SJRH ED team recognized for being prepared for major incident
Nurses recognized at 2018 Award of Distinction in Nursing ceremonies
On Thanksgiving Monday, much of Saint John stood still, in awe of a black plume of smoke that hung over the city. However, the staff of Horizon’s Saint John Regional Hospital (SJRH) Emergency Department was not among them; instead, they raced into action, preparing for the worst. News travelled quickly, too: there had been an explosion at the Irving Oil refinery, which was later confirmed to be caused by a malfunction in a diesel unit. Lori Lavric is the Administrative Director of the Emergency Medicine and Ambulatory Care Program at the SJRH, and was the director on- call at the time of the incident. She received a call at approximately 10:34 a.m. from the nursing supervisor, and quickly headed to the hospital. She asked that the emergency fan out list be activated. It was reported ambulances had been dispatched to the scene, but at that point there had been no confirmed casualties. Due to the magnitude of the explosion and the number of people who work at the refinery and the type of work they do, the potential for a mass casualty incident (MCI) was high and a Code Orange was activated. By the time she arrived on site, the “fan-out” had been activated for the emergency department, and in under an hour, an additional 14 emergency physicians, and 36 staff members, including 27 nurses, four registration clerks, three porters and two ward clerks had joined the emergency department team at the ready.
Horizon’s Nursing Quality and Professionalism Committee launched its new Awards of Distinction in Nursing in June 2018.
The recipients were recognized for their contributions towards nursing professionalism, as well as for their excellence in nursing practice in the areas of leadership, clinical practice, mentorship and nursing novice. Congratulations to the 2018 Award of Distinction in Nursing recipients!
The committee received 43 submissions from across Horizon, and in October, 14 award recipients were formally recognized in a series of recognition events at five facilities.
From left: Karen McGrath, Horizon’s President and CEO; Geri Geldart, Chief Nursing Officer and VP Clinical Services; and recipients Merita MacMillan, RN (Leadership); MichelleWatling, RN (Mentorship); Stuart Keoughan, LPN (Clinical Practice); Marilyn Underhill, executive director, Miramichi Regional Hospital, and Jacqueline Gordon, Regional Director of Nursing Practice at the Miramichi awards presentation on Oct. 2.
From left: Geri Geldart, Horizon’s Chief Nursing Officer and VP Clinical Services, and recipients Alice Harding, RN (Clinical Practice); Gwen Stevenson, RN (Mentorship); Anita Lawton, RN (Leadership); and Nicole Tupper, executive director, Horizon’s Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital at the Fredericton awards presentation on Oct. 3.
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Front, centre, from left: registered nurse Nicole Bustin and Janice Murray, nurse manager and lead RN, Emergency Department (ED) at Horizon’s Saint John Regional Hospital. First row, from left: LiamWalsh, ED pharmacist, and registered nurses Simon Richard, Ashley Stuart, Melanie Dupuis-Robichaud, Rosemary Skodje, Holly Jones and Sonja Skodje. Second row, from left: registered nurses Jennifer Loughery, Sandra McCavour, Jennifer Billingsley, Sarah Guitard, Sarah Comeau, Rae Tremblay, Laurel Webster, Samantha Tabor and Tamara Cosman. Third row, from left: registered nurses Julie Crawford, Stuart Weir, Sheri Fournier, Alison Guimond, Catherine Little and Victoria Crilley. Back row, from left: registered nurses Doug Anderson, Cathy Girard, Eric Lesser, Blair Doull, Traci Surette, AmyWestfield and Katie Gowlett.
admitted patients, including two for intensive care, were immediately moved to the nursing units to make way for any casualties. All rooms in the trauma pod were cleared and teams of one physician, one respiratory therapist, two RNs and one LPN were at the ready with all the necessary equipment to receive and treat patients with major injuries. Throughout the day, the hospital received only
five patients from the incident, none of which were critically ill or injured.
From left: Geri Geldart, Horizon’s Chief Nursing Officer and VP Clinical Service, and recipients Olive Steeves Babineau, RN (Leadership); Kay Blackier, RN (Clinical Practice); and Brenda Kinney, executive director, Horizon’s Saint John Regional Hospital, at the Saint John awards presentation on Oct. 12. Missing from photo are recipients Susan Morris, RN (Mentorship) andWhitney Green, RN (Nursing Novice).
