Leadership - May 2018

The Leadership category recognizes those in nursing management, which includes directors, nurse managers, associate nurse managers, shift managers, project and program managers, administrative officers, shift managers, and other leaders. 

This year’s honorees are:

• Julia Buddenberg, MSN, RN, BSN  
• Anne D’Souza, BSN, RN, CNOR  
• Sheila Grubb, RN  
• Bethany Hanenkrat, BSN, RN, RN-BC  
• Jackie Hufford-Boyer, BSN, RN, C-EFM  
• Toni Miller, BSN, RN  
• Audrey Palmer, MBA, BSN, RN , RN-BC  
• Stephanie Wolfe, BSN, RN  

Julia Buddenberg, MSN, RN, BSN

Director Perioperative Services, Surgery Administration, Atrium Medical Center

Julia exemplifies the role of leader. She goes above and beyond to ensure that customers’ needs are met. She has made significant improvements across Perioperative Services, and is respected by all. Julia’s ideas have contributed to our improvement in patient satisfaction scores. She is always available and has an open-door policy; always taking time out of her day for the staff, physicians, and all members of the team. Julia is a mentor for all and ensures that she does everything to make us successful. She also works to grow her leadership team. Whenever a situation arises, Julia listens to everyone involved and acts accordingly. She manages up the team and ensures that credit is given to appropriate individuals. Julie asks questions and always follows the chain of command before making any decisions; and she manages her time well, yet always makes herself available when needed. She also uses her resources to seek out answers when needed. When approached with a concern, she immediately responds and often starts working on a solution before the conversation is over. Julia provides an environment where working is fun. She supports the mission, visions, policies, and processes across Premier Health.

Anne D’Souza, BSN, RN, CNOR

Service Line Team Leader, Surgical Services, Miami Valley Hospital

Anne deserves recognition as a leader and clinical expert. She is respected and relied upon as leader of the open-heart service in surgery. She works closely with the cath lab and cardiology services, and fully embraces the interdisciplinary team necessary to take care of critically ill cardiac patients. She facilitates seamless transitions of services for our most vulnerable patients. She has high team and service expectations and works hard to ensure success. She is constantly mentoring and team building, and makes sure to include the cardiothoracic surgeons, which promotes strong relationships. Anne owns her service and teaches the team to own theirs as well. She constantly looks to provide ease of services while upholding true to best practices. She has difficult conversations and provides real-time accountability to all team members, so that patients are provided with the best and safest care possible. Anne helps everyone in surgery understand the importance of advocating for safety and best practices, even if it seems troublesome or inconvenient, and demonstrates our core values at every opportunity. She is instrumental in the success of our endovascular, vascular, and open heart program. She shows her passion for cardiology every day, and our hospital is better for it.

Sheila Grubb, RN

Nursing Supervisor, Fidelity Health Care

Sheila has held a variety of roles throughout my years of work at FHC, and she consistently shows professionalism in each task she performs. As a leader and educator at our FHC staff meetings, Sheila presents material in a manner that is concise and easy to understand, while challenging our staff to be positive about changes in the health care field. In recent months, Sheila has presented and supported our organization’s preparation for the condition of participation changes required for home care service. She has patiently gone over the information repeatedly, answered questions diligently, and received input and ideas graciously. She respects all staff and attempts to facilitate excellence in all areas of service provision. From a clinical perspective, Sheila has worked as a triage nurse, and I am thankful for the top level clinical input she has given patients whom I am involved in case managing; as well as her thorough communication and follow up with further care needs. I find Sheila to be a dedicated worker who keeps our customers and staff in mind regardless of the task or situation, and I am pleased that she represents our FHC agency.

Jackie Hufford-Boyer, BSN, RN, C-EFM

Clinical Nurse Team Leader, Labor and Delivery, Good Samaritan Hospital (closed in 2018)

Jackie truly exemplifies teamwork. Every night that she is team leader, she ensures that her time is divided between all three areas: labor and delivery, special care nursery, and mother baby. She constantly asks team members how they are doing, and if there is anything she can do to help them. She is a wealth of knowledge about the hospital, the unit, and the practice of obstetric nursing. In an emergency, Jackie is involved every step of the way – from being at the patient’s bedside, empathizing with the patient, and working efficiently to resolve the issue at hand, to voicing concerns that might arise and appropriately taking them up her chain of command. Countless times while I was working in triage and busy with several patients, Jackie has taken the next patient that comes up to ensure that patient experience is maintained. Jackie happily does our hourly rounding, passes out medications, and completes other necessary tasks when we have busy postpartum assignments and can’t get to our patients on the hour. She demonstrates how patients are the first member of the care team.

