Hufham Appointed 4 South Manager

FAYETTEVILLE – Jessica Hufham, RN, has been appointed 4 South Patient Care Manager at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.

The Garland native joined Cape Fear Valley Health in 2003 as an Emergency Department staff nurse. She most recently held the position of Lead RN Case Manager/Supervisor with the Coordination of Care department. 

Hufham received her associate’s degree in Nursing from Sampson Community College in Clinton. She is currently pursing her bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Grand Canyon University.

In her new position, Hufham will oversee all aspects of patient care on 4 South, a medical telemetry department.

Stonestreet Appointed Chief Nursing Officer

FAYETTEVILLE – Jana Stonestreet, Ph.D., RN, NEA-BC, has been appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer with Cape Fear Valley Health.

The native of Missourri has more than 26 years of nursing leadership experience. She previously held the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer with Vanguard Health Systems, a national healthcare network. Prior to that she served as Chief Nursing Executive with Baptist Health System in San Antonio, Texas. 

She was also a Chief Patient Care Officer with Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital in Houston, Texas, and a Chief Nursing Officer with Methodist Healthcare System in San Antonio, Texas.

Stonestreet received her master’s degree in Nursing from the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Science in Galveston, Texas. She received her doctorate in Nursing from Texas Woman’s University of Houston, Texas. 

In her new position, Stonestreet will oversee all aspects of nursing at Cape Fear Valley Health. It is the ninth largest health system in North Carolina and employs approximately 1,500 nurses. 

Bladen Nurse Among Great 100

ELIZABETHTOWN – Terri Duncan, RN, BSN, has been selected as a Great 100 Nurse for 2011. The award is an annual honor given to nurses who exhibit nursing excellence and make a difference in their community.
Duncan, a Clarkton native, has more than 20 years of nursing experience and currently serves as a Clinical Educator at Bladen Healthcare. Her duties include educating health system nurses about best practices and evidence-based medicine. She also serves as a patient advocate by looking for ways to improve healthcare for all patients.

Her other duties include everything from educating employees about smoking cessation, serving as a hospital liaison to area nursing programs, and helping instruct new nurses during clinical rotations.

When she’s not working, Duncan talks to civic and faith-based groups about healthcare. For the past 10 years, she has touched on issues such as senior health, exercise, meal preparation and healthcare decisions.

Duncan previously served as a district representative and local district president with the North Carolina Nurses Association. She has been a member for more than 20 years.

Just 100 nurses are chosen each year to receive the Great 100 award. It was created by the Great 100 organization, a grassroots-nursing group created in 1988 to recognize outstanding registered nurses in North Carolina.

McGarry Named Patient Care Manager

FAYETTEVILLE – Felicia McGarry, RN, BSN, has been appointed Patient Care Manager for 3 Valley Pavilion – North at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.

The Fayetteville native joined Cape Fear Valley Health System in 2001 as an LPN. She was previously a Clinical Educator.

She received her associate’s degree in Nursing from Fayetteville Technical Community College and her bachelor’s degree in Nursing from East Carolina University in Greenville. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Nursing Leadership, also from East Carolina University.

Thayer Named 8 South Manager

FAYETTEVILLE – Jackie Thayer, RN, has been appointed Patient Care Manager for 8 South at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.

The native of Ludington, Mich., joined Cape Fear Valley Health in 2005 as a Staff Nurse in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. She previously served as Interim Patient Care Manager for 8 South. Prior to that, she served as a Lead Charge Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit and as a Resource Nurse on 5 South.

Thayer received her associate’s degree in nursing from Fayetteville Technical Community College. She is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Fayetteville State University.

Her new duties will include overseeing patient care on 8 South, a 34-bed medical/surgical unit.

Miller Appointed As Director Of Care Management

FAYETTEVILLE – Elaine Miller has been appointed Director of Care Management at Cape Fear Valley Health.

The Delaware native has more than 25 years of nursing leadership experience and previously served as Director of Care Management at Providence Hospital in Mobile, Ala. Prior to that, she was System Director of Case Management and Infection Prevention for Singing River Health System in Pascagoula, Miss.

