Three nurses are being celebrated for his or her distinctive dedication to affected person care, security and advocacy.
Hygiene Champion and Affected person Security Advocate
Maria Hicinbothem is a workers nurse in Dermatology and Plastic Surgical procedure at Fox Chase Most cancers Middle and works at an outpatient clinic that performs Mohs pores and skin most cancers surgical procedure.
One among her major roles is targeted on affected person security and high quality. An infection prevention is vital at any medical facility, however it turns into significantly consequential for sufferers receiving a Mohs pores and skin most cancers process. Hicinbothem has gone to extraordinary measures – as much as and together with dressing as a bottle of hand sanitizer – to disarm and educate sufferers and colleagues alike.
On a extra critical notice, she developed a process round a persistent hole in affected person “pre-photo” assortment. That’s, since most of her sufferers are referred from elsewhere, they typically arrive with out the prerequisite pre-photos previous to surgical procedure. In her function, Hicinbothem is conscious about affected person wants, significantly for her clinic’s inhabitants, which skews a lot older.
She has earned her fame for excellence in anticipating affected person wants and making ready upfront for his or her visits. Her affected person advocacy – with a give attention to hand sanitization – can be exhibited within the processes she has put into place to enhance affected person training and preparedness previous to Mohs procedures. Her efforts yielded optimistic outcomes on our affected person expertise surveys, carried out by a third-party group. She authored an summary on her processes that was accepted to Oncology Nursing Society Congress 2023, and she or he offered her work at this nationwide assembly.
Maria Hicinbothem is genuinely a beautiful one who makes a really critical matter extra human – and subsequently extra consequential – for affected person understanding. For that reason, I nominate her for this award.
A Champion for Affected person Dignity
Wandaris “Wandi” Ortiz, is, merely put, a rare healer and worthy of an award of that title. Ortiz is a particular, uncommon sort of nurse that Fox Chase Most cancers Middle is lucky to have in relative overabundance: a compassionate caregiver who can be an agent of change.
After an early profession in inpatient drugs and the wound ostomy crew, Ortiz has turn out to be a fixture in Fox Chase’s Division of Radiation Oncology, the place her focus is on sufferers with gynecological cancers.
What distinguishes Ortiz from her colleagues, who’re all achieved professionals in their very own proper, is her give attention to affected person dignity. As somebody who has skilled trauma herself, she strives to make sufferers really feel protected at foremost and revered general. She has labored extensively with our affected person advocacy crew and senior management to craft a trauma-informed care mannequin. This mannequin hinges on taking a patient-eye view of methods to keep away from what would possibly set off fears, disgrace and emotions of helplessness in sufferers.
Ortiz has at all times been centered on the little, optimistic touches that would imply a distinction to a affected person, comparable to when she supplied a birthday celebration to a younger mom who was too sick to handle one on her personal. It’s these sorts of touches that additionally make an enormous distinction by way of affected person dignity — for instance, how Ortiz championed a course of change in order that sufferers would meet their physician earlier than being requested to undress and to placed on a robe. It’s a small act that preserves affected person dignity and enhances their consolation degree.
Science and data-driven drugs are priorities at Fox Chase, so Ortiz has collaborated with our researchers to deliver consideration to trauma-informed care and research care fashions associated to the subject.
Wandaris Ortiz is a rare individual and a therapeutic caregiver, which is why I want to nominate her for this award.
The Embodiment of Service Management in Affected person Care
Sandi Wetherbee is an distinctive, extremely educated, skilled nursing skilled who feels most snug on the bedside of our sufferers. All through her profession, she has proven herself to be a succesful supervisor and efficient chief, however again and again, she chooses to specific her management via direct service to sufferers. She is a fierce affected person advocate and efficient communicator who has earned the respect of all members of our scientific care crew.
Wetherbee is a frontline nurse in our inpatient surgical oncology unit at Fox Chase Most cancers Middle, the place she has turn out to be the champion of our largest surgical service, Urology. The truth is, Wetherbee’s profession has coincided with the growth of our Urology apply, which has grown from a modest group when Wetherbee joined Fox Chase in 2000 to the nationally acknowledged program it’s at present.
She continually seeks to boost her experience with Urology and related surgical applied sciences, significantly by way of an infection dangers to sufferers. Her efforts have led to her turning into the face of our Catheter-Related Urinary Tract An infection (CAUTI) crew, and she or he has lately had an summary accepted for poster presentation this 12 months on the Oncology Nursing Society assembly and for publication of their journal on protocols to scale back CAUTI.
As an skilled, devoted skilled, Wetherbee has turn out to be a tremendous useful resource for Fox Chase. Many nurses begin their careers in her unit and beneath her mentoring. As Fox Chase’s Urology program has expanded to affiliated hospitals inside Temple College Well being System, Wetherbee has turn out to be a key useful resource in coaching nurses at our new Fox Chase Urology providers at Temple College Hospital – Jeanes Campus and Temple Well being – Chestnut Hill Hospital.
Certainly, nursing training has turn out to be more and more vital to Wetherbee, and she or he naturally excels within the function of educator. As our resident skilled in urology nursing and ostomy care, she has turn out to be an integral a part of the coaching we offer to nurses from throughout the USA who come to Fox Chase.
Wetherbee is extremely detail-oriented and thorough in her documentation and care planning. This interprets to the best attainable high quality care supply. She additionally companions seamlessly with physicians, fellow nurses and different members of the care crew. Her communication abilities permit her to advocate successfully for her sufferers.
In abstract, Sandi Wetherbee’s scientific experience, patient-centered method, consideration to element, ardour for training and collaborative spirit make her a rare nurse.
Nominations are open for the 2025 CURE Extraordinary Healer award.
For extra information on most cancers updates, analysis and training, don’t neglect to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters right here.