From left: Geri Geldart, Horizon’s Chief Nursing Officer and VP Clinical Services, recipient Daphne McKinney, LPN (Clinical Practice), and Denise Gray, nurse manager, Upper River Valley Hospital, at the Upper River Valley awards presentation on Oct. 5.
From left: Geri Geldart, Horizon’s Chief Nursing Officer and VP Clinical Service and recipients, Marilyn Babineau, RN (Leadership); Tammy Garnett, LPN (Mentorship); Denise Nicholson; RN (Clinical Practice); and Nancy Parker, executive director, Horizon’s The Moncton Hospital at the Moncton awards presentation on Oct. 10.
“However, the potential was there, and what was the most incredible thing was watching the response from the staff,” Lori said. “We were well prepared for receiving casualties in large numbers at that point in time and I feel confident that the department would have managed that situation very, very well. The ED team made us all proud that day.” Despite the high level of stress, staff were calm and organized, thanks to the guidance of Nurse Manager, Janice (Jan) Murray, she added. Three days later, “out of the blue,” the emergency team was surprised with a sweet thank you. Staff from the bakery at Sobeys Lansdowne arrived with a massive cake to present to the staff and thank them for being there for their community. “They were delightfully surprised,” said Lorie Setzke, an emergency department RN. “In the nature of the business that we’re in, we don’t always get a lot of that kind of recognition. It means a lot to them that someone went out and did this. As far as Lori and Lorie are aware, there are no known ties between ED staff and Sobeys; the act was “just a spontaneous gesture on their behalf.” And while treats are always a morale booster, it was the act of recognition that really touched their hearts.
It was already a busy day in the ED, with 10 boarded admissions in the department. The
The Moncton Area Hand Hygiene committee recently hosted three days of hand hygiene educational sessions in an effort to increase hand hygiene compliance within Horizon facilities in the Moncton area. The campaign, “Clean Hands Save Lives,” included 18 sessions at The Moncton Hospital (other facilities had access via video- conferencing) where various speakers from Infection Prevention and Control and Employee Health shared the importance of hand hygiene. The goal of the campaign was to increase hand hygiene compliance. Hand hygiene is the single most important measure we all must do to prevent the spread of harmful germs and prevent health care-associate infections. The key message from this campaign is that we all must make hand hygiene part of our everyday practice. Through educational and informative presentations, videos and speeches, 1,018 staff members were reminded of hand hygiene Clean Hands Save Lives!
Internal Medicine Programs and committee member. “From senior leadership to frontline staff, we received comments including how informative, engaging, and well organized the sessions were.” The positive feedback will help fuel future planning and encourage other areas to recreate the sessions. All the information provided at the sessions is readily available for staff at other Horizon facilities. “Although this campaign involved numerous meetings and took many, many hours to organize, it was well worth the effort,” said Mary Woodworth, Infection Prevention and Control Manager. “Our primary goal is to keep our patients, staff and visitors safe.” Horizon staff in every area and facility should be aware that clean hands save lives and put those words into action! Together, we can make a difference and increase compliance to help keep everyone healthy.
techniques and the steps for ensuring clean hands. The committee also utilized this opportunity to promote the annual flu campaign. “We were overwhelmed with the positive feedback we received,” said Ruth Dunnett, Administrative Director, Ambulatory Care and
Members of TheMonctonAreaHandHygiene committee from left: RuthDunnett, AdministrativeDirector, AmbulatoryCare and InternalMedicinePrograms; MaureenDennis-LeBlanc, InfectionPrevention and Control nurse;MarilynBabineau,WorkforceWellness manager; Dr. GordonDow, InfectiousDisease Specialist; MaryWoodworth, InfectionPrevention andControl manager; andChristineCohoon, InfectionPrevention andControl nurse.
Front row, from left: Dr. Mobin Ataellahi, Sonja Skodje and Kate Gosson, registered nurses, two staff members from Sobeys Lansdowne Bakery department. Middle row, from left: registered nurses Jennifer Billingsley and Catherine Little. Back row, from left: registered nurses JF Carpenter and Rosemary Skodje, licensed practical nurses Janice Eastwood and Deanne McKellar; and registered nurse Julie Crawford.
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