Each year, Lexington Medical Center honors nurses for its “LMC Gold” program – recognizing outstanding work in nursing. Below is a list of this year’s winners that we would like to honor and congratulate.
Stacie Amick, BSN, RN, BC
Since 2005, Stacie has been an exceptional member of the LMC team, earning an Award of Excellence as a nurse technician and again as a registered nurse. She has a passion for helping others learn and grow, working with senior capstone students, nurse residents and new nurses as a preceptor. As Unit Based Practice chair for 6th South Tower (Medical), Stacie encourages her peers to obtain additional certifications and works to implement best practices. Because of her efforts, 6th South Tower had zero pressure injuries in five consecutive quarters of fiscal years 2021 and 2022, and significant increases in nurse satisfaction rates, nurse job enjoyment scores and nurse-to-nurse interaction rates. After realizing a need to improve patient adherence to medication directions, Stacie collaborated with other departments to create medication cards to show patients how to use prescribed medications and understand possible side effects, leading to an 87.5% increase in Press Ganey satisfaction scores.
Christy Chavis, MSN, RN, CMS-RN
With 16 years of experience as a registered nurse, Christy brings tremendous knowledge and professionalism to 4th South Tower (Medical). She started as a staff nurse and quickly became a clinical coordinator because of her exceptional patient care skills and willingness to take on additional responsibilities, serving as a Unit Based Practice Council member and accepting leadership roles when piloting patient care initiatives. After Christy led her team to pilot an initiative increasing fall prevention measures and education, her unit saw a 27% decrease in falls between fiscal years 2021 and 2022. She assisted in decreasing Foley catheter usage to 26% in the first quarter since piloting the “A-voiding Foley Usage” project to reduce Foley catheter urinary tract infections. In addition to improving patient outcomes, Christy’s leadership and demeanor have increased recruitment and retention on 4th South Tower.
Paige Gates, BSN, RN, BC
As a care manager for 7th South Tower, Paige ensures her patients receive high-quality care. She creates special bonds with patients and their families and demonstrates immense compassion, often resulting in long-lasting relationships and compliments. Paige initiated a project on her unit to implement baby doll therapy, which can reduce disruptive behaviors in Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. Because her unit sees many patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia, she conducted further research, submitted a proposal for an LMC Foundation grant and received approval to fund baby doll therapy. Since the implementation on 7th South Tower, the unit has reduced use of restraints and number of falls, as well as decreased anxiety and elevated moods in patients. She is a great example and often sought when staff members need guidance. As chair of 7th South Tower’s Unit Based Practice Council, Paige constantly looks for improvement opportunities. She completes monthly hand hygiene monitoring, quarterly chart reviews and monthly skin audits.
David Gowans, BSN, RN, CCRN
David is an asset to the Post Anesthesia Care Unit because of his exceptional leadership abilities and devotion to positive patient outcomes. With 15 years of experience, he leads by example and has received an LMC Award of Excellence for his efforts. He understands that continuing education is critical to success and encourages others to further their education, organizing study groups for individuals interested in becoming nationally board-certified, establishing conference watch groups, facilitating training sessions for other hospital departments and developing a department wide e-newsletter. As a member of the Unit Based Practice Council, David searches for efficient and innovative ways to provide patients with high-quality care. He created a suggestion box for the department to encourage staff to submit process improvements. One suggestion was to require physician orders to administer intermittent urinary catheterizations, which led to process changes and subsequent reductions in incontinence and urinary retention
Ashley Hendrix, BSN, RN, BC
Ashley is an exceptional role model. She has shown her commitment through her service as vice chair and chair for the Unit Based Practice Council, mentor for University of South Carolina leadership students and nurse residents, Surestep™ Foley coach and member of the Unit Based Fall and 9th North Tower (Medical/CVA) Skin committees. Ashley also conducts hospital-acquired pressure injury team reviews, monitors hand-washing compliance, attends quarterly skin prevalence meetings and completes medical record reviews. Her efforts and dedication to quality outcomes have led to numerous improvements within the department, including reducing catheter-related urinary tract infections, increasing nurse satisfaction rates and reaching the department’s goals for nosocomial prevalence, central-line bloodstream infections and hospital-acquired pressure injuries. Additionally, Ashley is known to be a positive and caring team member, often working nights and weekends to fill in for others.
Jessica Jeffcoat, MSN, RN, BC
For more than 15 years, Jessica has shown great dedication to LMC and its mission. She currently leads the Center for Best Practice’s clinical orientation team to educate nurses on best practices, policy updates and advances in the medical field. In this position, Jessica goes above and beyond her duties by conducting additional in-person reviews and checking educational materials for clarity and accuracy. She also took the initiative to master the Articulate e-Learning program to create interactive educational offerings for staff. During the past two years, clinical orientation numbers increased by 20%, and issues such as social distancing requirements plagued the team. Considering these issues, Jessica took an innovative approach and found new ways to create orientation materials and strategies to lead new staff to meet the same high-quality standards. During the COVID-19 pandemic and staffing shortage, Jessica also volunteered to split her time between the Center for Best Practice and patient care areas to assist understaffed units.
Tim O’Hara, BSN, RN, PCCN
Tim is an organized and efficient leader on 6th North Tower (Intermediate Intensive Care Unit). While holding his team to high standards, he also fosters a safe and supportive environment that is conducive for learning. Tim’s unique ability to anticipate the needs of his staff and quickly resolve any issues greatly improves team cohesion and nurse satisfaction. He is committed to resolving any issues that may negatively affect the work environment, so patients receive the best care possible. Additionally, Tim is committed to seeking the best evidence-based practices. He currently serves as his unit’s restraint outcome champion and safety advocate and is a peritoneal dialysis superuser and tracheostomy superuser. He takes great pride in his work, and many other leaders in the organization have recognized his efforts.
Amanda Price, BSN, RN, CV-BC
For 15 years, Amanda has been a loyal team member, working to ensure the success of 4th East Tower (Surgical Stepdown/ Post Cardiovascular Unit). She prioritizes patient outcomes and is a current member of the Unit Based Practice Council, the cardiovascular surgery work group and the discharge throughput team. Amanda’s efforts as a member of the cardiovascular surgery work group helped the hospital earn five three-star ratings from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Through her leadership, 4th East Tower also successfully decreased the length of patient stays, eliminated pressure injuries for the last 22 months and central-line bloodstream infections for the last 31 months, and achieved the lowest wound infection rate since the unit’s inception. Amanda earned four Applause Awards in 2022 and led her team to achieve the highest nurse satisfaction scores in the past four years, encouraging her peers to have lunch with each other and limiting distractions, such as cell phones. She is an exceptional employee who works tirelessly to promote LMC’s mission.
Sarah Ricard, BSN, RN, CCRN, CRN
As a clinical mentor, Sarah has made great improvements in Interventional Radiology. After noticing the department’s historically high turnover and low patient and nurse satisfaction scores, she took the initiative to implement process improvements. Sarah conducted case reviews, obtained new products and equipment, updated protocols, improved the work environment and established a Unit Based Practice Council. Collectively, these changes led to improved patient outcomes and nurse satisfaction scores 50% higher than the national average. Most notably, Sarah audited numerous stroke cases and found opportunities to improve treatment response times that would increase the likelihood of positive outcomes. While conducting these audits, she found and discussed multiple avoidable delays with her team and the Emergency Department team. Once the departments implemented procedures to combat these delays, door-to-puncture time decreased by more than 20 minutes, puncture-to-reperfusion time decreased by 20 minutes and overall door-to-first pass time decreased by 58 minutes.
