August 2013 Issue
Community Work – Jeannine Loucks, MSN, RN-BC PMH
Jeannine Loucks has more than 25 years working with the Orange Police Departof experience in mental health nursing.
ment in an effort to enhance officer
She is board certified through the
American Nurses Credentialing Center
as a psychiatric and mental health nurse.
Jeannine has been on the Board of
Directors for the Mental Health Association of Orange County since 2002 and
currently serves on the Board of Directors
for the American Psychiatric Nurses
Association California Chapter. She is
past recipient of the Mental Health
Association Community Service Award
for outstanding contributions to mental
health in Orange County.
The National Institute of Mental Health
reports that one in four U. S. adults is affected with mental illness. Based on this
statistic, it is evident that law enforcement
officers will experience an increase in
encounters involving individuals suffering
with mental illnesses. Often officers lack
appropriate training and knowledge
regarding mental illness. This may lead to
officers stigmatizing this vulnerable
population.
Research and officer feedback acknowledged the need for further specialized
training and education in responding to
individuals with mental health issues.
With this in mind, Jeannine began
interventions/resources to manage field
contact with individuals suffering with
mental illness.
Jeannine did not rest there, she
convened a committee of key stakeholders and determined that this
program could be expanded through
offering short (10-12 minute) training
DVDs. Two of the seven training DVDs
have been completed. The training video
program includes strategies and communication scenarios for working with this
vulnerable population. The DVDs (Close
Encounters and Autism) are available for
viewing on the Orange Police Department
web site http://www.cityoforange.org/
depts/police/mental_health_resources/
mental_health_video.asp
Capt. Dan Cahill, Jeannine Loucks, and Chief
Robert Gustafson from the Orange Police
Department receive news that their first DVD
Close Encounters, received endorsement from
Jeannine’s innovative nurse lead
American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA).
program has successfully created positive
competence in handling field encounters changes for all individuals in Orange
involving individuals impacted by mental County through a reduction in stigma,
illness. She designed a successful
officer and community safety, and
educational program for officers at the
increasing supports for these persons
Orange Police Department and has since impact by mental illness.
expanded this education to other law
enforcement agencies throughout Orange
County providing officers with enhanced Nursing Excellence is produced monthly by
specialized information on psychiatric
Patti Aube, Soudi Bogert, Stacey Ferrante and
Cathy Semar with support from the Nursing
disorders, information on effective
Communications Council and Nursing Leadership
communication skills, and appropriate
Team.
Welcome New
St. Joseph Hospital RNs!
Theresa Edun, Nursing Float Pool
Wijaya Thamrin, Nursing Float Pool
Admit and Discharge Nurse
The new Admit Discharge Team is
developing after a successful pilot.
These RNs will assist the bedside
RNs with their admissions and
discharges using their exceptional
assessment and teaching skills. Lisa
Muller, RN, assisted with the pilot and
shares the following:
“I was able to allow the patient care
nurse to function on immediate patient
care needs and not feel rushed with
discharge while I coordinated a plan
of care enabling the patient to obtain
optimum health after discharge. The
discharge nurse is the liaison between
the patient and other health care
providers in the community with the
ultimate goal toward patient
satisfaction, health promotion, and
preventing re-admissions.”
If interested, please check the jobs
listing on CareNet and complete a
transfer request!
Thinking about going back to school?
If so, check out your options in the
Back to School booklet!
August Highlighted Program:
California State University, Fullerton
offers full and part-time campusbased RN – BSN programs. Click
here for more information on CSUF.
Expansion of the Critical Care Family of Service
By: Gemma Seidl, RN, MSN, MPH, Executive Director of Critical Care, Telemetry and Renal Services
The following units comprise the new Critical Care Family of Service (FOS):
Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU-20 beds)
Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU-12 beds)
Definitive Step-Down Unit (DSU-20 beds)
Pulmonary Renal Unit (PR-57 beds)
Medical Telemetry Unit (MT-30 beds)
MICU will continue to be the primary intensive care unit with CVICU acting as the
overflow unit. Patients in either MICU or CVICU are the most critically ill patients who
are hemodynamically unstable, require every hour or less intervention and constant
1:2 nurse-to-patient ratios.
Cardiac and Kidney transplant patients will be admitted to MICU and daily multidisciplinary team rounds will continue and be led by the Critical Care Intensivist.
In July 2012, Critical Care piloted a 9-bed DSU due to the increasing volume of
patients who have lower intensive care acuity, but too high for telemetry or medical
surgical units. The unit is staffed with a 1:3 nurse-to-patient ratio and patients are
monitored by the attending physician and Nurse Practitioner (NP). The NP also leads
the daily multidisciplinary team rounds on each patient to provide a holistic approach
to care including spiritual, cultural, physical and psychosocial needs. Patient and family are invited to participate in the daily rounds.
The new fiscal year began on June 23, 2013. On this day, SICU converted to all DSU
beds, leaving the hospital with only 20 MICU beds. The SICU conversion increased
the number of DSU beds to 20. The previous number of beds was nine. Additionally,
Critical Care reacquired the 12-bed CVICU from the ED to ensure availability of
additional intensive care beds during times of high census.
The Pulmonary Renal Unit is the result of the merging of Cardiac Renal and
Medical Pulmonary Units. The entire third floor of Building 1 is now managed by
Sandra Orellana, RN, MSN, PCCN, and her team. Dialysis and kidney transplant rejection patients will remain in PR with the mixture of pulmonary patients. The goal is to
transition all Cardiac non-dialysis patients to Medical Telemetry (30-bed unit) in the
Patient Care Center (Building 2).
Nursing Podium Presenters at Premier National Conference
Clinical Advancement
If you are interested in advancing on
the Clinical Ladder register for the one
hour Clinical Advancement Workshop
to learn about becoming a Clinical
Nurse III or a Clinical Nurse IV.
Dates: August 20, 22, 28; Sept. 3, 5, 9
Times: 8 - 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. - noon
Location: Classroom 7
Presenter(s)
Title
Jayana DeWitt, RN, BSN
Decreasing falls in Behavioral Health while
decreasing Safety Attendant usage
Marty Jones, RN
Patient Allegations of Sexual Misconduct
Trish Cruz, RN, BSN
Executing Improvement in Patient Safety and
Experience with PFAs
Mary Ann Vincent, RN, BSN, MBA
The Journey to Perfect Care: Achieving Top
Performance