Award Winner
Ms. Elyse Garcia completed her BSN from the NWCNHS in 2014. She received her MSN from Chamberlain College of Nursing and is certified as a family nurse practitioner. Ms. Garcia is currently the manager of Quality and Performance Improvement in the Outpatient Services Department at Baptist Health, a position she describes as "an incredible journey of growth."
As her nominator states, “Ms. Garcia is a highly skilled, extremely knowledgeable, compassionate team player who displays and promotes the highest ethical standards and demonstrates the true meaning of patient/ family partner and advocate. She is devoted to the evidence-based practice process, championing the development, implementation, and evaluation of many interdisciplinary clinical evidence-based practice projects with a focus on patient safety.”
These projects included improving quality metrics related to medication administration in the outpatient setting, developing an innovative facing tool that identifies patients at risk for falls, conducting a performance improvement project to better understand nursing knowledge, assessment, and documentation of patient pain, and developing clinical guidelines for stroke and myocardial infarction in the emergency room.
Ms. Garcia has also disseminated her findings through a manuscript titled “The Use of Descriptive Analytics to Improve Nursing Compliance with Bar Code Medication Administration in the Outpatient Setting” in the Nursing and Health Sciences ResearchJournal. As her nominator states, "Ms. Garcia displays a vested interest in obtaining new knowledge and skills to support nursing and patient initiatives, and fosters teamwork and open communication that has resulted in improved patient outcomes and increased efficiency within our organization."
Criteria
An alumna/alumnus who has demonstrated clinical excellence and superior skills, providing high quality, compassionate care, and a passion for the practice of nursing. The nominee has served as an advocate for patients/clients, families and/or communities, making a recognizable difference through their practice. The award recipient embodies the essence of the nursing profession through mentorship, professional development, and certification in their field.
For a Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences graduate that has:
- Collaborated with colleagues to improve clinical nursing using evidence-based research.
- Led unique contributions to improve quality patient/client outcomes and health care delivery.
- Been recognized as an exemplary clinical practice nurse by patients/clients, families, communities, and/or health care institutions.
- Contributed significantly to clinical practice through presentations and publications at the regional, national and/or international level.
- Demonstrated influence in the development and applications of evidence-based practice.
- Demonstrated commitment to improving the quality of health care and patient/client safety in their field.
- Been recognized for their leadership in clinical nursing practice.