GWAC Critical Care Chronicle

Volume 16, Issue 1

November 2015

The Presidents Message

Steve Risch, MSN, RN, CCRN, CCNS
Dear GWAC colleagues,
Thank you for taking time to
read the fall edition of the
Critical Care Chronicle. As
we enter our 41st year as a
chapter, it is my privilege to
greet you as your GWAC president. I want to
thank my dear friend Karen Mack for her
leadership as GWAC president over this past year,
as well as our Our Board of Directors and
Spotlight on Critical Care planning committee
for their courageous volunteerism in keeping our
chapter strong.
Karen McQuillan, the AACNs current president,
shared in her October Bold Voices editorial that
the cornerstone of courageous care is the ability to
connect with patients and families. I believe the
cornerstone of our successful chapter is our ability
to connect with each other. Our volunteers and
members are courageous enough to dedicate time
and energy to sustain our chapter. Together we
have been busy developing our strategic plan and
creating strategies to connect even more to our
membership.
Im excited that our Spotlight on Critical Care
conference on November 21st will be hosted at
Holy Cross Hospitals Professional Community
Education Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Moving the event out of hotel conference centers
was a difficult decision, but its one that allows us
to improve our financial status and ensure we are
meeting the needs of our chapter and membership.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the event.
If you havent already registered, do so today!

members. Carolee Beckford, our membership

chair, has been working diligently on improving
membership process. I challenge you to help us
meet this goal! Encourage your colleagues,
managers or students to join, and spread the word
about the benefits of AACN and GWAC
membership.
To realize our membership goals, we will be
hosting a reception in the next several months.
Everyone attending will be encouraged to bring
along one or more non-members. Stay tuned for
more details! We will have a marketing campaign
to make it easy for you to bring this information
to your unit and encourage your co-workers to
join (register here). We CAN DO THIS!
This year, I also want GWAC to give even more
to our members. I'm very excited to announce that
we will be awarding several travel grants to NTI
this year for our members. We will have details
and information on how to applyby January.
Finally, we are looking for courageous new
leaders to join our Board of Directors. Are you
ready to be part of an outstanding organization
and a team of dedicated members? Let us know!
We are planning to hold elections in March, 2016.
If you're interested or would like to nominate
someone, please email me.
Thank all of you for continued support for
GWAC-AACN and the courageous care you
provide in our region every single day! Join us on
Facebook to continue building our community.

Our key priority for this year is membership. Our

courageous goal for this year is to reach 500
GWAC Critical Care Chronicle

400
300
200
100
0

2014
Column
1

Fiscal Year 2016 GWAC Board

President: Steve Risch, MSN, RN, CCRN, CCNS
President Elect: Vacant
Immediate Past President: Karen Mack, MS,
MBA, ACNP-BC, CHFN
Treasurer: Stephen Mehallow, RN, BSN
Treasurer-Elect: Vacant
Recording Secretary: Theresa Cattuna, RN, BSN,
PCCN
Recording Secretary-Elect: Vacant
Education Chair: Marianne Hess, MSN, RN,
CCRN
Membership Chair: Carolee Beckford, MSN, RN
CCRN
Marketing & Development Chair: Beth
Matusiewicz, RN, BSN
Web Manager: Minnie Raju, RN, MS
Circle of Practice Chair-CCRN: Jen Lewis, RNBC, CCRN, MSN
Circle of Practice Chair-PCCN: Vacant
Circle of Practice Chair-APN: Helen Brown, MS,
ACNP-BC, FNP-BC
Circle of Practice-Nursing Students: Kelly
McNeil-Jones, RN, MBA, RCIS
Spotlight Conference Chair: Charlie Sederstrom,
MSN, RN
Spotlight Conference Chair Elect: Vacant
Newsletter Editor: Andrea Useem, BSN candidate
Region IV Advisor: Pat Baker, RN, MS, CCRN,
CCNS

GWAC Membership Report:

