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THE HEART OF THE MATTER The Official Newsletter of the Heart & Vascular Institute of New York
Summer Issue Volume 1
l h h e a r t o f t h e m a t t e r @ g m a i l . c o m
Page 1
Interdisciplinary Care
& Collaboration By: Travis Baird, MS, NP, RN, CCRN
Assistant Nurse Manager- 5 Uris
“Individual commitment to a group effort -
that is what makes a team work, a company
work, a society work, a civilization work.”-
Vince Lombardi
The increasingly complex healthcare
environment encourages active and dynamic
collaboration among healthcare providers.
With changes in the delivery of care and the
introduction of the Affordable Care Act, many
people will be able to afford insurance; this in
turn will create opportunities for quality of
care to be provided to millions of Americans
who were previously uninsured. With reform,
healthcare systems will compete to offer the
best patient and family centered services,
the most current medical innovations, and
positive outcomes found on evidence-based
practice. Reimbursement from government
and insurance payments will rely on positive
outcomes, transparency, and quality of care
from healthcare systems. Achieving positive
outcomes will depend on the dynamic,
coordinated, and interdisciplinary efforts of
its healthcare participants. Many
organizations such as Kaiser Permanente
and the Robert Wood Johnson foundation
have been looking at ways to improve the
communication and coordination of care
among healthcare professionals, developing
successful models of interdisciplinary
collaborations that have gained admiration
and support from the Institute of Medicine.
Ideally, all healthcare systems should work in
synchrony and provide care that is superb
and patient centered. However, many
healthcare professionals and some
institutions continue to operate in virtually
separate domains. An atmosphere of
isolation and lack of communication
continues, and is affecting efficient delivery
of care for patients and their families. At the
North Shore-LIJ -Heart and Vascular
institute, the vision of the future emphasizes
teamwork and collaboration in which,
interdisciplinary teams work together to
ensure that all our patients receive care that
is individualized, coordinated, and tailored
using the most innovative methods to
achieve superior patient care results. The
first issue of this nurse-driven cardiovascular
newsletter focuses on the collaboration,
teamwork, and interdisciplinary care that
exist among our healthcare team members.
Cardiovascular services embody complex
and often dynamic sub specialties designed
to improve heart and vascular care and
outcomes. The importance of working as a
team is directly correlated to patient
satisfaction and overall quality of care.
Working together towards a common goal
enhances better outcomes and increases
patient and family satisfaction, and gives the
provider, and allied healthcare team
members the commitment and joy of
performing at their best with each patient
they touch.
In this issue
Editorial staff
Travis Baird, MS, NP, RN, CCRN
Editor in Chief
Kae Dian Long, RN, MSN, MHA, FCCS
Editor
Lauren Woods, BSN, RN, CCRN, TNCC
Editor
Fredda S Pearlson, RN, BA
Editor
Meet our team
Success stories
Forum of knowledge
New faces and MD forum
Person of interest
Congratulations to Christine Reid, RN
from 5 East / CCU who submitted the
winning title for our newsletter:
“The Heart of the Matter “
THE HEART OF THE MATTER The Official Newsletter of the Heart & Vascular Institute of New York
Summer Issue Volume 1
l h h e a r t o f t h e m a t t e r @ g m a i l . c o m
Page 2
CTICU By: Ashley Dorfman, RN, BSN Assistant Nurse Manager 9E/L CTICU
Paula Christensen RN, BSN, CCRN
Assistant Nurse Manager 9E/L CTICU
Binky Uy RN, MSN
Nurse Manager 9E/L CTICU
9East/9Lachman is a CTICU and step-down
telemetry unit that specializes in a wide
variety of innovative and groundbreaking
open heart, thoracic and structural heart
procedures. As a division of The Lenox Hill
Heart and Vascular Institute; we take pride in
being at the forefront of new advances in
cardiac surgery and minimally invasive
cardiac and thoracic procedures. The care
we provide to our patients postoperatively is
equally specialized and innovative. A unique
aspect of 9East/9Lachman is that the CTICU
and the step-down unit essentially function
as one. All RN's, PA's, Physicians, Nursing
leadership, case managers, social workers,
and physical therapists rotate through both
units; providing continuity of care for our
patients, as well as unity among all
disciplines. Having a cross-trained team
guarantees the highest level of critical
thinking skills and ensures optimal patient
care. We collaborate as an interdisciplinary
team in our daily 9am and 6pm rounds;
where each team member's role is integral to
providing extraordinary patient care. One of
the unit-based projects that exemplify how
we strive for excellence is the Quality
Ambassador initiative. This project was
developed to promote awareness,
motivation, and ownership of quality and
core measures among the frontline staff. In
this ongoing project, we have selected
certain quality metrics and core measures to
focus on; and designated 2-4 of our RN's
and PA's to spearhead a certain area of
quality. Physicians participate by leading our
interdisciplinary rounds and ensuring core
measures were addressed on each patient.
