Whitton Wins MGH Excellence in Nursing Award

One of the highlights of the annual celebration of National Hospital Week at Marion Health is the nomination, voting and selection of the Marion Health Excellence in Nursingaward winner.

The award gives nurses the opportunity to recognize one of their peers, a nurse who excels in customer service and satisfaction and exemplifies characteristics of each of the Magnet® components; Transformational Leadership, Structural Empowerment, New Knowledge, Innova¬tion and Improvement and Exemplary Professional Practice.

This year, there were many excellent nominations, but the nominee who walked away from the podium with the award in her hand was Mary Jane Whitton, R.N, an 18-year Marion Health employee who works as coordinator of the CHF/Anticoagulation Clinic.

In regards to Transformational Leadership, Whitton . . .

• goes out of her way to help patients feel valued.
• confronts problems in a positive way.
• has worked in numerous leadership roles.
• has actively participated on various committees.
• has given valuable input to update anticoagulation policies and protocols to increase patient safety.
• has received two Key Contributor awards.
• has gained the respect and trust of multiple physicians as she manages their anticoagulation patients.

Structural Empowerment characteristics, like her strong values and a well-developed need to put others first, are verified through her daily actions. Both attributes make her an excellent representative of Marion Health. Even though she works hard as a nurse, Whitton finds the energy and time to selflessly give back to the community by . . .

• volunteering at Bridges to Health clinic.
• serving as a Parish Nurse for her church.
• volunteering, with her husband, at her daughter’s special needs class.
• serving as a clinical instructor for Indiana Wesleyan University.
• mentoring to nursing students at Marion Health.

Gaining New Knowledge and looking at ways to innovate and improve are cornerstones of her career. Since beginning employment as a student nurse, she has continued to gain important knowledge by first becoming an R.N., then completing her BSN and now working towards her master’s. Along the way, she became a dedicated cardiac nurse with continued education and certificate of achievements in congestive heart failure and anticoagulation management.

Exemplary Professional Practice: Whitton’s second Key Contributor award was for “making a difference” in a patient’s life. A clinic patient was spending $300 a week on medication and putting it on his credit card because he had no prescription insurance. She discussed his case with his physicians, and asked them if they could change some of his prescriptions to generic which were available locally for $4 each. She also helped the patient sign-up for Medicare Part D to assist with the cost of his medications. Through her hard work and dedication, the patient now only has to pay $50 a month for his medications.

Recently, she called a patient to see why she had not gotten her blood drawn as she was always consistent. The patient told her she just did not feel good. At the end of the day, Whitton stopped by her house, saw how ill she was, and took her to the emergency room for evaluation. She looks after and treats each patient as if they were a family member.

For all these reasons and many more, she is truly deserving of the 2010 Marion Health Excellence in Nursing award. Congratulations Mary Jane and thank you for taking extraordinary care of your patients!