Third Quarter 2015
Carolee Beckford, RN CCRN

Spotlight Preview
Charlie Sederstrom, MSN, RN
On behalf of the Greater Washington Area
Chapter of the American Association of Critical
Care Nurses, I invite you to join us at the 2015
Spotlight on Critical Care Conference on
November 21 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver
Spring, Md.
This annual conference embodies the GWAC
mission to provide networking and educational
opportunities that prepare acute and critical care
nurses to make their optimal contribution in
delivering the highest quality patient and family
centered care. This year we celebrate our 30th
year of striving for Beacons of Excellence, and we
are excited about the experiences you will have
when you join us!
At the conference youll have the opportunity to
interact with critical care RNs, NPs, ethicists, and
MDs from around the region. Youll enjoy speaker
sessions on a range of topics, including the latest
strategies for managing septic shock, unique
causes of cardiac arrest, antimicrobial resistance,
and the ethical aspects of providing futile care.
This conference is the perfect place to discuss the
latest evidence-based practices and innovations in

GWAC Critical Care Chronicle

critical care, as well as get a look at the latest

critical care technologies. Registration is open.
Please also download and share this brochure that
provides complete details. Thinking of
presenting? Please follow this link for abstract
submission instructions.
We are excited to have such a dynamic group of
speakers to share their expertise and look forward
to learning from you as well. Space is limited, so
please register today!

Treasurers Report
Stephen Mehallow, RN, BSN
As GWACs new treasurer for fiscal year 2015, I
am excited to report that we are on solid financial
footing.
The annual income/expense report (below) and
fourth quarter report (right) for fiscal year 2014
are shown here. In addition to our positive overall
margin, we carry zero debt and a cash balance of
$61,076.14.
Thank you for selecting me as your GWAC
treasurer. We are looking for a treasurer for fiscal
year 2016. Could that person be you? Email me if
you are interested or want to nominate someone
else.
Join the GWAC-AACN
community on Facebook for
updates, news and pictures!
Questions? Contact Beth
Matusiewicz, our Marketing &
Development Chair.

I am a Critical Care Nurse

Susan Oyola, BSN, RN, PCCN
As part of our ongoing series I am a Critical
Care Nurse, Susan Oyola, the Patient Care
Director of Medstar Washington Hospital
Centers 1E Intermediate Care Unit (IMC), shares
her journey as a critical-care nurse.
Why did you become a nurse?
GWAC Critical Care Chronicle

I was actually an English

Literature major the first
time around in college. I
wanted to make an impact
on the world through
writing poetry and novels.
I saw myself writing the
truth about the human
experience and thus having the world remember
me forever pretty lofty notion, right? After
about a year in the real world, churning through
corporate documents behind a desk (I was a
writer/editor at an IT company), I realized this
was not the path for me.
I shadowed a friend who was a nurse and
discovered a different way to be remembered as
the person who really touched a life, one life at a
time. Now I see nursing as my poetry: I may not
be remembered by the world as a whole, but I will
be remembered by those for whom I was the
world, even for only a few minutes, or hours, or
days.
What about your job as a nurse makes you
happy?
I love seeing my patients get better. I am so lucky
to work in a progressive care unit where we see
improvement fast. Our patients come in septic or
in acute respiratory failure, and we are able to turn
the majority of them around within a few days. I
also have patients tell me all the time that they can
tell that I truly love my job. Knowing that my
passion for this job is really reflected in my
patient care makes me happy.

Now I see
nursing as my
poetry.
Susan Oyola, Patient Care Director of
Medstar Washington Hospital Centers 1E
Intermediate Care Unit.
GWAC Critical Care Chronicle

