July 14, 2014

During a special breakfast on June 17 during the Drexel University Nursing Education Institute (DUNEI) conference, the College of Nursing and Health Professions announced this year’s winners of the BAYADA Award for Technological Innovation in Nursing Education and Practice.

These awards, funded by J. Mark Baiada, founder and President of BAYADA Home Health Care, and his wife Ann Baiada, were established in 2004 to acknowledge nurses who have made a significant contribution to nursing education or practice via the development and/or adoption of a new technology. Two cash prizes of $10,000 each were awarded to Annette Carley, winner of the BAYADA Award for Technological Innovation in Nursing Education, and Joan “Jody” Chrastek, winner of the BAYADA Award for Technological Innovation in Nursing Practice. Margit Moran, RN, BA, Associate Director of Pediatric Clinical Education at BAYADA who joined the company nearly two decades ago, was on hand at the breakfast reception to introduce the winners and present them with their checks.

Annette Carley RN, MS, NNP, PNP, is a Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing. Carley’s work provides students with advanced nursing practice skills in the areas of care management, professional communication, and timely decision making by offering realistic, on-call neonatal and pediatric experiences through the use of virtual simulation. Students have been noted to have improved self-efficacy after receiving the training and feel better prepared for clinical residency experiences. Carley remarked, “I am honored to receive the award…it will allow me to develop the virtual environment more fully, add to the complexity and diversity of patient cases, and extend its reach to additional learners.”

Joan “Jody” Chrastek DNP, CHPN, RN, is a Pediatric Advance Complex Care Team Coordinator at Fairview Home Care and Hospice at the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital. Chrastek’s development of videoconference ‘home visits’ has helped spread the assistance and expertise of pediatric palliative care nurses into the homes of caregivers who have limited knowledge in providing end-of-life pain and symptom management to children with terminal or life-limiting conditions. Nurses are able to provide quick assessment and instruction to the caregivers as well as communicate both verbally and non-verbally. “This award provides the seed money to go ahead in faith as the project grows…this will touch the lives of children. It is an amazing privilege to have this award,” Chrastek said.