing and feel a great sense of
accomplishment.
“You are making do with less,
but you are really relating to the
people,” she says. “You touch
their lives, and they touch yours.
You leave feeling energized.”
FloSheet
Nursing by the Numbers
For Your Benefit
Market-Driven Adjustment
Targets $5.3 Million for RNs
■ The first RN Residency in Pediatrics
class enrolled in July 1999.
■ 230 nurses have successfully
completed the RN Residency.
■ 36 RN Residents graduated in
the 7th class in January.
■ 23 nurse residents entered the
8th RN Residency class in February.
■ RN Residents experience more than
660 hours of one-to-one precepted
time, classroom, and skills lab
education.
■ The RN Residency in Pediatrics has
been imitated at 3 other hospitals in
Southern California (Loma Linda
Childrens Hospital, Children’s Hospital
Orange County, and Children’s
Hospital San Diego).
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
4650 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.ChildrensHospitalLA.org
Executive Sponsors:
Mary Dee Hacker RN, MBA
Vice President for Patient Care Services
Kenneth J. Wildes, Jr.
Vice President for Communications
Advisory Committee:
Sharon Chinn BSN, BA
Dee Imai RN, CPON
Gwen Kimball RN, BSN, CPON
Laura Klee RN
Sherry Nolan RN, MSN, CNS
Pam Penny RN
Karen Prommer RN, MS, CPHRM
Kathy Ruccione RN, MPH, FAAN, CPON
Editor:
Sally C. Benner
Designer:
Vince Rini Design
Photographers:
Keats Elliott
Russ Morales
Writers:
Elena Epstein
Vicki Cho Estrada
Linda Taubenreuther
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
The analysis found that 331 positions, held by 1,821 hospital
employees, were competitive in
the market – the competitive
position for 89 positions, held by
1,096 employees, had seriously
eroded in a short space of time.
Despite the $1.6 million
investment in RNs a year ago –
the third market adjustment in
four years – that brought RN I
to the market average, RN II
significantly above the market
average and RN III and IV to
the top of the market - the compensation analysis less than a year
later indicated that our competitive position in the marketplace
for all 19 RN positions at
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
required an immediate market
VOLUME 1
A T R I - Q U A R T E R LY P U B L I C A T I O N F O R N U R S E S
NUMBER 1
Extra-CHLA: L I V E S O U T S I D E T H E H O S P I T A L
A Ballad Runs Through Her
B y E l e n a F. E p s t e i n
adjustment; that is, the market
dictated that all 843 RNs should
receive increases in their salaries,
independent of scheduled performance-based increases.
On Jan. 31, 2003 Noce wrote
all employees to communicate
the results of the comprehensive
compensation analysis, making a
commitment to find $6.5 million
in recurring annual expense to
support a market adjustment,
effective with the pay period
beginning Feb.16, to make all 89
positions competitive – more
than $5.3 million of the total was
designated for the market adjustments for the 19 RN positions.
This mid-year adjustment is
market-driven, and all increases
made as a result of this analysis
will be in addition to performance-based increases as a result
of the Performance Assessment
and Development process.
Nonprofit
Organization
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Los Angeles, CA
Permit No. 22460
T
o JoAnn Boyce RN,
singing is not just a
hobby, it’s a passion.
“Music is a part of who I am,”
says Boyce, who has been at
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
since 1975.
JoAnn Boyce RN
A Clinical Information
Specialist in the Information
Technology Department, Boyce
has spent many nights on stage in
an elegant gown and shimmering
rhinestone earrings. With a riveting, sultry voice she gives her
audience a show to remember.
Boyce, whose work is rich
with influences of Billie Holiday
and Ella Fitzgerald, began singing
early. Her parents were the directors of their church choir. By the
time Boyce was seven, she was
singing duets with her five-yearold sister as the choir traveled
throughout their native Tennessee
and neighboring states.
When Boyce was a teenager
her family moved to California,
where she, her sister and cousin
formed a rhythm and blues vocal
trio called “The Debs.” They did
some backup work with legendary performer Sam Cooke
and produced several records.
“We used to say we were like
The Supremes, only better,”
Boyce recalls with a laugh.
The Debs were soon performing local “gigs” and turning quite
a few heads. But life took a turn.
Boyce got engaged and the group
eventually dissolved.
Boyce began working on a
different career. She graduated
from nursing school in 1963.
After working at several hospitals,
she came to Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles as a bedside nurse.
She later joined the Department
of Quality Management as a
Clinical Information Specialist.
She was promoted to Supervisor
and later to Manager of the
department. She has also worked
as a Clinical Care Coordinator
and facilitator for several leadership workshops.
“I knew I wanted to be a
nurse when I was 10,” Boyce
says. “I love helping people.”
But, the lure of the stage never
faded. In 1993, Boyce decided to
recapture the magic she felt as a
teenager. She took “Entertainers
Workshop” taught by cabaret
performers at Los Angeles City
College. The instructors
approached Boyce to showcase
with them at a local theater. That
first night back on stage Boyce’s
performance was bursting with
ebullience and emotion.
“It felt so natural,” Boyce
recalls. “I connected with the
audience instantly.”
SPRING 2003
Two years later, she had her
own solo show at the historic
Cinegrill in the Roosevelt Hotel
in Hollywood, where she would
leave a full house swooning in
her jazz repertoire. She also
joined the hospital choir and
began performing at various
functions. Her alluring renditions
of “Santa Baby” and “Peel Me a
Grape” have become fixtures at
the hospital’s annual holiday show.
Nearly three years ago, life
took yet another turn for Boyce.
She suffered a stroke that paralyzed the left side of her body.
Through physical therapy and a
strong will, she is back working
part-time at Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles.
Boyce is eager to put her
singing career back on track as
well. Once renovations are completed at the Cinegrill, she hopes
to take the stage once again.
“Music is the ultimate expression in my life,” Boyce says. “It
tells my life story.”
CHLA O R I G I N A L S
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Graduates 7th Class of RN Residents
National Model in
Pediatric Nursing Evolves
To reach your destination,
imagine you have to cross a
rope bridge that spans a
swiftly moving river. Now
picture a firm net in place
underneath that bridge. The journey in this case is
the giant step from nursing school to success in
your first nursing assignment; the net is the RN
Residency in Pediatrics at Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles.
In January, 36 RN Residents completed the
intensive six-month program and celebrated with
a “graduation” ceremony hosted by Charlie
Krozek RN, MN, Director, RN Residency in
Pediatrics and RN Professional Development. To
date, 230 nurses have successfully completed the
program, fast becoming a national model for others.
The RN Residency in Pediatrics (recently
renamed from “RN Internship”) was created in
1999 in response to the growing national nursing
shortage. Since then, it has bolstered nurse
recruiting, and reduced the first-year turnover
rate from 36 percent to 8 percent, and the
second-year turnover rate from 56 percent to
16 percent.
The program provides nursing school
graduates with a six-month paid residency –
a comprehensive guided clinical experience in
hospital departments key to their home units.
At the outset, the Nurse Resident is partnered
with an RN Preceptor - a practicing nurse
who sponsors the new graduate into the
nursing profession – and an RN Mentor; and
provided 660 hours of classroom and bedside
training dedicated to all aspects of patient
care.
Larissa Africa, Program Lead, Internal,
says the program has attracted applicants from
the very best nursing schools nationally. Three
other children’s hospitals have instituted the
model pioneered at Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles; others are expected to do so.
42659 CHLA:30096 CHLA
3/13/08
Voice O F
THE PROFESSION
2:59 PM
Page 1
In Service in Sinaloa
B y E l e n a F. E p s t e i n
Mary Dee Hacker RN, MBA
Vice President, Patient Care Services &
Chief Nursing Officer
We listen to our nurses. You told us we
needed to communicate better with
you, and we’re trying to do just that. I
love the many opportunities I have to
talk with our nurses every day as I
move about the house. They’re great.