What are the challenges you encounter and

how do you overcome them?
Everything about this job is challenging! I think
one of the biggest challenges for me can be the
overwhelming number of competing demands for
your attention. No one has to keep so many
things in their head at once like a nurse does, and
no one gets interrupted so many times during their
day! When I was an English major, I was not
very flexible. I liked to set out my day ahead of
me and accomplish each task in a row until I was
done. You cant do that as a nurse; you have to
prioritize any number of competing demands,
including the new ones that constantly pop up in
the middle of all the others. As a nurse, I have
truly learned the meaning of multi-tasking, and
have become very good at keeping a huge number
of things in my head at once.
Have you experienced anything extraordinary
in your nursing career?
Im not certain if this is the intent of the question,
but I experienced something I considered beyond
the ordinary last year. I was caring for a patient in
her 90s, who toward the end of my shift started
inexplicably reaching out with one hand in front
of her. To me, it truly looked as if she was
reaching to grasp an invisible hand, which she
seemed to be seeing come down from above her.
I could not see anything there, but the experience
did give me a strange feeling in my gut that I
couldnt explain. She died the next day. After I
heard she had died, I realized that the feeling in
my gut was that I knew she was dying. I still
think about that patient often.
What has been the most amazing experience
youve had as a critical care nurse?
It is hard to narrow it down to one experience, as I
feel lucky to have gotten to have a number of
amazing experiences. But, I will say that one
memorable experience happened when I was
working the night shift a couple of years ago. I
started my shift on September 12th, so that I could
have my birthday night, September 13th, off.
As the night went on, one of our patients
deteriorated very quickly and we had to call a
4

Code Blue. We initiated CPR, and I was rotating

in and out of the compressions line up. At a few
minutes after midnight, I realized it was
technically my birthdayI was born at 00:08 on
September 13th. A few minutes later, we brought
the patient back. It felt so amazing to be
personally reviving another heart, while
celebrating the birth of my own!

Share your story with usor nominate another

nurse! Write to our newsletter editor, Andrea
Useem.

What has your journey as a nurse been like?

I started out on a medical cardiology unit, where
we primarily managed pre- and post-cardiac
catheterization patients. From there, I moved up
to the medical Intermediate Care Unit (IMC) on
which I currently work. I was a staff nurse on the
IMC for a little over two years before I accepted a
position as a Manager on the IMC. So, now I help
run the unit I love. And because I just cant slow
down, I just started working on my MSN degree
this August. I love the opportunities nursing gives
you to try something new and always be learning.
I learn something new every single day.

Kudos: Recognizing Our Nurses

Andrea Useem, BSN Candidate, George Washington
University School of Nursing

At the end of a busy/grueling day, how do you

find balance in your life?
My husband is truly my great balancer. He often
cooks for me or we cook together. He forces me to
go explore the world and take a breath from work.
The other day, before I went to work, he told me
take care of yourself today. I responded, Im a
nurse! I dont take care of myself, I take care of
other people. But that day I remembered to take
a true lunch break and stop charting during lunch,
sohes always there looking out for me, whether
in person or as a voice in my head.
How has AACN played a role in your career?
AACN has been a great source of education and
opportunity for me. I became aware of the
Progressive Care Certified Nurse (PCCN) exam
through the AACN magazines that I get as a
member. It became something I really wanted to
do for myself and my patients. I passed the exam
in April 2014 and brought it to my unit. I actually
used guidance from the AACN to create a study
group for my colleagues. We have had four other
nurses pass the PCCN on the first try since then!
GWAC Critical Care Chronicle

The following nurses have successfully earned

their CCRN certification:
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
(Bethesda, MD)

Olusegun Bello
Shelly Schneider

Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical

Center (Rockville, MD)

Erica Kim
Kathy Oehl
Lorna Wint
Risa Wright

Suburban Hospital (Bethesda, MD)

Blaine Grey
5

Zhen Yuan

More Achievements from Our Members:

