Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine's Christine Roberts, R.N. Wins NurseWeek Magazine's Nursing Excellence Award

Contact: Susan Hall, 214-820-1817
Email: susanh@baylorhealth.edu

(GRAPEVINE, Texas, Oct. 26, 2007) - Christine Roberts, R.N., Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine, has won NurseWeek's South Central Regional Nursing Excellence Award for Mentoring. Nominated by her peers, Roberts will be featured on an upcoming cover of NurseWeek Magazine.

Roberts, who is a staff nurse in the progressive care unit, serves as president of a unit-based council responsible for process improvement, patient safety, regulatory compliance, and patient and staff satisfaction. She serves as a preceptor who orients new employees to the progressive care unit; Roberts also works with new graduates and seasoned nurses in the hospital's critical cared internship program.

The nomination process is anonymous, but one of her peers described her as "extremely positive, never has a bad day, and makes sure her patients never have a bad day. Her encouraging and upbeat demeanor is contagious and makes a significant impact on the attitudes of others."

"Christine graduated from nursing school nearly two years ago and already, her leadership, positive attitude and willingness to tackle challenging projects earned her the admiration and respect of her peers," said Doug Lawson, president, Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine. "I understand that when Christine discovers one of her patients or a family member is having a bad day, she sings to them! Sometimes she leaves Post-It notes on her patient's pillow with a smiley face drawn on it. Christine has a heart for patients and her resourcefulness and commitment to increasing her professional knowledge makes her a favorite among our nursing team."

"Christine epitomizes the caring, compassionate nursing professional who goes beyond what's expected to the benefit of her patients and peers," says Rosemary Luquire, R.N., PhD., F.A.A.N., C.N.A.A., chief nursing officer and senior vice president, Baylor Health Care System. "We have many gifted care givers at Baylor. It's what you expect when you come to a Baylor facility. In fact, of the top "100 Great Nurses" award given by the Texas Nurses Association, 18 were Baylor nurses. We're so pleased that one as special as Christine has received this well deserved honor and recognition."

Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine is a full-service, fully-accredited hospital, serving residents in more than 20 cities throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The hospital offers advanced medical care for brain and spine conditions, cardiovascular care, intensive care, diagnostic imaging, women's services, neonatal intensive care, sleep disorders and emergency care.

In May 2007, Baylor Grapevine received The Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Award which honors Texas hospitals that are performing quality initiatives aimed at improving outcomes in patient care by recognizing those hospitals that have improved their initial baseline performance on specific national quality measures. A month earlier, the hospital received a VHA Leadership Award for Clinical Excellence for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and heart failure. This award means that Baylor Grapevine has differentiated itself around national performance standards by achieving performance at the 90 percent or above level on clinical core measures. Baylor Grapevine joined the System in 1981.

Baylor Health Care System is a network of hospitals, primary care and specialty care centers, rehabilitation clinics, affiliated ambulatory surgery centers and the Baylor Research Institute. One of the largest private-sector employers in Dallas/Fort Worth, Baylor employs more than 16,000 people and has more than 2,700 physicians on its medical staffs. Baylor University Medical Center, flagship hospital of the system, is a major patient care, teaching and research center for the Southwest. For fiscal year 2007, Baylor Health Care System will report $390 million in community benefit to the Texas Department of State Health Services.