But, we have more than 800 RNs here,
and we have to find ways to reach all
of you more often. We’re trying to do
just that with the introduction of a
triquarterly, “Flo Sheet.” It’s been
created just for nurses at Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles.
I’m enormously grateful to the
Advisory Committee and to the scores
of nurses who participated in the focus
groups that led to this publication.
Your enthusiasm was infectious, and
your ideas were wonderful. I hope the
news and stories within these pages
enrich your experience at the hospital.
But, it’s only the beginning. There’s so
much to celebrate here, and I will rely
on you to let me know where we
should shine the spotlight in your area
or, perhaps, on someone you know.
Flo Sheet will be a forum for
dialogue and news. It will be where
you will learn about our wonderful
people and programs. For example, in
recent months we took the necessary
steps to more carefully manage the
census to our available human
resources; Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles conducted its most comprehensive
Market
Compensation
Analysis ever; and we created the
Alternate Full Time position for those
of you who want to work six 12-hour
days in a pay period and remain
benefits-eligible. We have just begun a
very aggressive recruitment campaign
to ensure adequate staffing at CHLA in
addition to the collective work across
all of nursing in the development of
the RN Residency Program.
We are committed to providing
educational and career opportunities
for our nurses. I strongly encourage
you to consider these programs. We
very much want to help you realize
your aspirations and grow in the
profession.
We want you to be involved with
Flo Sheet. We want you to be involved
in keeping Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles the special place we are proud
that it is. And, we want you to be
happy in your work.
5
FloSheet
SPRING 2003
FloSheet
Volunteers I N A C T I O N
It’s the smile on the weathered
faces of men and women, their
rough worn hands holding hers
in gratitude, that has connected
Pam Penny RN, a nurse in the
Neurology Clinic, to a small clinic in Central Mexico.
Over the past year, Penny has
spent her vacation time traveling
to the state of Sinaloa to work at
the San Blas clinic at the entrance
of Copper Canyon. She is part of
“The Flying Doctors of Mercy,”
a team of volunteers organized by
Liga International, a non-profit
group of pilots, medical professionals, students and translators.
The volunteers pay $160 to cover
the cost of the plane fuel. Penny’s
church, Congregational Church
of the Chimes in Sherman Oaks,
has sponsored her five trips.
Liga International operates
three clinics the first weekend of
every month from October
through June. Penny begins her
excursions on Friday morning
aboard a six-seat plane, departing
from airports in Van Nuys,
Whiteman or Chino. Volunteers
fly to El Fuerte, then travel
another hour on a bus or taxi to
the clinic, a two-story brick
building in the middle of a dirt
field.
“People walk for miles or take
a three-hour bus ride and some-
times wait for 12 hours or longer
to be seen,” Penny says. “We’re
the only medical care available.”
month-old baby with facial paralysis whose family had been
feeding her with an eyedropper;
and a 106-year-old man undergoing cataract surgery.
The rural conditions, sleeping
on cots, working 10-12 hour days
doesn’t bother Penny. She says
she learned from her father, who
Pam Penny RN assisting with IV start on a 2 month-old child
Penny made her first trip
accompanying a former
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
neurologist. She found the experience enormously gratifying and
now tries to go several times a
year. The clinic offers care for
various ailments such as club
foot, hernia, cleft palate, vision
and hearing loss. The volunteers
see between 300 and 600 patients
in one weekend.
What Penny has seen is often
memorable, including an eight-
$
Referral Bonus
Benefit: $5,000 bonus
Requirements: Refer an experienced RN to CHLA. Once the RN
is hired and passes the probationary period, CHLA will pay you
the referral bonus.
Additional Benefits for CHLA Nurses:
■ $1,000 bonus for referring an RN to the RN Residency Program
■ Alternate Full Time Program
■ Loan Forgiveness Program (aka RN to BSN Program)
■ Tuition Assistance Program
■ MBA through National University
■ CHLA Continuing Ed Courses (See Calendar of Events)
■ 24-Hour Child Care at CHLA
For more information call the HR Help Line (323) 669-2558
All 843 RNs Receive Mid-Year
Salary Adjustments
“Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
is determined to retain our best
people – and attract and hire the
best new people,” says Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles President
and CEO Bill Noce. “And, we
continue to be committed to
maintaining a competitive position in the marketplace for our
nurses.”