This creates a great sense of cohesiveness
and teamwork, in which all members are
working towards a shared goal. The
contributions and hard work of each team
member has enabled us to maintain
compliance with a majority of our quality
metrics (zero CLABSI for 2 years, zero
CAUTI for 9 months, and zero VAP for 9
months). This in turn, translates into the
highest quality of care for our patients.
Binky Uy , MSN, RN
Ashley Dorfman, BSN, RN
Paula Christensen, BSN, RN, CCRN
EPS By: Christine Brown, RN
Nurse Manager, EPS
Electrophysiology is experiencing increased
growth within the cardiology department.
Advancements in technology enable us to do
procedures in less time and with more
accuracy. The Electrophysiology Lab
performs many procedures and diagnostic
tests including: Atrial Flutter and Fibrillation
Ablation, Ventricular Tachycardia Ablation,
SVT Ablation, Permanent Pacemaker
Implantation, Implantable Cardiovertor,
Biventricular Implants, Tilt Table Test,
Cardioversion, and Loop Recorder Implant.
The Electrophysiology team includes;
Electrophysiologists, RNs, Nurse
Practitioners, PAs, Clinical Nurse Specialist,
Cardiovascular Techs, and House Keeping.
Electrophysiology will soon start the process
of building a new lab in order to
accommodate anticipated increased growth.
We use the shared mental model approach
in non-invasive cardiology in which, the
patient is at center of our model and each
patient’s experience is enhanced by our
team approach.
What is a Cabrera’s sign? By: Kae Dian Long, RN, MSN, MHA, FCCS
Nurse Manager- 5 Uris
Is a notch of the S-wave in leads V3 and V4
and used to diagnose Acute Myocardial
infarction in the presence of left bundle
branch block- EMS12lead
THE HEART OF THE MATTER The Official Newsletter of the Heart & Vascular Institute of New York
Summer Issue Volume 1
l h h e a r t o f t h e m a t t e r @ g m a i l . c o m
Page 3
PCU By: Lauren Woods, RN, BSN, CCRN, TNCC
& Elizabeth Renaud, RN, MHA, PCCN
Assistant Nurse Managers- 5 Uris
5 Uris or the progressive care unit (PCU) is a
37-bed unit consisting of cases ranging from
cardiac post- operative percutaneous
coronary interventions, diagnostic
catherizations, to vascular cases such as
endovascular aneurysm repair, femoral
popliteal bypass, and amputations. PCU has
undergone a profound process of transition,
in which the unit now is able to absorb a
dynamic population of surgical, cardiac, and
medicine patients. Our staff consists of
critically trained nurses, PAs, fellows, social
workers, case managers and private
physicians who work collaboratively to
provide the best care for our patients.
According to the American Association of
Critical Care Nurses, the number of
progressive care units will be significantly
higher in the years to come to provide care
for a wide variety of patients in need of high-
intensity nursing care and increased need for
surveillance. To able to work in PCU, nurses
must possess certain levels of competencies
and specialized education to provide care for
a diverse and multifaceted population.
Lenox Hill’s PCU was originally developed to
care for patients with cardiac diseases who
required constant cardiac monitoring. But
with the changes of healthcare reform and
the increasingly complex patient population,
PCUs are now designed to be eclectic and
provide an array of services to adapt to the
widely varied patient population. It can be
thought of as a bridge between an intensive
care unit and a medical surgical unit. Our
nurses are specifically trained in basic and
advanced cardiac life support, as well as
other related cardiac, surgical, and vascular
services all designed to provide the best care
possible for our patients. The collaborative
care model is evidenced by the daily
interactions among all healthcare team
members. Frequent rounds occur throughout
the day, whereby nurses, physicians, social
workers, case managers, physical therapy,
and nursing leadership are intimately aware
of each patient’s medical condition and
disposition of care. This method of working
collaboratively ensures clarity of information
and better quality of care. The collaborative
care council is working concurrently on two
projects for 2014; first, improving the
communication between midlevel providers
and nurses, and second, reduce the amount
of time a patient is kept without food before
and after surgery. Our co-chairs are Nicole
Lamoureux, RN, Sarah Linhares, RN, and
Amelia Moodie-Thomas, RN.
