UAMS Celebrates National Nurses Week
| A week of educational talks, events, awards and discounts marked the many ways in which UAMS celebrated National Nurses Week May 4-10 including weekends, nights and off-site clinics.
Trenda Ray answers audience questions during a lunch and learn panel discussion with UAMS Wellness Director Natalie Cannady.
“Nursing requires a tremendous amount of compassion, spending your entire day attending to the needs of others,” said Trenda Ray, Ph.D., RN, associate vice chancellor for patients and families and interim chief nursing officer for UAMS. “For that reason, it’s important we also tend to the needs of our nurses and show them how much we appreciate their contributions to UAMS, as well as to our patients and families.”
The week began and ended with lunch and learn events featuring talks on UAMS programs to contribute to wellness and mindfulness. Monday’s talk featured remarks from Ray alongside UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, as well as Natalie Cannady, M.Ed., wellness director for UAMS. Friday’s talk featured an interactive presentation from Purushottam Thapa, M.D., and Erick Messias, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., with ideas on how to relieve stress. Both session will be available for continuing education credit via “Learn on Demand.”
Also, the week offered a Nursing Professional Practice Fair in the ED II concourse, with tables of resources for nursing staff, visits with dogs in the Pet Therapy program, and the Center for Nursing Excellence Annual Nursing Recognition award ceremony. Award recipients were:
From left: Michele Hudnall, Gwen Price, D’Anna Williams and Jessie Daniel, winners of the Center for Nursing Excellence Annual Nursing Recognition Awards.
- Betty Casali Transformational Leadership: Gwen Price, RN, CSM – H6 Hospital Medicine
- Advancement of Nursing Practice: Jessie Daniel, RN, Emergency Department
- Outstanding Community Service: Michele Hudnall, RN, WISL Ambulatory
- Excellence in Nursing Education: D’Anna Williams, RN, APP – Medical/Surgical Inpatient Division
The week included discounts offered to nursing staff at the gift shops in Ward Tower and the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, as well as an offer for a free two-week trial membership at the UAMS Fitness Center.
“Nurses are the heart of UAMS. Not only do nurses play an integral role in caring for our patients and families each and every day but also in our overall mission including education and research,” said Susan Erickson, RN, M.N.Sc., senior nurse recruiting manager. “With more than 1,700 UAMS nurses working in central Arkansas and throughout our state, UAMS is proud to recognize nursing’s contributions as part of the health care team and celebrate a week of thanks for a lifetime of caring.”