At Memorial Sloan-Kettering, patient care is provided by interdisciplinary Disease Management Teams. These teams focus on a common site of cancer, such as breast, colorectal, and lung. Teams are comprised of nurses, surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, and other healthcare specialists.

The Department of Nursing has a robust council structure that supports nurse engagement. The Nursing Board is comprised of nurses and unlicensed assistive personnel from every care setting, and the chief nursing officer and several nursing directors are voting members of the hospital’s Medical Board. Our nurses participate in the development of each patient’s plan of care. Nursing staff at every level have input in decisions that effect their work environment. They are members of interdisciplinary hospital committees and ad hoc task forces.

Each nurse has the opportunity to advance up our Career Ladder. Our ladder rewards and recognizes nurses who have developed expertise in nursing practice, and who demonstrate leadership by functioning as role models and teachers for their less experienced colleagues and who are engaged in performance improvement initiatives.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering supports the dynamic and varied practices of Clinical Nurse Specialists and Nurse Practitioners. Advanced Practice Nurses actively participate in the delivery of patient care across the care continuum and within a continuously evolving care delivery system.

Memorial Hospital nurses continuously strive to discover best practices. Our rigorous evidence-based practice approach ensures that we are providing the most up-to-date care for our patients. Our successful Research Fellowship program prepares nurses at every level to develop and conduct research studies to advance nursing science and maintain our leadership role in oncology nursing.

Elizabeth McCormick, MSN, RN Chief Nursing Officer (CNO)/Enid A. Haupt Chair of Nursing is responsible for the quality of all nursing care delivered throughout Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The CNO is a key member of the Hospital's senior management team and is a voting member of the Medical Board. The nursing administrative structure is divided into clinical operational divisions and professional support areas of nursing practice.

This Center provides the infrastructure that defines our professional practice. Nurses participate on practice councils and have the authority to set professional practice and performance standards.

Research mentoring is provided through the Center and is designed to teach nurses the requisite skills that will enable them to conduct research projects as the principal investigator. The Nursing Research Committee critically appraises and approves research protocols designed by nurses prior to IRB review.

Nancy Kline, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN
Nursing Director

Our QM program is vital because it ensures the ongoing delivery of safe, high quality patient care by measuring and tracking nursing sensitive quality indicators against internal and external benchmarks. Activities also include nursing case reviews and review of all actual adverse events and near misses.

We officially launched our Magnet Journey® and are currently preparing our documents for submission to the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Memorial Hospital nurses consistently demonstrate excellence in patient care delivery and achieving this recognition will serve to strengthen our already high level of pride, satisfaction and work commitment.

Robert David Rice, PhD, RN, AOCNP
Nursing Director

We believe in learning as a life-long endeavor and provide professional support and development opportunities for all nursing staff. Nursing education develops programs based on assessed learning need. These programs serve to inform our nurses of advances in the understanding of cancer and to impart new knowledge and skills required to administer new preventative, therapeutic and supportive treatments and to integrate novel technologies into our clinical care.
Josephine Nappi, MA, RN
Nursing Director Professional Development

This is a rapidly evolving nursing subspecialty that oversees the development and integration of automated systems to support clinical practice and business functions of the department. Nursing personnel access an automated staffing and scheduling system and we are in the process of automating our medical records to streamline documentation and provide clinicians with decision support tools. We plan to introduce future technology to facilitate patient safety through proper patient identification. MSKCC is proud to have received the 2010 Most Wired and Most Wireless Award by Health and Hospital Networks magazine.

MaryAnn Connor, MSN, RN, CPHIMS
Nursing Director

At MSKCC, over 250 nurse practitioners provide services to patients of all ages across the care continuum. In addition to the delivery of professional nursing care, they are licensed independent practitioners who have specialized advanced education (a Master’s degree and national certification is required) and demonstrated clinical competency to care for our diverse oncology patient populations. Nurse practitioners may see patients autonomously or may collaborate as team members in the provision of health and medical care. We ensure that nurse practitioners' current practice standards are evidence-based and that their knowledge, skills, and competencies reflect current role expectations.

Dennis Graham, DNSc, RNC, ANP
Clinical Program Director