But, the nationwide nursing
shortage, acute in Los Angeles,
has made the market for RNs
particularly volatile. So, four
months ago, Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles began a comprehensive internal and external compensation analysis, including
review of 420 positions at
had been orphaned at five, that
good fortune is for sharing. She
describes the clinic as a place
where she gets to practice pure
nursing and feel a great sense of
accomplishment.
“You are making do with less,
but you are really relating to the
people,” she says. “You touch
their lives, and they touch yours.
You leave feeling energized.”
FloSheet
Nursing by the Numbers
For Your Benefit
Market-Driven Adjustment
Targets $5.3 Million for RNs
■ The first RN Residency in Pediatrics
class enrolled in July 1999.
■ 230 nurses have successfully
completed the RN Residency.
■ 36 RN Residents graduated in
the 7th class in January.
■ 23 nurse residents entered the
8th RN Residency class in February.
■ RN Residents experience more than
660 hours of one-to-one precepted
time, classroom, and skills lab
education.
■ The RN Residency in Pediatrics has
been imitated at 3 other hospitals in
Southern California (Loma Linda
Childrens Hospital, Children’s Hospital
Orange County, and Children’s
Hospital San Diego).
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
4650 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.ChildrensHospitalLA.org
Executive Sponsors:
Mary Dee Hacker RN, MBA
Vice President for Patient Care Services
Kenneth J. Wildes, Jr.
Vice President for Communications
Advisory Committee:
Sharon Chinn BSN, BA
Dee Imai RN, CPON
Gwen Kimball RN, BSN, CPON
Laura Klee RN
Sherry Nolan RN, MSN, CNS
Pam Penny RN
Karen Prommer RN, MS, CPHRM
Kathy Ruccione RN, MPH, FAAN, CPON
Editor:
Sally C. Benner
Designer:
Vince Rini Design
Photographers:
Keats Elliott
Russ Morales
Writers:
Elena Epstein
Vicki Cho Estrada
Linda Taubenreuther
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
The analysis found that 331 positions, held by 1,821 hospital
employees, were competitive in
the market – the competitive
position for 89 positions, held by
1,096 employees, had seriously
eroded in a short space of time.
Despite the $1.6 million
investment in RNs a year ago –
the third market adjustment in
four years – that brought RN I
to the market average, RN II
significantly above the market
average and RN III and IV to
the top of the market - the compensation analysis less than a year
later indicated that our competitive position in the marketplace
for all 19 RN positions at
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
required an immediate market
VOLUME 1
A T R I - Q U A R T E R LY P U B L I C A T I O N F O R N U R S E S
NUMBER 1
Extra-CHLA: L I V E S O U T S I D E T H E H O S P I T A L
A Ballad Runs Through Her
B y E l e n a F. E p s t e i n
adjustment; that is, the market
dictated that all 843 RNs should
receive increases in their salaries,
independent of scheduled performance-based increases.
On Jan. 31, 2003 Noce wrote
all employees to communicate
the results of the comprehensive
compensation analysis, making a
commitment to find $6.5 million
in recurring annual expense to
support a market adjustment,
effective with the pay period
beginning Feb.16, to make all 89
positions competitive – more
than $5.3 million of the total was
designated for the market adjustments for the 19 RN positions.
This mid-year adjustment is
market-driven, and all increases
made as a result of this analysis
will be in addition to performance-based increases as a result
of the Performance Assessment
and Development process.
Nonprofit
Organization
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Los Angeles, CA
Permit No. 22460
T
o JoAnn Boyce RN,
singing is not just a
hobby, it’s a passion.
“Music is a part of who I am,”
says Boyce, who has been at
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
since 1975.
JoAnn Boyce RN
A Clinical Information
Specialist in the Information
Technology Department, Boyce
has spent many nights on stage in
an elegant gown and shimmering
rhinestone earrings. With a riveting, sultry voice she gives her
audience a show to remember.