Toni Miller, BSN, RN

Nurse Manager, Interventional Radiology, Miami Valley Hospital

Toni exemplifies leadership, both as a nurse leader and ancillary department leader, while serving our patients. She lives the core values of respect, integrity, compassion, and excellence in her role as manager of interventional radiology, and leads by example through her interaction with the diverse team in medical imaging, ATA, nursing, and physicians. Toni uses her assessment skills to quickly assimilate during difficult situations that involve the entire IR team, including patients and their families. Her in-depth knowledge of EPIC, ordersets, audits, and exemplary IR practice also is a resource for Miami Valley and the system. She graciously offered to help with the Good Sam transition by lending IR best practices she developed. Toni’s offer to cover shifts on an old nursing unit so that staff could attend the funeral of nurse who tragically passed away is another example of her selfless contributions to our teams. She also provided food and emotional support for the unit during that unimaginable time. Toni and I periodically round on units at MVH, and the reception she receives shows just how loved and respected she is across the hospital. She is passionate about being a nurse and leader, and it shows every day. She has elevated nursing practice in medical imaging, and I am proud to be part of her team!

Audrey Palmer, MBA, BSN, RN, RN-BC

Associate Nurse Manager, Med Surg ICU, Miami Valley Hospital

The start of 2017 brought big changes to our unit, as two units combined to form one of the largest staffed units within the hospital. Audrey transitioned during that time from a team leader to an ANM. She fits the definition of an optimal transformation leader to a “T.” She wants to work a schedule that makes her available for staff so that she can round on night shift, early in the morning, or be available on occasional weekend days for weekend-only staff. Audrey is present on the units, talking with staff and rounding on patients. Staff respect her and know that any concerns shared with her will be followed up on. She models HEART very well, and can communicate with patients in a sincere manner while supporting the bedside nurse. Audrey does not hesitate to voice her concerns and use the chain of command if requests do not appear to be appropriate, which makes staff on our unit feel even more secure and supported by her. With the many changes we have had and will continue to have, stepping into a new role would not have been the preferred option for most people. Thankfully for us, Audrey isn’t most people. She’s exceptional!

Stephanie Wolfe, BSN, RN

Associate Nurse Manager, Nursing Administration, Upper Valley Medical Center

Stephanie is an UVMC leader who consistently goes above beyond to coach and mentor the inpatient nursing team. She has focused on ensuring that the night shift has access to staff meetings and encourages monthly carry-in meals for staff to get to know each other across units/disciplines and roles. Stephanie is compassionate and caring as nursing leader, and her leadership is respected by all of the team. She is frequently seen assisting the team during times of high acuity, mentoring newer nurses with critical thinking and time management. She is always seen putting the patient/ family at the center. She uses AIDET in all interactions, rounds, and service recovers with HEART, and has frequently been recognized by patients and their families for going above and beyond to help resolve issues. Stephanie employee rounds with active listening, follows up, and always closes the loop with the team to ensure that they feel heard and understood. She treats everyone with respect, integrity, compassion, and excellence, and is an integral part of the nursing team.

Bethany Hanenkrat, BSN, RN, RN-BC

Associate Nurse Manager, Ortho Joint Spin 5, Miami Valley Hospital South

Bethany has grown so much in the past year that I have worked with her. Working at the south campus over the past year has been very challenging, as we have moved a unit, added an observation unit, hired a new manager for two units, and added additional staff. Bethany is an associate nurse manager for all three units in the tower. She remains calm in stressful situations, and is a resource for coaching and mentoring staff, particularly those new to the campus or to team leader roles. Bethany is a wealth of knowledge on MVHS processes and workflows, support and resources, and ways to improve. She once volunteered to lead several diversity sessions at both campuses, and I was impressed by how comfortable she was in addressing a varied group of employees. Bethany might be introverted at heart, but she has worked to become more outgoing. She does not hesitate to voice her opinion or speak up regarding her concerns or to advocate. She helped lead the observation unit opening, worked with staff to develop processes, and provided workflow education. As a leader, Bethany has grown professionally, becoming more involved in projects and public speaking. She provides support to leadership and staff on all three units while assisting the managers with daily operations. Bethany is a team player who takes ownership and accountability in all that she does. 

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