Remember The Mission

by Evelyn Swenson-Britt, RN

Nancy Ray, MA, RN and National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) has invited direct care nurses to participate in a nursing satisfaction survey. All RNs working in Direct Patient Care 50% of the time that have been working at UHS 3 months on April 1st are being asked to complete the NDNQI nursing satisfaction survey. Eligible Nurses are receiving a letter from Nancy Ray, MA, RN and the NDNQI requesting their participation in an Internet Survey June 6th to June 26th.

Patient Care Services has chosen to be part of this survey because understanding the work life issues for our staff nurses is critical to our delivery of quality patient care. These survey results will provide the additional benefit of national benchmarking with similar units and hospitals.

The responses from the survey in 2004 to the nursing satisfaction survey lead to 1) an improved clinical ladder supporting the foundation for best practices through your involvement with participatory governance 2) a retention strategy which resulted in an increased direct care staff and 3) plans for an improved documentation system.

Participation in this survey is voluntary. Nursing jobs will not be affected by participation or nonparticipation. All responses are anonymous and will go directly to NDNQI. NDNQI will analyze the data and provide UHS a summarized report. Our goal is a 70% return rate!! It is your chance to tell Nancy your views on being a nurse at UHS. Remember: Satisfied Nurses are Magnets!!

If you are an eligible RN, MAKE THE TIME! TAKE THE SURVEY! Any computer with internet access in the hospital at home or at your local coffee shop will work! If you need further information, please contact Evelyn Swenson-Britt at 358-4176.

By Bonnie Schranner, MSN, RNC


National Teachers Week was celebrated April 29- May 6, with National Teachers Day being on May 3.

The Professional Development subgroup of the Worklife Council celebrated on Thursday May 5, with a light lunch and cake. Grace Cookson, Administrative Nursing Director addressed the group about the impact and importance of having nursing educators on each nursing unit.



She stressed the positive impact of nurses teaching at the bedside.

This aspect of the nurses' role is important both in evidence based practice and on the journey to Magnet status.

By Becky Padilla
Learning Resources

Congratulations to UHS Foundation Nursing Scholars Ariane Long and Julia Martinez for their outstanding academic performances.

Ariane was placed on the Part-time Student Honor Roll by achieving a grade-point average between 3.5 and 3.75 and Julia made the Part-time Student Dean's List by earning a grade-point average above 3.75.

Both scholars attend The University of Texas at San Antonio.

By Joe Johnston, M.D.

I just received a phone call from a former patient, WH. Last summer he was found down in Medina Lake, resuscitated by his girlfriend and brought to our hospital. He had a subdural that was evacuated and a prolonged hospital course lasting several months. He wanted us to know that he was doing well. In fact he mowed his yard today.

On June 28th, he will be 91 years old.

I thought this would be a nice story to pass on during Nurses’ Week since his successful recovery was so dependent on the nursing care he received in our unit.

By Tom Vorpahl RN, BSN, CCTN, CNN

Rogelio Chavera RN, BSN, CCRN-CSC, CCTN, who works in the TICU, recently challenged the Cardiac Surgical Care (CSC) certification exam and passed with flying colors.

The CSC certification is a newly offered sub-specialty certification . Applicants for the exam must have their CCRN or other approved national certification to be eligible for the exam. TICU nurses care for all the Cardiothoracic Post Op patients as well as transplants.

Rogelio's expertise in his field and devotion to this patient population is exemplified by his achievement of the CSC certification.

by Frank and Susan Pastizzo

Are you a busy person with a full agenda fraught with numerous distractions that interfere with your focus during crucial decision-making times? Do these distractions make you lash out, slam doors, make mistakes, bark, or be less than cordial with your fellow workers or customers?

On Thursday, our three-month old grandson had cranial surgery and was admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit for 24- hours, where a team of splendid human beings juggled their routines, his care, and our hearts in a stunning routine that should be displayed in high-definition TV. It was every bit as spectacular as Cirque du Soleil, with many more real risks.

Here’s an analogy: You are driving on an icy road with a tailgater behind you. You come around the corner and see a tractor-trailer jackknifed, a car in the ditch, a herd of deer standing in the road, and a two-year old, toddling about on the center line, looking for his mommy. In your car, you have a frantic family crying and anxiously snapping directions on what you should do next. You simply smile, reassure your family, touch your brakes gently a couple of times, guide your car to the left lane and shoulder, stop, get out, gather up the two-year old with a calming hug and return her to her mom, shoo the deer away to safety, and console the screaming tailgater who ran into the guard rail and totaled his car. You continue on to care for anyone else needing your help, and drive your car and your family further on in your journey.

