Except for the briefest of detours, Tina Cafeo has spent her entire nursing career in Baltimore. After graduating from Penn State in 1984 and unable to find work near her native Johnstown, Pa., she came to Hopkins.While working on the Cardiac SICU, she gradually earned a master’s degree, then became a cardiac surgery case manager. Within a year, she was made nurse manager of the CSICU and took on the CPCU too in 2003. She lives in Carroll County with her two cats, Gaby and Nittany.

How many people do you oversee?
About 150 on the Cadiac SICU and the CPCU.  I manage the RNs, the clinical technicians, some support associates, inventory management clerks, clerical associates and the nursing students.

That seems like a lot.
I can manage two units only because I have an extremely strong leadership team. The NCIIIs and NCIIs have groups of people they’re responsible for mentoring and evaluating. Our workload is nicely distributed. They’re growing and doing things that interest them, and I’m supported by them, hence able to do my job.

What changes have you seen in nursing here?
Earning Magnet status and the hospital’s commitment to being at the top of the pay scale have relieved the staffing problems here. Plus, our nursing recruitment department does a phenomenal job. When I have holes in staffing, they’ve really worked with me to get people in the door. I have a wonderful group starting this year.

So there’s more cohesiveness.
We all work together to make sure, as nursing, our needs get met in all departments. I think nursing as a whole feels more empowered now. Senior leadership hears the problems in direct patient care and is making system changes. For example, because of a SICU safety initiative, now we have a transport team that takes ICU patients to tests, rather than have ICU nurses leave the bedside. I mean, how great is that for nursing?

So barriers have broken down.
Yes. Surgery now has the Weinberg ICU, the SICU and the CSICU. The intensivists rotate through all three. We sit in the same room and practice the same protocols that have shown to have good outcomes for patient care. It’s a big satisfier when everybody works in a team. It seems like we’re all around more collaborative.

That seems like a good place to be.
It’s a very challenging place to work, and you can thrive in this environment.

--The Cutting Edge, September 2005