Stories of Excellence | Mount Sinai Today

Pharmacist Strives to Help Patients Stay Safe, Healthy, and Happy

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Stories of Excellence

Polina Lerner, PharmD

Since April 2021, Polina Lerner, PharmD, has assisted with reviewing more than 400 inpatient COVID-19 vaccine consults at The Mount Sinai Hospital. To ensure timely patient discharges, she often arrives early to her shift to review new consults received overnight and checks on the status of patients with complex conditions who are pending vaccination.

After reviewing patients for vaccine appropriateness, Polina then coordinates the dose preparation by the pharmacy and the actual vaccination by the COVID-19 POD nurses. Her coordination efforts include helping to determine the order in which the patients should be vaccinated—taking into consideration discharge time, family visiting time, and the patient’s or care team’s specific requests.

Her attention to detail has guided patients to receive appropriately timed vaccines, ensured feedback to providers, and helped prevent any errors. She accomplishes all of this in addition to her other antimicrobial stewardship responsibilities at both The Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) and Mount Sinai Queens (MSQ).

Victoria Adams, Pharm D, Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Clinical Coordinator, has praise for Polina’s efforts.

“Polina goes above and beyond to ensure the patient’s vaccine administration is coordinated to be safe, timely, and in accordance with the requests of the patient or patient’s family. It is a labor-intensive process; Polina clearly sees this mission as noble and gratifying. Her attention to detail shows empathy toward our patients and the understanding of meeting the patient’s requests to permit vaccination.”

Gina Caliendo, Senior Director of Pharmacy at MSH, agrees. “Polina takes her responsibility for ensuring patient, provider, and family education around vaccination to heart. She goes out of her way to help vaccinate as many inpatients at both MSH and MSQ as possible. Her calm demeanor is very comforting to everyone with whom she interacts.”

Polina says that helping safely treat an infection is her ideal goal.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge I have faced in my professional career. It has also challenged me mentally and emotionally. When the COVID-19 vaccine became available, I wanted to offer it to every person in the world so that we could one day take off our masks and finally see each other smile again. When I know I helped a patient and now they are smiling, it’s inspirational and priceless, and this is what I strive for each day.”

Team at BioMe Is Hailed as ‘Warm and Knowledgeable’

Mar 31, 2022 | Stories of Excellence

From left: Kamran Jillani, Associate Researcher; Carlton Bailey, Clinical Research Coordinator I; Janice Morinigo, Laboratory Coordinator III; and Amanda B. Merkelson, MPH, Associate Director

Amanda Merkelson, MPH, Associate Director of the BioMe Biobank Program, is proud of her team that has been instrumental in enrolling a diverse population of patients in the vital pursuit of genomic studies.

“Our laboratory and clinical research coordinators work tirelessly to offer the altruistic opportunity of a lifetime to any and all Mount Sinai patients,” she says. “They enable patients of all backgrounds, ages, and medical conditions to contribute to a future of personalized medicine where patients will be examined, treated, and diagnosed as unique individuals.”

Funded by The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, BioMe is a research biobank linked to the electronic medical record that enables IRB-approved researchers to rapidly and efficiently conduct genetic, epidemiologic, molecular, and genomic studies on large collections of de-identified research specimens. The BioMe program is at the center of the effort by Mount Sinai to lead the movement toward diagnosis and classification of disease according to a patient’s molecular profile.

In saluting her team, Amanda explains, “The clinical research coordinators are so warm, inviting, and knowledgeable, they have garnered the trust, love, admiration, and partnership of the practice staff and our beloved medical assistants across the Health System. The trustworthiness they are able to impart to all patients has led to their success with enrolling a diverse cohort of patients. Even populations that have been historically fearful of research or have been marginalized as far as participation opportunities are excited and eager to contribute to the future of health for generations to come.”

If you are interested in learning more about BioMe and contributing through enrolling, please contact BioMeBiobank@mssm.edu.

Nursing Excellence: Intensive Care Units Are Honored

Mar 31, 2022 | Nursing, Stories of Excellence

Both the Surgical and Transplant Intensive Care Units at The Mount Sinai Hospital received the Beacon Silver Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.

The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes caregivers in stellar units whose consistent and systematic approach to evidence-based care optimizes patient outcomes. Units that receive this national recognition serve as role models to others on their journey to excellent patient and family care. This award highlights nursing excellence in the Intensive Care Units and the strong collaboration with our nursing leaders and the Institute for Critical Care Medicine.

“Congratulations to the entire team,” says David Reich, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens. “This award recognizes the exceptional care you provide to our patients and the supportive environment you have created for your teams.”

40-Year Mount Sinai Veteran Is ‘Cornerstone’ of Hematology Laboratory

Mar 31, 2022 | Stories of Excellence

Dave Brown, Hematology Laboratory Supervisor

Dave Brown, Hematology Laboratory Supervisor at The Mount Sinai Hospital is a 40-year veteran of the Health System.

