Meghan Reichelt

Meghan works on a general medicine floor at the University of Vermont Medical Center, where she has worked since 2021, first as a Licensed Nursing Assistant and now as a staff nurse. Meghan's path to nursing was a bit nontraditional. After a long career in graphic design, marketing, and performing arts management, she decided to make a career change later in life as she approached empty nesting. Per Meghan, nursing has been a challenging but incredibly meaningful second career. 

Meghan is being recognized for her excellent work in improving the University of Vermont Medical Center's Resource Department's Quality & Patient Safety goal for FY2026. The goal is to improve compliance with post-PRN Pain Medication Reassessment through education, real-time support, and performance feedback. The combined post-PRN pain medication reassessment compliance rate among the 60 RNs in the UVMMC Resource Department was below the organization's target, with a departmental baseline of 71.6% in 2025. The goal is to increase reassessment compliance to 90% by September 30, 2026, aligning with organizational priorities.

Interventions began in February with educational emails (policy reviews, pain scale re-education, how to use Epic Brain reminders, and nursing dashboard use), followed by real-time "at the elbow" education sessions in March and April to reinforce workflows and provide individualized support. Ongoing monitoring, education, and targeted follow-up continue through September, supported by a May 4-September 30 friendly competition to sustain engagement and to recognize improvement and high performance. Per Meghan, rates have improved since the project kickoff.