In honor of National Nurses Week, soon-to-be Doctor of Nursing Practice graduate and nurse practitioner Beverly Nedd was named “Nurse of the Year” by the East New York Diagnostic and Treatment Center Health and Hospital Corporation, in association with the New York State Nurses Association for outstanding performance in behavioral health nursing through her work with psychiatric patients and students.
Leading through Service
“Part of Ms. Nedd giving back is as preceptor for nurse practitioner students at different colleges in the East New York area,” said Nedd’s supervisor, Dr. Debarros, senior associate director of psychiatry at East New York Diagnostic and Treatment Center.
Nedd has been a nurse practitioner in psychiatry for the past 15 years, but has been in the profession for more than 25 years. She always knew that she wanted to work in psychiatric nursing, and her passion is what drives her each day.
“You give the patients love,” Nedd said regarding patient care. “We advocate for our patients. There are differences between psych nurses and medical nurses. With medical, there are a lot of things you can see, and in psych you can’t- it’s mental.” Nedd works in a low-income area, so the financial and other challenges that her patients face are very difficult, but she and her colleagues continue to do their best to provide quality care.”
“We keep doing our best because we love what we do. We love the nursing profession,” Nedd explained.
Improving Patient Outcomes
Nedd will defend her scholarly project on May 21 at the Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions campus in Provo, Utah, and is scheduled to graduate in August. Her evidence-based practice project is entitled “Closing the Gap: Integrating mental health and primary care,” a topic that is near and dear to her heart after working with psychiatric patients for over a decade.
Nedd found that psychiatric patients tend to have a shorter life expectancy than the average individual because they are less likely to follow up and adhere to primary care standards. These patients don’t often get check-ups and many suffer from anxiety or are inhibited in some way that prevents them from adhering.
Nedd’s project focused on providing access and promoting adherence to primary care for psychiatric patients. And, she was able to implement her project in her own clinic to improve the adherence of her own patients.
Nedd found that even though her patients have access to a same-day clinic for their check-ups and treatment for physical illnesses, they weren’t utilizing it, so her project focused on getting her patients to follow up with primary care. “[It] was a problem because the patients … are on medications but you don’t know what’s wrong with them.” Nedd said. “As a provider, you need to know what’s wrong with the patients to treat them, to get them more effective and quality care. You need to know what’s wrong… and I did accomplish that [at my clinic] and my project was very successful.”
For additional information on nursing education (including doctoral degrees and certificates) or to earn a DNP at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, visit:
- Doctor of Nursing Practice (Post-Masters)
- Doctor of Nursing Practice (Post-Bachelor’s; FNP)
- Post-Master’s Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate
- Post Master’s Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
[It] was a problem because the patients … are on medications but you don’t know what’s wrong with them.” Nedd said. “As a provider, you need to know what’s wrong with the patients to treat them, to get them more effective and quality care. You need to know what’s wrong… and I did accomplish that [at my clinic] and my project was very successful.”
