A donation was made to the Akron Physician Wellness initiative on behalf of Akron Children’s APPs in celebration of APP Week. Director of the Advanced Practice Center Jenny Michel, APRN-CNP, is pictured first row on left.
Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) are integral to Akron Children’s health care teams. That’s why Akron Children’s was honored to recognize their successes and vital contributions at the Advanced Practice Provider’s Annual Celebration and Awards meeting on Sept. 26.
“Akron Children’s slogan, ‘More Than a Job,’ speaks to the work our APPs do every single day,” said Jenny Michel, APRN-CNP, director of Akron Children’s Advanced Practice Center. “Our APPs go above and beyond always to support patient care, our community, the future of advanced practice and each other. These awards give us the opportunity to recognize APPs for the things they do throughout the year, which they choose to do because the work they do is meaningful.”
In addition to the APP Week Awards, APPs were celebrated throughout the week with food and activities in the APP Center and donations made to Ronald McDonald House and the Akron Physician Wellness Initiative on their behalf.
APP Week Awards recipients
Akron Children’s congratulates this year’s APP Week Award recipients and thanks them for their contributions to increase access to high-quality patient care.
Pediatric neurology team members celebrate Danielle Freeman (left), an APP for Akron Children’s Headache Clinic, who was named APP Novice of the Year.
APP Outstanding Novice of the Year: Danielle Freeman, MSN, APRN-CNP
Danielle Freeman is an APP for Akron Children’s Headache Clinic. Day in and day out, she demonstrates a dedication and passion for patient care, while championing educational activities and research initiatives in pediatric neurology.
Danielle values a team-based approach and understands the importance of including patient families in care. She’s not afraid to take on challenging cases or to consult with physicians and other APPs on the team. Danielle is friendly, relatable, talented and professional. These attributes led her to being in the top 10 percent of providers for the highest patient experience ratings.
In her practice, Danielle exhibits great clinical acumen. Most notably, she recognized the signs of pseudotumor cerebri, a condition where pressure in the skull increases for no apparent reason. This led to a timely diagnosis and treatment for a disorder with life-altering outcomes.
In addition to clinical contributions, Danielle also organizes the department’s Headache Challenging Case Conference and leads the Headache Program’s community activities during Migraine and Headache Awareness month. She also is active in research and currently serves as a sub-investigator in 2 clinical trials on acute and preventive treatment in pediatric migraines.
Jill Smith (left), the lead APP in Akron Children’s Perioperative Surgical Home, won the APP Lifetime Achievement Award. She’s pictured with Jenn Davis, DNP, director of Perioperative Services.
APP Lifetime Achievement Award: Jill Smith, MSN, APRN-CNP
Jill Smith has served as the lead APP in Akron Children’s Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) since 2016, after joining the department’s APP group in 2007. Jill has led an accomplished career in perioperative medicine. Her leadership style fully embraces Akron Children’s Mission to improve the health of children through excellence in patient care, education, research, quality improvement, advocacy and community partnerships.
Jill was instrumental in redesigning and implementing the current perioperative care model to support population health initiatives and create a system-wide approach to quality and safety for patients. In 2015, Akron Children’s pre-operative APP team transitioned from a just-in-time, “same day as surgery” model to the current advanced preparation, “pre-surgery visit” PSH model to improve patient outcomes.
As lead APP in PSH, Jill also played a crucial role in expanding access to perioperative care. She served on the leadership team responsible for not only initiating PSH care for outpatient surgery patients, but also successfully expanded that care to all 4 operating room sites within Akron Children’s.
In addition to her clinical role, Jill has served on numerous hospital committees and councils, including: APP council, APP lead committee, awards chair, APP pharmacology conference lead and hospital immunization committee. She also has presented at local, regional and national conferences on perioperative care and its evidence-based care practices.
APPs in Akron Children’s PICU are proud to showcase their award for APP Department of the Year.
APP Department of the Year: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Akron Children’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit’s (PICU) medical staff includes 15 exemplary APPs that are improving patient care through their commitment to strong clinical practice, educational advancements, quality improvement, research and leadership.
With a strong knowledge base for critical care medicine, the PICU APP group serves as the backbone of patient care. They assist attending physicians and residents in rounding and formulating a plan of care for all patients admitted to the PICU. They also work closely with nursing and respiratory staff to evaluate changes to the plan of care to influence positive outcomes for patients.
Aside from their clinical contributions, the PICU APP group frequently participates in critical care medicine workgroups to develop and improve protocols, including the Asthma, Bronchiolitis and Post-Resuscitation Management pathways.
In addition, the group is involved in more than 15 quality improvement initiatives across the hospital to standardize care and improve patient safety. A great example is the recent implementation of new Sepsis Protocols with an Electronic Medical Record integration for a triggering tool. Their participation in this nationwide initiative helped Akron Children’s achieve reduced in-hospital sepsis occurrence, time to identification and intervention of sepsis, improving our outcomes to supersede national standards of care both in the PICU and Akron Children’s general care floors.
Shining Star Awards recipients
Akron Children’s also is proud to announce the recipients of this year’s Shining Star Awards, honoring APPs in 5 categories for their dedication, leadership and excellent contributions to patient care, quality improvement, advocacy, education and research.
Community Health and Service: Amanda McAllen, MSN, ARPN-CNP
This award recognizes the APP who works within the community to promote child advocacy, safety or outreach of care.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Lauren Beck, MSN, APRN-CNP
This award recognizes the APP who consistently promotes diversity, equity and inclusivity within the work environment; demonstrates respect of culture in projects and patient care; provides consistent care to all populations; and facilitates utilization of hospital resources to provide equitable care.
Education: Paul Moore, APRN-CNP
This award recognizes the APP who provides education of nursing at the bedside; teaching plans for patients and families; departmental education of residents, RNs or APPs; podium presentations; and participates in Boot Camp Education.
Leadership: Kelly Wiseman, PA-C
This award recognizes an APP who has exceptional leadership skills within Akron Children’s. Leadership may be at the departmental, hospital, community, state or national level and has made an impact on health care, pediatrics or APPs. The leadership does not have to be a formal role within the hospital.
Scholarly Activities (QI, RI, Research): Tammy Camelli, DNP, APRN-CNP
This award recognizes an APP who promotes and identifies evidence-based guidelines and leads a scholarly project(s) that has a financial impact on the department and/or Akron Children’s and increases efficiency. Information is disseminated because of the scholarly project.
“Congratulations to all the APPS at Akron Children’s for the wonderful work you do each and every day,” says Akron Children’s President and CEO Christopher Gessner. “You’ve been a huge part of the success of this hospital historically and your work is becoming more and more important each day. I hope you realize how valued you are, respected you are and how much you’re appreciated here at Akron Children’s.”
