Sustaining Caring Change in a Healthcare System

In 2003, nursing leaders from the Eastern Colorado Health Care System (ECHCS) integrated caring theory-guided practice on 4South, a busy %bed surgical telemetry unit. The endeavor was documented in the 2005 article, Being and Creating Caring Change in a Healthcare System (Bent et al., 2005). Since then, there have been successes and challenges in sustaining an atmosphere based on the implemented changes. This article serves as a follow up to the creation of the Nightingale Unit. We will outline the conscious efforts and actions on 4outh over 6 years and discuss future goals for this innovative unit.

• Recapping Highlights from the 2006 PHA Scientific Sessions• Reviewing New Perspectives on Inflammation, Genetics, and Imaging• Redefining Exercise-Induced PH• Future Considerations in Translational Research

This discussion was moderated by Karen A. Fagan, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado. Panel members included David B. Badesch, MD, Professor of Medicine, Divisions of Pulmonary Sciences & Critical Care Medicine, and Cardiology Clinical Director, Pulmonary Hypertension Center, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado; C. Gregory Elliott, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Pulmonary Division, LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Robert P. Frantz, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.

• Identifying the Complex Spectrum of Childhood PAH• Selecting Candidates for Aggressive Treatment

This discussion was moderated by Erika Berman Rosenzweig, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (in Medicine), Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York. Panel members included Steven H. Abman, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Pediatric Heart-Lung Center at The Children’s Hospital, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado; Dunbar Ivy, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, The Children’s Hospital, Chief of Pediatric Cardiology, and Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado; and Sheila G. Haworth, MD, FRCP, Professor of Developmental Cardiology, Institute of Child Health, University College, London, UK, and Lead Clinician at the United Kingdom Pulmonary Hypertension Service for Children.