Ghia Juno, System Manager, Hematology Laboratory, calls him “the cornerstone of our department.” Ghia explains, “Dave plays a critical role in establishing and maintaining the highest quality-control standards in hematology and performs his duties with a high degree of precision and accuracy. His knowledge and expertise in laboratory and information technology have resulted in many successful test implementations and method advancements in the department.

“As problems arise in the laboratory, David comes up with practical solutions quickly, no matter how big or small. He is extremely thorough and highly observant, picking up on minor details or changes that others often overlook. He offers assistance when needed and creates a safety-first culture that prioritizes safe work practices and discourages risky shortcuts. Having worked with the institution for over forty years, David has remained humble, soft-spoken, and approachable. He is indeed one of the cornerstones of the department.”

Dave is humble when hearing the high praise. “Working for Mount Sinai so many years is a privilege,” he says. “Upholding the mission of providing the highest level of excellent patient care is essential to my mission, and that of the professionals who work in the clinical lab. We are committed to quality control, safety, accuracy and meaningful results. No matter how we advance in our procedures and technology, we will be unwavering in our dedication to excellence.”

Nursing Excellence: A Valued Preceptor Role Models Emotional as Well as Clinical Patient Care

Mar 17, 2022 | Featured, Nursing, Stories of Excellence

Megan Pace, RN, MSN, a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Mount Sinai Beth Israel

Megan Pace, RN, MSN, has been a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Mount Sinai Beth Israel since 2010. According to Maria LaTrace, RN, BSN, MSN, Senior Nursing Director, Patient Care Service at the hospital, Megan has always been a source of reliable and dependable guidance to her peers and is considered the “go to” for precepting and onboarding new nurses to the unit.

Within the past year, Megan has been a preceptor on almost every shift. Maria says that Megan displays tireless enthusiasm, patience, and diligence with the new staff members. “She is able to find the energy to make every single one of them feel that she or he is her priority.”

“It’s important to understand that nursing is more than just giving medications and charting at a computer, you have to remember there is a person and their loved ones on the receiving end of your care.”

Despite the incredible strain and cumulative burden of the past two years in ICU nursing, Megan is the “voice of reason” on her unit, Maria says. “She brings a measured sense of calm to every situation, which is invaluable for her orientees to witness, in that they see how to use rational, logical, and evidence-based reasoning in all decisions.”

That is certainly the case for one of Megan’s orientees, Jasmine Brinson, RN, BSN.

“Megan has been a great contributor to my smooth transition from medical surgical nursing to critical care. Venturing into a new specialty can be challenging and overwhelming, but Megan was always patient with me and encouraged me to ask as many questions as possible,” Jasmine says. “During my first week off orientation, I was so overwhelmed and felt unsure of myself. Megan was working on the opposite side of the unit, and she literally dropped everything and came to assist me, at the same time reassuring me that I was doing just fine.”

Having been a teacher before she moved into nursing, Megan feels she is perfectly suited to the role of preceptor.

“I have had some great role models throughout my career, and I have always strived to emulate their behaviors and make sure I am modeling those same behaviors for my orientees,” she says. “I think being a good role model is a key characteristic of being a good preceptor. It’s important to understand that nursing is more than just giving medications and charting at a computer, you have to remember there is a person and their loved ones on the receiving end of your care. When precepting, I try to stress the importance of the social and emotional aspect of nursing to my orientees. It is important they make it just as much of a priority as giving that medication or charting blood pressure.”

She adds, “These past two years have been rough for health care workers, but knowing that patients and their families appreciate my care makes it all worthwhile.”

Celebrating Mount Sinai Staff Who Go ‘Beyond the Badge’

Mar 2, 2022 | Stories of Excellence

Every individual who wears the Mount Sinai badge finds a way to exemplify our Mount Sinai core values of Safety, Equity, Empathy, Teamwork, Agility, and Creativity.

Beyond the Badge is a new monthly event created to further acknowledge and celebrate the employees recognized each morning during the System Daily Huddle, which takes place every weekday under the direction of Margaret Pastuszko, MBA, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Vicki LoPachin, MD, FACP, MBA, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President, and is attended by senior leadership from across the organization.

Each day, a different site presents an “employee recognition story” to the group—an instance when staff went “beyond the badge” to model excellence and commitment to our mission, vision, and values.

These health care champions have pushed well beyond the high expectations we commit to at Mount Sinai. Their care delivery, work product, and service define exceptional.

The Beyond the Badge Zoom event will take place each month to honor the employees recognized during the previous month’s huddles.

“We hope these stories will inspire new and existing employees to uphold the highest traditions of our Health System and the promise of our mission, vision, and brand purpose,” says Steve Fecteau, Senior Manager, Employee Engagement and Recognition.

Watch the latest Beyond the Badge episode