CCU NURSE MANAGER McCARTHY IS REGIONAL FINALIST FOR PRESTIGIOUS PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION
July 19, 2011
Contact:
Christine M. Fredric
VP Business Development
The Medical Center of Plano
(972) 519-1165
Christine.Fredric@hcahealthcare.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
C-C-U NURSE-MANAGER McCARTHY IS REGIONAL FINALIST FOR PRESTIGIOUS PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION
Winners to be announced next month in Houston
PLANO, Texas (July 19, 2011) – The Medical Center of Plano has announced that Karen McCarthy, nurse-manager in the hospital’s adult critical-care unit, was named a regional finalist in the judging for Nurse.com magazine’s “Nursing Excellence” awards.
McCarthy is one of five finalists selected this year from the magazine’s South Central region in the “Management” category. Other categories include “Advancing & Leading the Profession,” “Clinical Care,” “Community Service,” “Mentoring,” and “Teaching.” The South Central region consists of the states of Texas and Louisiana.
The regional winners will be announced the evening of Friday, Aug. 12, at a gala in Houston’s Norris CityCentre Conference Center. They will advance to the national competition, which culminates this fall when the overall winners in each category are profiled in a special issue of Nurse.com.
“It’s a great feeling – but also very humbling – to be considered for this award, because I truly feel that so many of those I work with every day at The Medical Center of Plano are themselves worthy of the same consideration,” said McCarthy, whose career in critical-care nursing spans more than 25 years.
“I identified Karen’s leadership potential early on,” recalled Nursing Research Coordinator Nicki Roderman, who nominated McCarthy. Roderman was the CCU’s nurse-educator when McCarthy first joined the unit in 2002 as a staff nurse.
“Later, when the nurse-manager position opened up, I strongly encouraged her to consider applying for it,” Roderman continued. “It seemed like a natural fit.”
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Add One – McCARTHY IS REGIONAL FINALIST
Roderman’s initial assessment of McCarthy’s gifts as a leader has proved spot-on. The staff turnover rate in The Medical Center of Plano’s CCU is just 5 percent, well below the national average. The unit won an award in 2009 for teaming with the hospital’s pharmacy on a program to combat sepsis. Launched in 2007, the program has succeeded in maintaining mortality rates at or below 25 percent for patients with severe sepsis and septic shock treated with sepsis bundles.
Partly due to McCarthy’s efforts, The Medical Center of Plano instituted a program of therapeutic hypothermia as part of its treatment protocol for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Collaboration with the hospital’s Emergency Department and Collin County EMS agencies has resulted, in less than two years, in a 12.5 percent increase in survival with improved neurological outcomes.
McCarthy has also assisted with several successful site surveys, including those leading to Level II Trauma designation from the Texas Department of State Health Services, as well as Advanced Primary Stroke Certification and Inpatient Diabetes Certification from The Joint Commission.
“Karen’s progressive thinking and promotion of nursing research and evidence-based practice – not only in her own unit but across the entire institution – are just two of the many reasons she’s a wonderful nurse-manager, and a tremendous asset to our hospital,” said Troy A. Villarreal, FACHE, president and chief executive officer of The Medical Center of Plano. “Her compassion and ability to communicate also stand out, whether they’re directed toward patients and family members or her own staff.”
McCarthy is a mother of four. The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure®, the United Way, the American Stroke Association, and The Medical Center of Plano’s own Trauma Injury Prevention program are among the organizations to which she has volunteered her time and talents this past year. She also served as a judge in a high-school competition sponsored by the Healthcare Occupations Students of America.
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About The Medical Center of Plano
The Medical Center of Plano is a full-service, 427-bed acute-care facility with some 1,500 employees and 1,000 physicians on staff, representing more than 70 specialties and subspecialties. Accredited by The Joint Commission, The Medical Center of Plano continued its legacy of firsts in 2007 by becoming the first hospital in Collin County to achieve elite Magnet recognition from the American Nurses Association, and again in 2011 with its verification as a Level II Trauma Center. For more information, visit www.TheMedicalCenterofPlano.com