Our tiny little grandson was smiling and discharged from the hospital the next day and will return home to wear a special helmet throughout the next year. Our special team of workers at the University Health System in San Antonio continues on in their special journey, driving many other families through perilous circumstances. We thank them with all of our hearts for their dedication, professionalism, and incredible bedside manner.

People have the ability to learn and develop personal tools that keep them in control under the most frantic of circumstances. They can maintain their cool and their warmth. They have presence of mind and heart.

When these talented and experienced people are present, the calm is contagious, and we leave them hopeful that some of their gifts will remain with us.

Lisa Bass, Emergency Center Technician and Foundation Scholar, recently completed her Bachelor’s degree in nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Lisa was inducted into the Delta Alpha-at-large chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the Honor Society of Nursing. Membership is extended to students who demonstrate excellence in scholarship, and to nurse leaders exhibiting exceptional achievements in nursing.

By Lois Weisinger, R/N.
Psychiatric Emergency Services

Psychiatric Emergency Services , the Emergency Room, and Inpatient Psychiatry staff donated one hundred dollars to the Food Bank to help feed the hungry in San Antonio.

The Food Bank will be able to buy one thousand three pounds of food with the one hundred dollars given by our staff.

Thank you to all the staff who contributed.

By Jackqaline Powers, RN

Featured in this photograph taken April 25 are Toni Rodriguez, Jo Eldridge and Shamsa Patel, three of the great RNs who work the 3-11 shift on the Gynecology floor. I stopped to take the picture while they were in report because it was one of the few times I’ve ever seen them sitting down!

As part of the Urgent Matters initiative, GYN was designated to take Emergency Room patients waiting to go to the operating room. As a result, the versatile nurses on GYN care for everything from ladies with hysterectomies to men with herniated disks. The floor runs like a well oiled machine, and the nurses meet the challenge daily.

These nurses, like their peers throughout the hospital, model excellence in practice on a daily basis.

Filipino nurses have been coming to the USA since 1950, an eager source of well-trained professionals helping to alleviate the ever-increasing nursing shortage. As noted in the May 2005 issue of “NurseWeek”, their financial remittance to families back home represents 11% of the Philippines’ gross domestic product.

Filamer ‘Fil’ Bracken arrived in 1974, one of four original RNs from the Philippines to join the staff at University Hospital. Her parents must have know early on that Fil would come to the USA because her name is a combination of Filipino-American.

Fil began in NICU at Brady Green, downtown and now works nights on 7th Floor Special surgery. Then Fil was in the minority, now close to 50% of 7th floors night RNs are from the Philippines. The Human Resources Department reports that under the category Asian Pacific/Islander we have 354 employees; that is 7% of our staff.

Fil has seen many changes including the name changes from Bexar County Hospital to Medical Center to University Hospital. She remembers when the ratio was 25 patients to one RN, mandatory overtime and LVNs provided much of the nursing care including dressing changes and all medications, except IV push meds. Fil feels that although the 7th floor census has decreased from 68 to 52 patients, the care level has become much heavier and more critical. This is likely a sentiment felt by most hospital staff.

Immigration requirements have also changed. Up until the 1990, Filipino RNs were allowed to work in the US using an H1-A temporary work permit that allowed them to emigrate in only six months and challenge the NCLEX. This law expired in 1995 forcing RNs to apply under an employment-based permit that falls under permanent visa category and normally takes 18 months. Beginning in 2004, the CGFNS (which is required in some states before writing the NCLEX) now must authorize the visa requirements; this may take up to 3 yrs.



Although Fil’s excellent training in the Philippines and her fluency with English helped her readily integrate into the American culture, there were cultural differences to overcome. Eye-to-eye contact in the Philippines is considered very rude, yet is expected in the American culture. This leads some RNs to think the Filipino RN is disinterested or aloof and in the case sited in Nurses week – deaf! The lack of language differentiation in the Philippines between gender (he/she) can be confusing.

Fil, like many RNs from the Philippines, felt she had to ‘prove’ herself, but states she always found the University Health System staff friendly and very supportive.