Each month, Look Who’s Talking features voices from across Brigham answering the same question. This month, in honor of National Nurses Week from May 6-May 12, BWHers reflect on the contributions nurses have made to the Brigham community. If you would like to add your voice to the conversation, please submit a comment at the bottom of the page.

“I’m so proud of our Brigham nurses. Nurses influence every area of our mission – patient care, research, teaching and service to our community. Brigham nurses lead clinical research, conduct quality improvement initiatives and educate and mentor new nurses and other members of the care team. National Nurses Week gives us a wonderful opportunity to recognize our 3,500-plus nurses as outstanding caregivers, advocates, teachers, researchers, innovators, leaders and friends. We thank them for their unwavering commitment to ensuring that our patients and their loved ones receive the best possible care today, tomorrow and for generations to come.”
-Betsy Nabel, MD, President, Brigham Health

“When I think of the contributions nurses make to the BWH community, the first word I think of is ‘glue.’ BWH is a world-renowned institution delivering complex, cutting-edge care through multidisciplinary teams of experts. The nurses are the glue that pulls everything together and translates it so that patients can comprehend it all. I arrive at this as a professional interacting with my colleagues on a daily basis, and as a bone marrow transplant patient who received care from our nursing experts. The care I received from these expert nurses drove me to become a nurse practitioner because I wanted to be like those nurses that saved my life. BWH nurses are the whole package, possessing scientific expertise woven into an artistic tapestry of compassion.”
-Rich Boyajian, NP, Department of Radiation Oncology, Director of the Virtual PSA Monitoring Program

“Our nurses are advocating for our patients each and every day. They encourage detailed education for our patients, patient participation in decision making processes, detailed implementation and plans to care for them.”
-James Bryant, JD, VP and Chief Compliance Officer

 

 

“The Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE) Study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of evidence-based strategies to reduce serious fall-related injuries in elders. Patricia Dykes, RN, PhD, MA, is the site principal investigator of the BWH trial site for the STRIDE study, and the fact that BWH has been a top-performing site in this complex study is largely due to her outstanding leadership. Maureen Fagan, RNP, is a member of the Steering Committee of the STRIDE study and has provided terrific leadership in organizing the ten local patient and stakeholder councils at the ten trial sites, and in representing the voices of our patients, caregivers and other stakeholders in the STIRDE study. Yvette Wells, RN, has served as the Falls Care Manager for the STRIDE study and had implemented the STRIDE’s multifactorial intervention at the BWH site. The energetic leadership of these nurse scientists has been the key to the STRIDE trial’s success in achieving its recruitment target on time and in effective implementation of the STRIDE intervention.”
-Shalender Bhasin, MB, BS, Department of Medicine

“Our nurses are superb clinicians; they are innovators, they are collaborators, they are leaders, and they are educators, and we are so proud of them.”
-Ron Walls, MD, FAAEM, FRCPC. Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer