Jane excels in the clinical care of the surgery oncology patients especially care of the breast cancer patients. She is a perfectionist and provides outstanding care to her patients. While I watch her provide care sometimes I feel like I am visualizing a wonderful symphony in my head. She makes sure every minute detail is addressed and worked through. She walks into a room and everything the patient needs seem to get done. She is definitely a doer.
Patients love her for her kindness and her tender loving care. Lymphedema is one of her specialties. I was taking care of a young man with testicular cancer who had a lymphadenectomy. I consulted Jane to see the patient and provide education and follow-up for lymphedema. She was fabulous and spent hours with the Spanish speaking man. Prevention of problems is extremely important to Jane so she may provide the best quality care possible.
Patient care is her first priority and she focuses on prevention of complications including: pulmonary emboli, deep vein thrombosis, skin and wound integrity, pain control, elimination issues, tracheostomy care and complicated wound management. Jane videotaped to assist nurses at a skilled nursing facility in caring for a patient who was to be transferred to that facility for a complex dressing change.
She provides compassionate care and collaborates with many health-care professionals to facilitate quality of care. She is assisting with educating deaf women on breast cancer. She finished a research project with a member of the University of Arizona CON and another CNS. She says that communication is important and that deaf women should get the same information as hearing patients. She also did a presentation sponsored by the outreach clinics throughout the state of Arizona. Jane is considered an expert in her field and she collaborates with many agencies on medical surgical issues. For example, she is a nurse expert and consultant on medical surgical nursing for Sneider and Ornofrey, and Jardine, Baker, Hickman & Houston. She had the position on Advanced Practice nursing committee for the Arizona State board of Nursing. She would bring back important information concerning advanced practice nursing and distribute to all the advanced practice nurses at UAMC.
Jane is a mentor to the physicians, nurses, technicians, and everyone that works at the hospital. I think sometimes she seems like the conductor of an orchestra, making sure everything is coordinated and each note is played at the exact moment it should be played. Staff education is important to Jane. She has a program arranged for the staff and continues to offer presentations and perfecting their performance. She is committed to maintaining the Magnet status at our institution. She was instrumental when our institution first received the Magnet status by writing part of the application. She wrote what she does every day which demonstrates leadership and excellence. She had an idea of displaying our research posters in the cafeteria so that everyone could see what nursing was researching.
She is no stranger to the process of change. We are fortunate to have such a professional who can see the need for changes in practice, analyze and develop great plans, and implement and evaluate the changes. She is an active member of the Magnet Committee, JCAHO implementation committee, Peer Review Committee, Clinical Practice Committee, Patient Care Leadership committee, and the Patient Care Operations committee.
She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses, the Southern Arizona Trauma Network and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. She was reappointed to the Advanced Practice Nursing Committee of the Arizona State Board of Nursing in 2005. Jane was appointed to the manuscript review panel in 2001 until present for MedSurg Nursing: The Journal of Adult Health. She was an item writer in the medical surgical nursing certification examination for the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses in Philadelphia in 2002.
She received the Nurse Week 2007 Western Division National Nursing Excellence award for Clinical Practice in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was recognized as being one of the “Fabulous Fifty Nurses of Tucson”. She also received the “Tucson Nurses Week Research Award Grant Recipient” in 2005. She was the sold recipient of the Arizona Association and the University of Phoenix award for Outstanding Graduate Student Award in 1998.
I cannot even do justice to all that Jane has done. All I know is at the end of her performance of caring for patients everyone is extremely satisfied and all of the outcomes have been achieved. I am truly inspired by the work of this candidate and am proud to be a colleague of Jane’s.