Miller earned her associate’s degree in Nursing from Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Va. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, and her master’s degree in Healthcare Management from California Coast University in Santa Ana, Calif.

In her new position, Miller will oversee the patient transition process through the health system.

Two Bladen County RNs Named Exemplary Nurses

ELIZABETHTOWN – Two of Bladen County Hospital’s own were recently named Cape Fear Valley Health Exemplary Nurses for 2011.

Sabrina Melvin, RN, BSN, and Teresa Phipps, RN, BSN, were both honored during an awards ceremony, along with eight other Cape Fear Valley RNs. The ceremony was held May 9 at Cape Fear Valley Rehabilitation Center in Fayetteville.

The Exemplary Nursing awards program was created in 2001 as a way to honor outstanding RNs throughout Cape Fear Valley Health. The health system’s staff nominate co-workers whose compassion, hard work and skill make them Exemplary Nurses.

Melvin is a Charge Nurse and serves on Performance Improvement and leadership committees with Bladen County Hospital. She was nominated for her work as a top assistant to the nursing manager, handling often-stressful situations with poise, maintaining working relationships with physicians and outside departments. She also assisted with the hospital’s new hospitalist program launch, guiding physicians and serving as a resource person for policies and procedures.

She executes interdepartmental functions with grace, competence, excellence and a smile, while also lending emotional and financial support to co-workers if needed.

Phipps works in Bladen County Hospital’s Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program, and previously worked in the hospital’s ICU, Medical/Surgical Unit and Emergency Department.

In 1997, she helped establish the hospital’s Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program, serving as Clinical and Program Director. There, she helped shape the program by developing documentation, policies, care plans and admission procedures.

Phipps was nominated for treating patients as a “whole person” and often befriending them on a personal level. She has also shown unwavering loyalty to her job by juggling her career while also taking care of her permanently disabled husband, Bo, a spinal injury patient, over the years.

Cape Fear Valley Health Chosen For Landmark Nursing Study

FAYETTEVILLE – Cape Fear Valley Health is one of 112 hospitals nationwide chosen to participate in a landmark study of how well new nursing graduates transition into their chosen career.

The Transition to Practice Study (TTPS) will run from July 2011 through December 2012, evaluating patient safety and quality outcomes in transition-to-practice programs among the participating hospitals. National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is conducting the study.

All new nurses must undergo transition-to-practice training to help deal with the rigorous demands of nursing. Cape Fear Valley Health’s nursing orientation program lasts 12 weeks, on average, and teaches everything from nursing policy and procedure to building confidence and clinical skills.

The TTPS study will be the first national study to analyze patient outcomes directly relating to nursing orientation programs. Participating hospitals will either be assigned a standardized training model or allowed to use their own orientation program.

Patient outcomes, such as infection rates, medication errors, patient satisfaction and nurse retention rates, from each hospital will then be reported back to NCSBN for study.

NCSBN is a not-for-profit organization created to provide state boards of nursing an avenue to act and counsel together on matters of common interest, such as public health, safety and welfare, and the development of nursing license examinations.

Cape Fear Valley Medical Center PACU Wins Nursing Award

FAYETTEVILLE – The N.C. Nurses Association has bestowed its Hallmarks of Healthy Workplaces award upon the Post Anesthesia Care Unit nursing staff at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. The Post Anesthesia Care Unit is where post-surgical patients recover from anesthesia before going to one of the surgical units in the medical center.

The three-year award was created to recognize hospitals that promote positive work environments, open communication, respect and solution-oriented actions that not only help nurses work better, but to also recruit more nurses and to retain them.

The reviewers called Cape Fear Valley’s PACU “a very supportive organization for nursing.” Among the unit’s many strengths noted by the reviewers were its strong leadership support from the CEO down to the nurse manager, excellent teamwork among staff, low employee turnover and flexible staffing.

The N.C. Nurses Association holds a recognition ceremony twice a year for winning hospitals. Cape Fear Valley Medical Center will be recognized during the N.C. Nurses Association recognition ceremony on Feb. 4 in Greensboro.

Highsmith-Rainey Specialty Hospital ICU was recognized this past January as a two-time winner of a Hallmarks of Healthy Workplaces award. Highmsith-Rainey first won the award in 2007.