Lauren Woods, BSN, RN, CCRN, TNCC
Elizabeth Renaud, MHA, RN, PCCN
Accelerated Idioventricular Rhythm or
AIVR is one of the most common rhythm post cardiac arrest and reperfusion, following
resolution of infarct, commonly seen in the cath lab setting following PCI. – EMS12Lead
What is a collaborative care council? By: Nicole Lamoureux, RN and Amelia Moodie-Thomas, RN- 5Uris
The main focus is collaboration and
participation from all interdisciplinary teams
with the singular goal of enhancing and
improving overall patient care and
satisfaction. One of 5 Uris’ projects for 2014
is improving the communication and
dissemination of information between
physician assistants and nurses by engaging
in active patient-centered daily bedside
rounds.
From left to right: Nicole Lamoureux, RN,
Anthony Evangelista, RN, Olga Verbitskaia,
RN, and Amelia Moodie-Thomas, RN
THE HEART OF THE MATTER The Official Newsletter of the Heart & Vascular Institute of New York
Summer Issue Volume 1
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Page 4
Patient Care Services
for Cardiology
Paulina Flores, RN, MSN Director,
I’ve been at Lenox Hill for more than five
years, and have been with the Cardiology
Department for more than two years. During
my nineteen years in leadership I have been
a Nurse Manager, Clinical Leader, and have
completed the NSLIJ High Potential
Program. I am currently enrolled in the MBA
program at Hofstra Zarb School of Business.
The cardiology department has always been
a unique group full of committed, capable
and talented staff members. And now, with
the many new staff members and Assistant
Nurse Managers, teamwork in the cardiology
department has become more dynamic and
effective. I look forward to its continued
application and growth… and both seeing
and being part of, the differences it will
make.
Critical Care Educators Nadine Minto, RN
I have worked for the last four years as a
Critical Care Educator at Lenox Hill Hospital.
Previously, I worked as a staff nurse on the
cardiothoracic unit and as an Adjunct
professor at Adelphi University. Learning is a
“lifelong process”, that requires active
participation and collaboration between
student and professor. I am very pleased to
see how much the education department has
grown at Lenox Hill Hospital, because the
institution believes in its continued
importance to enhance and develop better
collaborators. Bigger and brighter things
such as; doctors and nurses learning,
training, and working together awaits us in
the near future.
Michele Miltner RN, BSN, CCRN
I have a bachelor’s of science in nursing from
Mount Saint Mary College and a member of
Sigma Theta Tau. Early in my career, I worked at
Huntington Hospital for two years on a medical
surgical unit. I came to LHH in 2011, and
completed the first cardiothoracic ICU fellowship.
In my career at LHH, I frequently took charge,
precepted, and became member of CCC. I am
also a member of AACN and completed my
CCRN certification in 2012. In July 2013 I joined
the NSLIJ Lenox Hill Health System’s education
department. I will be graduating in the fall of 2014
with a master in nursing education from Molloy
College. In my current job description I am
ACLS/BLS instructor, an I-learn administrator, a
critical care educator for cardiothoracic ICU and
help coordinate and master programs for the
nursing fellows for the fellowship. The education
department is proactive and dynamic, because we
work collaboratively with many disciplines such
as; Quality Management, Pharmacy, and Dietary
among others, to ensure all our nurses and allied
health team members are competent and
comfortable performing their functions.
Success Stories at Lenox Hill Hospital!
Sean Conway, NA 5 Uris Wins the first Patient and Family Centered Caring Heart Award
Sean receiving his Caring Heart Award.
5 Uris nursing staff with Sean.
Sean with the 5 Uris Leadership
THE HEART OF THE MATTER The Official Newsletter of the Heart & Vascular Institute of New York
Summer Issue Volume 1
l h h e a r t o f t h e m a t t e r @ g m a i l . c o m
Page 5
NSLIJ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender) LGBT Pride Parade
“We had a blast participating on our NSLIJ
systems very first LGBT Pride Parade. The
community is excited to hear that Lenox Hill
HealthPlex will be opening soon this
summer. Hopefully you can join us next
year.” Ian Saludares, RN - nurse leader from
CCU participated in the first ever Pride
Parade for NSLIJ health system.
