Denise Abdoo Recognized as Magnet Nurse of the Year for SANE Program Work
Even before joining Children ’ s Hospital Colorado , Denise Abdoo , PhD , CPNP , lived the organization ’ s values : caring community , humble expertise , generous service and boundless creativity . Those values are what drove her to work with migrant farm workers and children in a residential treatment center early in her career , and they are what drove her to become a nurse practitioner focused on child abuse pediatrics .
DENISE ABDOO , PHD , CPNP
“ This is a way for me , in my worldview , to provide service ,” Abdoo says . “ I might not understand some of the struggles that the population I see has , but for me , this is the way that I give back to the community .”
Today , Abdoo serves as the program coordinator for Children ’ s Colorado ’ s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner ( SANE ) program and is a member of the hospital ’ s Child
Protection Team , where she brings expertise and patientfocused care to vulnerable children during difficult moments , mentors others , and creates evidence-based policies , procedures and guidelines .
In 2021 , this work caught the attention of the American Nurses Credentialing Center , which awarded Abdoo its National Magnet Nurse of the Year Award in the structural empowerment category . The award recognizes five nurses who each exemplify one of the Magnet Model ’ s five components . This award , notes Chief Nursing Executive Pat Givens , DHA , EdM , RN , NEA-BC , is well deserved .
“ Abdoo is an outstanding clinician , scholar and advocate for a vulnerable population of children and the nurses who work with them ," Givens says . “ Abdoo ' s contributions to policy work and systems change are unprecedented . The kids in her care benefit from her unending compassion and dedication to her work .”
Most recently , she showed that dedication through research designed to more effectively screen for sex trafficking among patients in a busy emergency room . The project , was inspired by an uptick in potential human trafficking instances at Children ’ s Colorado , including one particularly impactful incident . Struck by a particular patient ’ s story , a SANE program nurse advocated for further investigation , which ultimately led to the discovery of an entire human trafficking ring .
Historically , in cases where human trafficking might be a concern , a provider would ask the patient a series of questions face to face . Instead , this project offers patients a confidential tablet with six questions in both English and Spanish . The data , published in early 2021 , showed that the
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