Elaine
Cartagena
December 2023
Elaine
Cartagena
,
DNP, RN
Wilmington University College of Health Professions and Natural Sciences
New Castle
,
DE
United States
I was fortunate to have Elaine in several of the DNP courses that I taught and observed her strong advocacy for patients, families, and her colleagues as well as her outstanding clinical and interpersonal skills.
Elaine is finishing the dual Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Health Care Administration degree at Wilmington University (WU). While attending WU, she works at Mount Sinai Beth Israel as the Emergency Department (ED) Nursing Supervisor and administrator on Duty. Elaine demonstrates extraordinary commitment to her coursework, along with compassionate care for her patients and families.
I was fortunate to have Elaine in several of the DNP courses that I taught and observed her strong advocacy for patients, families, and her colleagues as well as her outstanding clinical and interpersonal skills. As part of our DNP program, she completed experiential engagement hours aligned with the Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice that included interprofessional collaboration for improving patient and population health outcomes. These hours were above and beyond her ED role. Some examples of her work are:
1) She met with ICU nurses and her organization’s interdisciplinary team. They worked together to improve inpatient throughput and alleviate discharge planning barriers.
2) She interviewed nurse practitioners from population health to identify risk factors between different cultures and economic statuses.
3) When poor outcomes for obesity and children in impoverished communities were identified, she met with the organization’s Clinical Executive Chief Officer to implement more user-friendly health information to include accessibility in multiple languages. Free classes on early healthy eating habits were provided for local communities.
4) Her DNP project was the development and evaluation of implementing split flow/provider in triage to enhance the ED volume, discharge length of stay, left without being seen, and door-to-provider times in the ED.
As evident in the examples above, she builds respect with her patients, families, and peers to make a difference. She has acquired skills to impact the health of others.
While attending nursing school and especially obtaining a dual degree, she has met challenges. She was committed to completing her dual degree. Elaine has persevered, even with personal obstacles. She truly never lost sight of the art of caring while increasing her own nursing knowledge. She exhibits above-and-beyond care and compassion.
I was fortunate to have Elaine in several of the DNP courses that I taught and observed her strong advocacy for patients, families, and her colleagues as well as her outstanding clinical and interpersonal skills. As part of our DNP program, she completed experiential engagement hours aligned with the Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice that included interprofessional collaboration for improving patient and population health outcomes. These hours were above and beyond her ED role. Some examples of her work are:
1) She met with ICU nurses and her organization’s interdisciplinary team. They worked together to improve inpatient throughput and alleviate discharge planning barriers.
2) She interviewed nurse practitioners from population health to identify risk factors between different cultures and economic statuses.
3) When poor outcomes for obesity and children in impoverished communities were identified, she met with the organization’s Clinical Executive Chief Officer to implement more user-friendly health information to include accessibility in multiple languages. Free classes on early healthy eating habits were provided for local communities.
4) Her DNP project was the development and evaluation of implementing split flow/provider in triage to enhance the ED volume, discharge length of stay, left without being seen, and door-to-provider times in the ED.
As evident in the examples above, she builds respect with her patients, families, and peers to make a difference. She has acquired skills to impact the health of others.
While attending nursing school and especially obtaining a dual degree, she has met challenges. She was committed to completing her dual degree. Elaine has persevered, even with personal obstacles. She truly never lost sight of the art of caring while increasing her own nursing knowledge. She exhibits above-and-beyond care and compassion.