Northside Hospital Recognizes Nurses Who Achieve, Maintain Certification

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Northside Hospital in Sandy Springs recently recognized nearly 550 of its nurses who achieved and maintained board certification in their respective nursing specialty in 2014.

“I am here to acknowledge the outstanding practice and enhanced patient outcomes that nationally certified registered nurses deliver each day to the patients in Northside Hospital’s inpatient and outpatient facilities,” said Janis Dubow, MSN, RN, vice president and chief nursing officer at Northside Hospital, during an event held at the Hyatt Atlanta Perimeter at Villa Christina.

“Less than 20 percent of American nurses are board certified,” Dubow added. “It takes personal dedication and persistence to achieve and maintain nursing certification.”

Brent Brooks, RN, Northside Hospital’s Coronary Care Unit, received the 2015 Halpern Family Scholarship for nurses who pursue certification in cardiac-vascular nursing.

Certification is a voluntary process by which professional agencies endorse an individual nurse’s qualifications for practice in a specific clinical, management, educational or research area of nursing. These qualifications are based on standards of care and evidence-based practice, and are usually validated by testing methods or exams, which also are indicators of mastery of knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to practice effectively.

Many departments at Northside require nursing certification for continued employment. Northside also presented special awards to those departments, which do not require certification but which still have among the highest rates of certification within the hospital. Those departments included:

• Northside/Alpharetta Outpatient Surgery
• Coronary Care Unit
• Northside/Tower Infusion Center
• GI Medicine and Surgery
• Intensive Care Unit

The Halpern Family Scholarship was awarded for the second time and continues to spotlight the impact of outstanding patient care. The scholarship was created in 2014 by David Halpern of Dunwoody to honor the doctors and nurses who took care of his mother during a recent hospital stay.

“Through this scholarship program, each year on my mother’s birthday my family can say thank you… and support Northside’s efforts to enhance your career knowledge and skills as nurses to be the best professionals you can be,” said David Halpern.

“With the rapidly changing needs of our patients and the increasingly complex and complicated hospitalizations and outpatient encounters we experience, promoting clinical specialty certification is all the more important,” said Dubow. “We celebrate the unique contributions that our nurses bring to Northside Hospital and to providing excellent patient care.”

For more information about nursing opportunities at Northside Hospital, visit careers.northside.com.

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Photo 1: Northside Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has among the highest rates of certified nurses within the hospital. From left to right: Althea Palomino, continuing education program coordinator; Metta Waters, director patient care clinical quality; Shayle Glover, rapid response RN; Rekha Tripathi, ICU clinical development specialist; Eva-Lena Larsson, ICU RN; Amy Berryman, director of ICU/CCU; Jeanne Dunlop, rapid response RN; Sonja Henderson, DNP, RN, ACNP-BC, CCRN; and Ernie Fuller, manager of clinical education.
Photo 2: Northside Hospital’s Coronary Care Unit (CCU) has among the highest rates of certified nurses within the hospital. From left to right: Beverly Hunt, director of medical/surgical services; CCU nurses Laura Barbas, Nicole Ajavon, Marilee Pearson, Damaris Boykins and Lois Richards; and Margaret Henry, manager of CCU.
Photo 3: Northside Hospital’s Alpharetta Outpatient Surgery Center has among the highest rates of certified nurses within the hospital. From left to right: Althea Palomino, continuing education program coordinator, Northside Hospital; and registered nurses at the Alpharetta Surgery Center: Sue Pass, Marge Gebhart and Julianne Heighton.
Photo 4: Speakers at the event included (l-r): Althea Palomino, continuing education program coordinator, Northside Hospital; David Halpern, founder of the Halpern Family Scholarship; Susan Gunby, professor at GA Baptist College of Nursing, Mercer University; Janis Dubow, vice president and chief nursing officer, Northside; and Kate Lee, chair of the Professional Practice Council, Northside.
Photo credits: Northside Hospital