Night Nurse at Cabaret Cinema- July 11th
Edna Igoe, RN 9E/L has been named guest speaker at the Rubin Museum for the film “Night Nurse at Cabaret Cinema” July 11th
NSLIJ 2014 NYC Heart Walk
Telemetry Technicians By: Diana Worrell, Coordinator and Fredda S
Pearlson, RN 5 Uris
Lenox Hill telemetry technicians have been
an essential part of keeping all of our
patients requiring cardiac monitoring safe.
The monitor techs are integral to trouble
shooting any problems as they may arise for
monitored patients. They work closely with
registered nurses, physician assistants,
nurse practitioners, and any others who have
primary, direct contact with the patients.
Before I began supervising our team of
telemetry techs on June 2013, the group of
20 was managed by five different managers
or supervisors, each with their own
management style. This situation resulted in
various communication challenges and
issues between and among the techs and
their managers. With the unwavering focus
on teamwork, I began working closely with
the techs and discovered opportunities for
learning, mentoring, and growth. As a result,
out techs today are providing consistent,
quality work. Through their daily efforts, and
as active members of the collaborative care
council, the techs are contributing to the
overall improvements in safety and
satisfaction in patient care, and the patient’s
overall positive impression of LHH. Our
outstanding team of telemetry techs knows
and appreciates that their daily efforts help
them continue to be valued members of the
cardiology department, and that their
continued contributions to patient care reflect
the best of teamwork in action
Rokiatu Traore becomes certified by the cardiovascular credentialing international- CCI
Monitor techs celebrating their week!
Margaret (Peggy) Daly becomes certified as a registered Medical Assistant
THE HEART OF THE MATTER The Official Newsletter of the Heart & Vascular Institute of New York
Summer Issue Volume 1
l h h e a r t o f t h e m a t t e r @ g m a i l . c o m
Page 6
Forum of knowledge!!! Becoming comfortable with the
new hypertension treatment
guidelines!
You enter your patient’s room to hand him
discharge orders and notice that he appears
anxious…You ask him if you could be of
assistance and he says; “Dr. Matter said that
he is switching the blood pressure
medications that my primary care doctor had
me on, because there are new guidelines… I
am not comfortable with that”. Ideally, a
conversation between primary care providers
should have taken place prior to this
meeting. However, as the RN caught in the
middle of this dilemma, you attempt to
assuage your patient’s concerns by seeking
further clarification. Current blood pressure
management guidelines have changed and
you can help reduce your patient’s anxiety by
providing him with the information necessary
to make educated decisions. According to
the American Academy of Family Physicians,
the current guidelines for hypertension are
included in the Eight Joint National
Committee, or also known as JNC8. In
summary, these guidelines will dissuade
physicians and other primary care
participants to provide care for a patient that
is innovative and evidence based. Some of
the current recommendations are: 1)
Initiating medication treatment for patients
with a blood pressure (BP) greater than
150/90 if they are 60 and older with no
comorbidities. 2) If the patient has diabetes
or chronic kidney disease, treatment should
be initiated if a systolic BP is greater than
140 or a diastolic measure greater than 90.
3) In the general population, the initial
treatment of hypertension should include a
thiazide-type diuretic, an ACE or ARB
inhibitor, or a calcium channel blocker.
These new guidelines seek to reduce
aggressive pharmacological treatment of the
elderly and to help simplify the regimen for
licensed practitioners. Thus, as a prudent
nurse you will be armed with the tools
necessary to educate and relieve your
patient’s concerns.
http://www.aafp.org/news/health-of-the-
public/20131218hypertensiongdln.html
New Faces!
Samantha Gavares, RN 5 Uris
As a recently graduated registered nurse, I
am fortunate to begin my career at Lenox Hill
Hospital, 5 Uris. This telemetry unit has
granted me the opportunity to become part of
an interdisciplinary team with the common
goal of providing quality patient care. The
integrative staff consisting of doctors,
physician assistants, registered nurses,
aides, social workers, and other personnel,
brings various backgrounds, credentials, and
skill sets to the floor. Cohesiveness is
essential in the health care profession and
their collaborative efforts to deliver
exceptional care were apparent from my first
day on the unit. This experience has been
both challenging and rewarding. I have
already learned so much and knowing that
there is still so much more to learn can be
overwhelming. Therefore, I would like to
thank my managers, preceptors, and peers
for easing the transition into my new career. I
am grateful for their support and guidance
and look forward to continue working with
them in the future.