Boyce, whose work is rich
with influences of Billie Holiday
and Ella Fitzgerald, began singing
early. Her parents were the directors of their church choir. By the
time Boyce was seven, she was
singing duets with her five-yearold sister as the choir traveled
throughout their native Tennessee
and neighboring states.
When Boyce was a teenager
her family moved to California,
where she, her sister and cousin
formed a rhythm and blues vocal
trio called “The Debs.” They did
some backup work with legendary performer Sam Cooke
and produced several records.
“We used to say we were like
The Supremes, only better,”
Boyce recalls with a laugh.
The Debs were soon performing local “gigs” and turning quite
a few heads. But life took a turn.
Boyce got engaged and the group
eventually dissolved.
Boyce began working on a
different career. She graduated
from nursing school in 1963.
After working at several hospitals,
she came to Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles as a bedside nurse.
She later joined the Department
of Quality Management as a
Clinical Information Specialist.
She was promoted to Supervisor
and later to Manager of the
department. She has also worked
as a Clinical Care Coordinator
and facilitator for several leadership workshops.
“I knew I wanted to be a
nurse when I was 10,” Boyce
says. “I love helping people.”
But, the lure of the stage never
faded. In 1993, Boyce decided to
recapture the magic she felt as a
teenager. She took “Entertainers
Workshop” taught by cabaret
performers at Los Angeles City
College. The instructors
approached Boyce to showcase
with them at a local theater. That
first night back on stage Boyce’s
performance was bursting with
ebullience and emotion.
“It felt so natural,” Boyce
recalls. “I connected with the
audience instantly.”
SPRING 2003
Two years later, she had her
own solo show at the historic
Cinegrill in the Roosevelt Hotel
in Hollywood, where she would
leave a full house swooning in
her jazz repertoire. She also
joined the hospital choir and
began performing at various
functions. Her alluring renditions
of “Santa Baby” and “Peel Me a
Grape” have become fixtures at
the hospital’s annual holiday show.
Nearly three years ago, life
took yet another turn for Boyce.
She suffered a stroke that paralyzed the left side of her body.
Through physical therapy and a
strong will, she is back working
part-time at Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles.
Boyce is eager to put her
singing career back on track as
well. Once renovations are completed at the Cinegrill, she hopes
to take the stage once again.
“Music is the ultimate expression in my life,” Boyce says. “It
tells my life story.”
CHLA O R I G I N A L S
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Graduates 7th Class of RN Residents
National Model in
Pediatric Nursing Evolves
To reach your destination,
imagine you have to cross a
rope bridge that spans a
swiftly moving river. Now
picture a firm net in place
underneath that bridge. The journey in this case is
the giant step from nursing school to success in
your first nursing assignment; the net is the RN
Residency in Pediatrics at Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles.
In January, 36 RN Residents completed the
intensive six-month program and celebrated with
a “graduation” ceremony hosted by Charlie
Krozek RN, MN, Director, RN Residency in
Pediatrics and RN Professional Development. To
date, 230 nurses have successfully completed the
program, fast becoming a national model for others.
The RN Residency in Pediatrics (recently
renamed from “RN Internship”) was created in
1999 in response to the growing national nursing
shortage. Since then, it has bolstered nurse
recruiting, and reduced the first-year turnover
rate from 36 percent to 8 percent, and the
second-year turnover rate from 56 percent to
16 percent.
The program provides nursing school
graduates with a six-month paid residency –
a comprehensive guided clinical experience in
hospital departments key to their home units.
At the outset, the Nurse Resident is partnered
with an RN Preceptor - a practicing nurse
who sponsors the new graduate into the
nursing profession – and an RN Mentor; and
provided 660 hours of classroom and bedside
training dedicated to all aspects of patient
care.
Larissa Africa, Program Lead, Internal,
says the program has attracted applicants from
the very best nursing schools nationally. Three
other children’s hospitals have instituted the
model pioneered at Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles; others are expected to do so.