VCH nurses receive provincial awards for Excellence in Practice

Congratulations to the following three nurses who work at Vancouver Coastal Health for receiving the prestigious Excellence in Practice Award from the College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (CRNBC):

• Elaine Kidd, RN, BSc, MSN - (Retired) Clinical Nurse Specialist, Lions Gate Hospital
• Sheila Lamb, RN, MSN  -  Clinical Nurse Specialist, UBC Hospital
• Linda Yearwood, RN, MSN  -  Clinical Nurse Specialist, Richmond Hospital

The awards were presented at the CRNBC Awards Ceremony and reception held early last week as part of the college's Annual General Meeting. The CRNBC is the regulatory body for more than 36,000 registered nurses, nurse practitioners and licensed graduate nurses in British Columbia.

About the recipients

Excerpts about the award recipients from the CRNBC's awards program are below.

Elaine Kidd

Of all of Elaine Kidd's many gifts, the one that stands out the most is her voracious appetite for data.  Elaine's ability to analyze research and then apply it in the clinical setting is one of her greatest strengths.  Another of Elaine's gifts is her ability to make complex nursing issues understandable to non-nursing staff.  Elaine also dedicates her valuable time to a VCH initiative to support geriatric nurses to write the Canadian Nurses Association Specialty Certification for gerontological nurses.

Elaine has always used research to validate her guidelines and procedure writing, and she has been instrumental in assisting the data collection staff to gather information as needed.  She has also revised a number of publications, including the Infection Control Manual for all facilities for VCH, the Residential Care Clinical Manual as well as the Wound and Skin Resource Manual.

Elaine also dedicates her valuable time to a VCH initiative to support geriatric nurses to write the Canadian nurses Association's Specialty Certification for gerontological nurses.  She has spent many hours coaching and guiding registered nurses in preparation for the exam.  Recently, she developed the VCH learning modules for this certification.

Sheila Lamb

Sheila has been deeply involved in UBC's Breast Reconstruction Program since its inception and has been responsible for the development and maintenance of a database of over 1,000 breast reconstruction patients, which is essential for research purposes. She also developed clinical pathways for breast reconstruction and mastectomies that guide nurses through evidence-based interventions designed to improve patient outcomes. Sheila has contributed to the UBC program having the lowest length of stay for each procedure in the province.

Sheila's advocacy and passion for patient care is legendary. She has made invaluable contributions to women with breast cancer all over the province thanks to her work in developing the travelling Breast Cancer Education forums. In addition, she created women-friendly educational materials that contain information from previous patients, chronicling how they felt going through breast cancer treatment and reconstruction. She also developed an educational website to help women navigate through the uncertain world of diagnosis and treatment options along with developing a patient education video for women regarding breast reconstruction.

Sheila also pushed to develop a new protocol for treating post-op nausea and vomiting in women who had undergone breast reconstruction. Her research is now the basis for many of the postoperative sets used in the province.

Linda Yearwood

Linda has facilitated the development of the Richmond Integrated Hospice Palliative Care Program, which includes a freestanding hospice that has benefited many palliative care patients and families. One of Linda's greatest accomplishments was partnering with the Salvation Army Rotary Hospice in the implementation of their new 10-bed residential hospice in Richmond.

While Linda was the Vancouver Home Hospice Clinical Nurse Specialist, she also developed nursing standards and procedures related to caring for palliative patients in the home. Thanks to her groundbreaking work, patients and their families were able to be at home in a safe environment and the nurses felt support to learn these new skills.

Linda is a strong proponent of advancing nursing knowledge, providing educational opportunities to colleagues who are interested in writing the Hospice Palliative Care Certification. After work hours, Linda has tutored, gave lectures and used case studies to teach on topics related to this certification.

Learn more

For more information, visit the CRNBC website:

College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia