Amy Lewis Named
‘Nightingale Luminary’
May 16, 2019
In 2015, a teenage boy came to a
Children's Colorado Network of Care
emergency department (ED) after
putting his hand through a wall. He
was treated and released. But later
that evening he attempted suicide.
The ED at the Anschutz Medical
Campus had been providing
screenings for suicide since 2012, but
that process wasn't systematic across
the system of care in 2015.
Amy Lewis, MS, RN, NEA-BC,
Director, Emergency Services, was
tasked with standardizing suicide
screening across Children's Colorado
EDs and urgent cares (UC) shortly
thereafter, and with suicide as the
leading cause of death for youth and
young adults ages 10 to 24 in the state
of Colorado, it was a needed change in
process.
In June 2017, seven pediatric EDs/UCs
across our system began using an
evidence-based screening tool, Ask
Suicide Questions (ASQ), to screen
all patients 10 years of age and older,
regardless of the reason for the visit.
Because of this effort, which includes
over 70,000 patients screened to
date, Lewis was named a Nightingale
Luminary during the award gala
on May 11, hosted by the Colorado
Nurses Foundation. The Nightingale
Luminary Award is a prestigious
award given to 12 nurses annually in
recognition of their exceptional work.
Lewis said she was incredibly honored
and humbled by the recognition.
“This recognition means so much to
me,” she said. “I had the pleasure to
lead a huge multidisciplinary team of
nurses, providers, behavioral health
clinicians, our regulatory team, Epic
CAS experts, and more, who all
worked together on the project for
almost two years before we started
the screenings."
"The award was incredibly timely with
May being Mental Health Awareness
month, as it provides an additional
platform to talk about mental health
and suicide," Lewis said. "Through this
process, we've identified thousands
of patients at risk for depression or
suicide who were seeking care for a
medical complaint, and have been
able to intervene and provide support
and resources in the moment to help
the child and family."
Twelve Children's Colorado nurses
were nominated for the award,
including Cristi Wayne, BSN, RN,
CPN, who was also named a finalist
for her work with the underserved
and often over-stigmatized patient
population impacted by Psychogenic
Nonepileptic Seizures (NES).
Congratulations, Amy and Cristi, and
all of the nurses who represented
Children's Colorado as Nightingale
nominees.
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