Wendy Cortez
May 2016
Wendy
Cortez
,
BS, RN-BC
Nursing Administration
Kaiser Permanente Irvine Medical Center
Irvine
,
CA
United States
Compassion is just one of the many characteristics Wendy embodies to the highest extent. She not only shows compassion to our members but also to everyone she works with. Previously as a nursing educator and now as a nursing project coordinator I've witness Wendy respond to call lights while on the nursing units. No matter the situation, she will stay with the patient until all their needs are met. She has a way with calming an upset or confused patient by showing them confidence and compassion.
No matter what Wendy has on her plate she always takes the time to mentor and encourage others. Her mentorship and coaching lead to our first ever 100% staff lead training summits in early 2016. Wendy took the time to help teach our front line nurses to find the proper resources, build the content, and give them any needed encouragement.
Not only is she a mentor to many but she connects and cares for others on a personal level, when a member of her team had a loss in the family, Wendy brought flowers from the team and personally delivered them to their home. She not only delivered the flowers but took time to stay and talk with them to ensure they were doing okay and let them know how much the entire team had cared and supported them.
Her commitment to the organization to improve how we serve our members through quality and service is unwavering. Wendy exemplifies and models all the Kaiser Permanente nursing values of professionalism, integrity, compassion, teamwork, excellence, and patient family centric. She's a well-known resource that helps many of us untangle and strategize difficult situations.
Not only has Wendy served on the Voice of Nursing and Nurse Communication team but because of her great leadership, these committees are now co-chaired by front line staff. She was the pioneer in creating the exemplar process which most nursing committees use to help organize and structure communication from champions to their peers. She researched nursing principles to build the right content in kicking off our first peer to peer training. Nursing champions are now more confident in talking with their peers and upholding the highest level of standards.
Wendy works to empower staff to not only know but to internalize the American Nurses Association Nursing Code of Ethics & Scope and Standards. She helps guide nursing staff to understand the foundation of their nursing practices and how it applies to their everyday work.
On top of being an extraordinary compassionate nurse, she helped Irvine Medical Center accomplish great feats. She has been and continues to be an asset in developing competencies to improve nursing performance and patient outcomes. She collaborated with the Medical/Surgical team in leading our first Orthopedic Rounds. The Orthopedic Rounds focuses on optimizing orthopedic goals which are pain management, activity (ambulation) and psychosocial care. She was able to create a template to gather data for this project to prevent delirium and decrease length of stay. Wendy was also very instrumental in the success of IMC's accreditation for the Total Joint Commission for Orthopedic Certification.
Wendy was one of the key members on the team responsible for the roll-out for BEACON. She taught the Medical Surgical team the standard order set for a Chemotherapy patient. She customized her teachings per chemo therapy certified RN which helped lessen their anxieties and fears. Her support and knowledge eased a lot of frustrations for this change.
Wendy also developed the first ever Certified Nursing Assistant Education day. This helped to elevate our certified nursing assistants by helping them improve their ability to communicate and provide optimal patient care. After taking a new position in Nursing Administration, she mentored her replacement to ensure this great work continued on.
Wendy is now pivotal in our Magnet journey; she maintains the focus of our Magnet journey on achieving the highest level of Nursing Excellence. She is a driving force that has helped and continues to form Irvine Medical Center to be a very special place. To know Wendy, is to know kindness, patience, integrity, hard work, compassion to all, commitment to excellence, leadership, and friendship.
No matter what Wendy has on her plate she always takes the time to mentor and encourage others. Her mentorship and coaching lead to our first ever 100% staff lead training summits in early 2016. Wendy took the time to help teach our front line nurses to find the proper resources, build the content, and give them any needed encouragement.
Not only is she a mentor to many but she connects and cares for others on a personal level, when a member of her team had a loss in the family, Wendy brought flowers from the team and personally delivered them to their home. She not only delivered the flowers but took time to stay and talk with them to ensure they were doing okay and let them know how much the entire team had cared and supported them.
Her commitment to the organization to improve how we serve our members through quality and service is unwavering. Wendy exemplifies and models all the Kaiser Permanente nursing values of professionalism, integrity, compassion, teamwork, excellence, and patient family centric. She's a well-known resource that helps many of us untangle and strategize difficult situations.
Not only has Wendy served on the Voice of Nursing and Nurse Communication team but because of her great leadership, these committees are now co-chaired by front line staff. She was the pioneer in creating the exemplar process which most nursing committees use to help organize and structure communication from champions to their peers. She researched nursing principles to build the right content in kicking off our first peer to peer training. Nursing champions are now more confident in talking with their peers and upholding the highest level of standards.
Wendy works to empower staff to not only know but to internalize the American Nurses Association Nursing Code of Ethics & Scope and Standards. She helps guide nursing staff to understand the foundation of their nursing practices and how it applies to their everyday work.
On top of being an extraordinary compassionate nurse, she helped Irvine Medical Center accomplish great feats. She has been and continues to be an asset in developing competencies to improve nursing performance and patient outcomes. She collaborated with the Medical/Surgical team in leading our first Orthopedic Rounds. The Orthopedic Rounds focuses on optimizing orthopedic goals which are pain management, activity (ambulation) and psychosocial care. She was able to create a template to gather data for this project to prevent delirium and decrease length of stay. Wendy was also very instrumental in the success of IMC's accreditation for the Total Joint Commission for Orthopedic Certification.
Wendy was one of the key members on the team responsible for the roll-out for BEACON. She taught the Medical Surgical team the standard order set for a Chemotherapy patient. She customized her teachings per chemo therapy certified RN which helped lessen their anxieties and fears. Her support and knowledge eased a lot of frustrations for this change.
Wendy also developed the first ever Certified Nursing Assistant Education day. This helped to elevate our certified nursing assistants by helping them improve their ability to communicate and provide optimal patient care. After taking a new position in Nursing Administration, she mentored her replacement to ensure this great work continued on.
Wendy is now pivotal in our Magnet journey; she maintains the focus of our Magnet journey on achieving the highest level of Nursing Excellence. She is a driving force that has helped and continues to form Irvine Medical Center to be a very special place. To know Wendy, is to know kindness, patience, integrity, hard work, compassion to all, commitment to excellence, leadership, and friendship.