Marianne Hess, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, Interim
Manager of the Professional Development &
Education Department at George Washington
University Hospital, gave four presentations at the
Third International Nursing Congress of Armenia.
Over 300 nurses from 17 countries attended the
congress, held in Yerevan, Armenia, in September,
2015.
Her presentations included two Plenary Sessions
(Rapid Response Teams: The role of the nurse in
identifying deteriorating patients and Creating
an abstract for presentation) and two Concurrent
Sessions (Defibrillation: An effective treatment
for a lethal situation and Ebola preparedness:
New perspectives for old issues.)
Kimberley Kelly, RN, BSN, MBA, Critical Care
Nursing Director at Suburban Hospital,
recognized two nurses:
We would like to recognize Melissa Shively
BSN RN, from the Progressive Care Unit of
Suburban Hospital. Melissa has been the unit
leader of our CUSP Team (Comprehensive UnitBased Safety Program) which looks to staff for
input on how to prevent harm to patients. The
feedback from staff was that staffing was an
issue. As the team analyzed the problem more
closely, it was found that our pattern of
assignments was a major part of the staffing
problem. Melissa developed a unit-specific acuity
tool to help guide the Charge Nurses with staffing
and assignment decisions. The staff feedback has
been overwhelmingly positive. The incremental
overtime has steadily decreased since we began
using this simple tool that was developed with
input from the staff. Her leadership through a
GWAC Critical Care Chronicle

change process on the unit has been terrific. The

project will be presented at the upcoming Patient
Safety Summit at Johns Hopkins and also at this
years MNA Convention in late October.
Wink MacKay MSN, BSN, CCRN, will be
presenting our progress with Nuisance Alarm
Reduction in the ICU. The ICU at Suburban
Hospital conducted an analysis our patient
monitor alarms in 2014 and made changes that
resulted in 35% fewer alarms. Over the past year,
we have sustained this reduction and our team is
continuing to analyze and refine according to best
practice recommendations. Wink worked with our
multidisciplinary team as part of a clinical ladder
project. Our poster was presented at the 2015
SCCM Conference and Wink will be presenting
our poster at the JH Patient Safety Summit in
October.
What are YOUR nurses accomplishing? Write to
our newsletter editor about new certifications,
presentations or other achievements.

Past-Presidents Farewell
Karen Mack, MS, MBA, ACNP-BC, CHFN
As I reflect on the GWACAACN presidency, I am
struck by our chapters long
history of accomplishment
and its influence on the
sphere of nursing practice as
a whole.
The members of our chapter
are called upon to care for the nation's leaders,
military service members, first responders, and
citizens of the Washington, DC, region at times of
personal crisis and historic importance. The
chapter boasts a number of local and national
nursing leaders who have risen to prominence
after early-career service as chapter board
members and officers. Two chapter members
serve on AACN national boards, and many are
involved both locally and nationally.
GWAC-AACN was founded in 1974, only five
years after the American Association of Critical6

care Nurses (AACN) was founded. Now in its

41st year, our chapter is hosting the 30th Spotlight
on Critical Care Nursing Conference on
Novembers 21st at the Holy Cross Hospital
Conference Center. The chapter's contribution to
the health of patients through advancement of
professional nursing practice has been validated
with national awards and sustained membership.

opportunity to make a significant contribution to

both the chapter legacy and critical-care nursing

practice as a whole.
However, the Great Recession, as well as new
regulations and industry norms that arose from
health care reform legislation, put new financial
pressures on our chapter operations. These
changes meant that conducting our chapter
business as usual was no longer feasible.

The Board and Members of GWAC-AACN thank

Karen Mack for her service as president!
Do you work in an AACN Beacon Unit? The
Critical Care Chronicle would love to publish a

The chapter has started on a courageous path to

sustainability and has begun to remodel itself with
innovation and openness to change. As of June 30,
2015, the close of fiscal year, our chapter marked
significant achievements:

Chapter membership numbered 375, an

increase of 83 members from the prior
year.
Chapter income and expense for FY 15
statements reflect a net increase of
$12,164.13a reversal of several years of
declining chapter financial strength.

I personally want to ask every chapter member to

consider how they might contribute to this legacy.
Please personally ask your colleagues and leaders
to join our chapter as members and to attend the
chapter conferences and events. The chapter has
incredible speakers and programs and desires to
benefit more nurses. This year's president Steve
Risch has set a goal of attaining 500 members. We
need your help to achieve that milestone.

short article about your unit and how you

achieved the outcomes needed to become a
Beacon Award unit.
Please email our newsletter editor for details.

Please also consider joining an AACN board or

running for a GWAC-AACN office. It will
improve your network and give you the

GWAC Critical Care Chronicle