Nursing Annual Report 2026 | A Legacy of Excellence

El Camino Health Nurses transform patient care and elevate nursing practice

Project Presentations

In 2025, El Camino Health nurses continued to lead the way in enhancing patient care through a range of impactful projects focused on optimizing patient experience, safety, and clinical outcomes. These initiatives spanned graduate student projects, leadership-driven strategies, and evidence-based practice, performance improvement, and quality improvement projects, addressing key patient and nursing challenges. Highlights of these efforts were shared at prestigious national conferences, including:

Baluom, J. (2025). Hurry up and wait, winning the battle against ED wait time. Breakout session presented at the Association of Nurse Leaders Professional Governance Conference.

Baluom, J., & McClure, J. (2025). Hurry up and wait: The battle against overcrowding and wait times. Podium presentation at the Association of Nurse Leaders Leadership Conference.

Bentic, A. M. (2025). Implementing evidence-based clinical interventions to prevent and reduce non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia in critical care. Poster presented at the American Association of Critical Care Nurses National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition.

Crespin, P., & Bogard, C. (2025). One nurse started the age-friendly ripple! Podium presentation at the American Hospital Association Advancing Age-Friendly Care: Action Communities Convening.

Davé, D., Jackson, R., & Scheidt, K. (2025). The CALM program: Collaborative aid through listening and motivation. Poster presented at the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Annual Conference.

Davis, R. (2025). Improving door-to-EKG time in the emergency department. Poster presented at the Vituity Annual Partners Conference.

DeGuzman, J., Nguyen, Y., Bogard, C., Toste, D., & Carrasco, C. (2025). Denial management: Leveraging peer-to-peer to reduce denials. Poster presented at the American Case Management Conference.

Johnston, S., Lucero, C., Marcum, B., & Garza, J. (2025). Endoscopy inventory management system project. Podium presentation at the Stanford Medicine Center for Improvement Lean Healthcare Academic Conference.

Guzman, M., & Erlich, S. (2025). Postoperative nausea: How to educate patients and improve LTR scores. Poster presented at the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses Conference.

Huevo, J. (2025). Improving patient experience: El Camino Health – Los Gatos Emergency Department. Poster presented at the Vituity Annual Partners Conference.

Huwe, V. (2025). Disseminating cesarean birth outcomes: Are they as good as you think? Podium presentation at the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists Innovate 2025 Annual Conference.

Jaramillo, K., Chen, S., Chen, J., & Rammohan, C. (2025). Optimizing patient safety outcomes by reducing contrast-induced acute kidney injury in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Poster presented at the American College of Cardiology Annual Summit.

Lendvay, A., & Delogramatic, C. (2025). Warp speed strategies for SDOH screening & resource connections to turbo boost patient care. Podium presentation at the Epic User Group.

Muran, E., Shiu, R., Gabriel, D. M., & Lyubin, S. (2025). Reducing hospital-acquired pressure injury in a progressive care unit. Poster presented at the American Association of Critical Care Nurses National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition.

Reinking, C., & Potolsky, A. (2025). Addressing workforce well-being using an innovative, multi-pronged strategy. Podium presentation at the American Organization for Nursing Leadership Annual Conference.

Valadez, J., Mills, A., & Littlepage, M. (2025). Enhancing patient mobility educational training program: Adaptation of the Johns Hopkins Activity and Mobility Promotion (JH-AMP) among healthcare professionals. Poster presented at the Johns Hopkins 8th Annual Hospital Activity and Mobility Conference.

Research Participation

Research is essential for advancing patient safety and understanding nursing’s role in improving patient outcomes. In 2025, Ann Aquino, DNP, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CMSRN, Associate Chief Nursing Officer – Los Gatos, and Cheryl Reinking, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, DipACLM, Chief Nursing Officer at El Camino Health, collaborated with leading academic institutions to make valuable contributions:

• A. Aquino (Principal Investigator). Alarm with Care: De-Implementing Fall Prevention Alarms in Hospitals. Research study in progress; Ohio State University & University of Florida.
• C. Reinking (Study Participant). The INVEST Study: Survey of Chief Nursing Executives/Chief Nursing Officers. Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing & Marquette University Schools of Nursing.

Nursing Research Council

The Nursing Research Council (NRC) plays a pivotal role in fostering research, quality improvement, and evidence-based practice initiatives. In 2025, the NRC proudly supported the Nurses Week Poster Fair, showcasing the impressive range of nursing projects at El Camino Health. The NRC’s Journal Club Toolkit and scholarly project discussions facilitated by Dr. Florom-Smith and guest speakers are yielding positive results: members have established journal clubs in their units and regularly submit abstracts and present projects at conferences.

To further promote evidence-based practice, the NRC partnered with the Professional Development Council to host the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice in Focus: Practical Tools for Making Change Happen workshop. This session, led by Kim Bissett, PhD, MBA, RN, Director of the Johns Hopkins Nursing Center for Evidence-Based Practice, and Denise Vera, DNP, RN, Nurse Educator at the Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing, inspired nurses across El Camino Health to launch their own evidence-based practice projects.

Introducing Dr. Florom-Smith

Dr. Aubrey Florom-Smith, PhD, RN, Manager of Evidence-Based Practice and Nursing Research, supported these efforts by providing over 100 consultation meetings to guide project development and research participation, abstract preparation and submission, and dissemination since joining El Camino Health in February 2025. Dr. Florom-Smith serves as the mentor of the NRC, provides project and dissemination education to Nurse Resident cohorts and Shared Governance leadership, and serves as a voting member of the El Camino Health Institutional Review Board.