ABPANC Advocacy Award
The purpose of the ABPANC Advocacy Award is to publicly recognize the CPAN® and/or CAPA® certified nurse who exemplifies leadership as a patient advocate. Do you have a story to tell about how a CPAN and/or CAPA certified nurse advocated above and beyond one’s normal role to meet the needs of a perianesthesia patient and/or their family?
Nominations are due February 15 of each year, and winners will be recognized in-person at the CPAN/CAPA Celebration Luncheon held in conjunction with ASPAN National Conference.
Eligibility Requirements: The nominee must be currently CPAN and/or CAPA certified and demonstrate any or all of the following competencies:
- Provides Empathic Care: Accepts an individual’s underlying concerns and needs and provides education, comfort, and support as appropriate. Is direct and genuine in patient interactions, breaking through emotional barriers to identify the true needs.
- Uses Standards of Excellence: Ensures that patient care is based on or surpasses a standard of excellence. Implements specific changes in the current system or in work methods in order to improve performance and quality.
- Advocates for the Patient and/or Significant Others: Steps in to provide solutions that may not be readily apparent to meet identified needs of the patient or significant others. This may necessitate involving others to manage existing symptoms and matching solutions to identified needs.
- Takes initiative: Identifies a problem, obstacle, or opportunity and takes action without being directed, in order to address current or future problems or opportunities.
- Demonstrates Interpersonal Understanding: Is able to accurately hear and understand the spoken or partly expressed thoughts, feelings, and concerns of others. Has a deeper and more complex understanding of others that includes cross-cultural sensitivity.
As you prepare your nomination, please provide as many details as possible regarding the how the nominee meets the above criteria. Submissions are evaluated based on the depth of answers demonstrating the nominee’s impact on the patient/family as well as practice of perianesthesia nursing. Data, quotes, patient testimonials, etc. are highly encouraged.
Award winners receive:
- A plaque and recognition during the CPAN/CAPA Celebration Luncheon at the ASPAN National Conference
- A $350 cash award
- A scholarship toward his or her next recertification
- In the event that the employer cannot cover travel expenses to the event, ABPANC can provide airfare to the conference, as well as one nights of hotel plus for travel expenses, for the award winner.
Additionally, the nominator receives a $100 cash award, and the winner’s unit will receive aa $350 scholarship that can be used for things such as CPAN/CAPA certification exam fees, recertification fees, continuing education, books, etc.
Valerie Boatwright, ADN, RN, CAPA, Named 2023 ABPANC Advocacy Award Recipient
Every year, ABPANC recognizes a CPAN or CAPA certified nurse who exemplifies leadership as a patient advocate with its highest honor, the Advocacy Award. ABPANC is pleased to present the award this year to Valerie Boatwright, ADN, RN, CAPA, of the University of New Mexico Hospital.
Valerie was presented with the prestigious recognition at the CPAN®/CAPA® Celebration Luncheon at the ASPAN National Conference at the Gaylord Rockies in Aurora, Colorado on April 28. Valerie was nominated by her supervisor, Ashly Stein, CAPA.
Her nominator wrote: “Whether in the recovery room, over the phone, or in a hallway, she takes every patient encounter, no matter how short, as an opportunity to provide the best care. Care led with empathy, compassion, and understanding. Her kind spirit and gentle heart make her a patient and staff favorite in the recovery room. With many patients acknowledging and thanking her by name during follow-up phone calls and students and new hires migrating to her bays to ask for patient advice.”
With 32 years of PACU experience, Valerie personalizes patient care, engages with patients and caregivers and empowers them to tackle the often-unfamiliar challenges that lay ahead. Valerie has spent untold hours coordinating care across the health care system, tracking down pharmacies that carry needed medicines, and problem solving for patient families.
Valerie is an advocate of healthcare equity and led the way for language interpretation in her unit. Valerie successfully advocated for an additional video monitor for language interpretation and discharge planning, ensuring that the instructions provided are representative of the needs of the individual patient.
But her advocacy doesn’t stop with patients. She is also a champion of education. Valerie has been an active member of her organization’s Shared Governance and process improvement groups, and a volunteer with ASPAN, her local ASPAN Component and ABPANC.
Congratulations to Valerie on this outstanding honor in recognition of her selfless care for her patients.
2019 Advocacy Award Recipient 2020 Advocacy Award Recipient 2021 Advocacy Award Recipient