Honorable mentions: Robert Carroll, RN 5
Uris, Jonnell Kenneth Robles, RN 5 Uris,
Paula Christensen ANM 9E/L, Catherine
Graviano, RN 9E/L, Olga Verbitskaia, RN
9E/L, Marie Cantillo, RN 5 Uris
MD Forum
Joanelle Lugo, MD Associate Program
Director- Vascular Surgery
I am Dr. Lugo, one of the vascular attending
surgeons. I started last July, so I am
probably one of the newer faces on 5 Uris. I
went to undergrad and medical school at the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I
trained in general surgery at Beth Israel
Medical Center here in Manhattan, and I
trained in vascular surgery at University of
South Florida in Tampa. I am boarded in
general and vascular surgery, and I am
credentialed to read vascular lab as a
Registered Physician in Vascular
Interpretation (RPVI). Here at Lenox Hill, I
am also the associate program director of
the integrated vascular surgery training
program. One of the collaborative care
projects we are developing in 5 Uris will be
monthly educational meetings with the
nursing staff. It will be very informal and
contain instructions on the pre-op vascular
patient, what to look for in the orders and
what to expect. Therefore our nurses will be
better equipped to care for our patients.
THE HEART OF THE MATTER The Official Newsletter of the Heart & Vascular Institute of New York
Summer Issue Volume 1
l h h e a r t o f t h e m a t t e r @ g m a i l . c o m
Page 7
5 East / CCU By: Ian Saludares, MPA, BSN, RN, CCRN
Nurse Manager & Maxine Douglas, MSN,
RN – Assistant Nurse Manager - CCU and
Cardiac Telemetry / 5 Lachman
5 East / CCU (Coronary Care Unit) a 12-bed
intensive care unit, is the center for Lenox
Hill’s acute cardiac care providing state-of-
the-art cardiovascular care for its patients.
Through coordinated care, patients are
received from the emergency room and other
cardiac services, including interventional
cardiology and electrophysiology laboratory.
The unit is staffed by a group of talented and
energetic cardiovascular physicians who
undergo a rigorous and competitive
fellowship program. Additionally, the unit has
an equally talented, engaged and energetic
nursing staff highly trained to deal with
cardiac emergency care. Fifty percent of
CCU nurses have acquired their Bachelor’s
Degree and 21% have their Master’s.
Additionally, 32% percent are certified as
Critical Care Nurses (CCRN). The
Collaborative Care Council (CCC) of 5 East
has identified catheter associated urinary
tract infections (CAUTI) affecting our patient
population as early as January of this year.
The CCC collaborated with the entire CCU
medical team and other departments to
address this issue. Currently 5 East has
been 112 days CAUTI FREE. For the past
two years, 5 East’s scores have been on the
green both in Press Ganey and HCAHPS
nurse sensitive metrics. The Beacon Award
for Excellence of the AACN – American
Association of Critical Care Nurses is one big
project that the Collaborative Care Council
plans to start this year. The Beacon Award
for Excellence recognizes individual hospital
units that distinguish themselves by
improving every facet of patient care, and
provides a road map and tools to assist
hospital units on their path to excellence.
Ian Saludares, MPA, BSN, RN, CCRN
5Lachman / Cardiac
Telemetry By: Carmela Marasigan, MPH, RN
Assistant Nurse Manager, CCU and Cardiac
Telemetry / 5 Lachman
5 Lachman is a step-down telemetry unit that
cares for cardiac patients with rhythm-related
diagnoses. Occasionally, however, the unit
receives patients from the MICU step-down
unit or vascular patients. As a result, the unit
and its staff have become versatile in
providing care for patients with diverse
conditions. The unit is staffed by Residents
on cardiac rotation, two full-time Nurse
Practitioners, a case manager and a social
worker who provide collaborative continuous
care for the patients. Patient satisfaction in 5
Lachman has been consistently high in the
last two years, due in part to the nursing
staff’s collaborative team effort and caring
attitude. Patients come first in the unit and,
as one of the many ways that the nursing
staff ensures patient satisfaction; they
created an “NPO (nothing by mouth)
Tracking Tool”. The tool was created to
comprehensively monitor patients’ scheduled
tests or procedures and identify necessity for
patients’ NPO status and prevent patients
from being kept fasting for a long period of
time if it is not deemed necessary. The
nursing staff collaborated with multiple
disciplines such as the Dietary Department
and procedural areas to ensure accuracy of
time of tests and both the necessity and
duration of NPO status. Consequently,
patients were prevented from being hungry
for a long period of time. This project was
one of the finalists for the 2014 Collaborative
Care Council Poster showcase. Initiatives
like this showed the extraordinary
collaboration that staff in the unit put forth.
This year 5 Lachman is piloting a CHF
initiative that is intended to decrease 30 days
readmission rates for CHF patients. This is in
coordination with a hospital-wide CHF
taskforce. The unit is also working with
another pilot project focusing on “behavioral
coaching” for patients by seeking to make
every patient interaction an opportunity to
teach (teaching moments) while striving to
gain patient self-reliance through two-way
nurse-patient coaching. We are hoping that
these two pilot programs will be rolled out at
a hospital-wide level in the future.
Carmela Marasigan, MPH, RN
Maxine Douglas, MSN, RN
THE HEART OF THE MATTER The Official Newsletter of the Heart & Vascular Institute of New York
Summer Issue Volume 1
l h h e a r t o f t h e m a t t e r @ g m a i l . c o m
Page 8
As health care transforms, we need strong
leadership to prepare our organization for the
challenges ahead. Not only must we be
known for our quality care and exceptional
service, but also for advancing our mission,
vision and values under unified guiding
principles. Without strong leadership - and
followership - we simply cannot be
successful in the new health care era.
NSLIJ 2014 Leadership Gathering
At the Hilton Hotel - New York, NY
Person of Interest:
Lyndon Guo, RN
Interviewed by: Carmela Marasigan, RN, MPH
Lieutenant Lyndon Guo started working at
Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) in June 2011 in the
CCU (Cardiac Care Unit). Previously, he
worked in CCU at the Veterans Affairs
Medical Center in Oklahoma City for 4 years.
Since 2011, Mr. Guo has been serving in the
United States Navy Reserves while working
for LHH. In the summer of 2013, he was
deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan to serve
as a critical care nurse taking care of trauma
patients at the Multinational Medical Unit, a
combat hospital in Kandahar Airfield.
Lieutenant Guo learned firsthand about
collaboration and interdisciplinary care while
working side by side with physicians, nurses,
and medical specialists caring for very sick
patients. Despite the grueling 28-day training
in the US, Mr. Guo found the experience to
care for wounded people intimidating in the
beginning, because, these patients were
affected by the casualties of war. On duty,
he was exposed to TBI (traumatic brain
injuries), amputations from explosions, and
injured children, which caused a lot of angst;
“We had to take care of Afghan civilians,
detainees, police, army, and other coalition
forces such as the British, and the
Australians, contractors, and of course, our
very own soldiers. Some of the Afghan
people are hopeful while others gravitate in
hopeless despair. Their culture is very
different than ours, and in some ways, they
can be very primitive people, because they
can be uneducated, religious, and develop
extremist ideas as a result of being
brainwashed by radical groups such as the
Taliban. These behaviors are no different
than the ones learned throughout
civilizations and history. My job was to care
for any and all patients that I have
encountered. Some patients did well and
continued to live, while others got shot or
blown up, and left to perish on the streets.”
Eventually, Lt. Guo credited military
camaraderie and interdisciplinary
collaboration as the reasons he was able to
adapt to the patient population. He gained
new knowledge and skills, and more
importantly, established new friendships.
Like the healthcare model at home, Lt. Guo
observed that the entire medical team and
nursing staff at the combat hospital worked
together as one team with one goal “one
flight model”, which is, to work together and
achieve the best care and outcomes for the
patients. On his return to the United States,
Lt. Guo found it challenging to reconnect with
friends and family, and especially his two
toddlers, however, it didn’t take him long to
rekindle strong bonds. And with the support
of family and friends, Mr. Guo is back at work
and in school studying part-time to become a
nurse practitioner with advanced holistic
nursing at New York University. Lt. Guo is
also one of the first recipients of the Brave
Heart Award given during the 2014 Nursing
Week Celebration here in Lenox Hill Hospital
last May.
For more stories or to contact us please email us at [email protected] or you can tweet us @lenoxheart or Like us on Facebook: The heart of the matter