Dateline DFCI
Director aims to spotlight nursing/patient care research
During her first few months as director of the Phyllis F. Cantor Center for Nursing and Patient Care Services Research, Susan Bauer-Wu, DNSc, RN, has already made inroads in developing nursing scholarship at Dana-Farber.
Bauer-Wu, who joined the Institute in May after two years of teaching and research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is conducting several studies and helping staff pursue other research and scholarly activities.
Susan Bauer-Wu, DNSc, RN
"One of my goals is to encourage nurses and other clinicians to document and present the fine work they do. To me, that's taking clinical excellence to the next step," Bauer-Wu says. "Sharing our best practices with other cancer centers and hospitals can help improve patient care here and everywhere."
Officially launched with Bauer-Wu's appointment, the Cantor Center supports research into ways that nurses can support patients and families with the most effective therapies, compassionate care, and prevention activities. The center honors the late Phyllis F. Cantor, a breast cancer patient at DFCI and wife of Institute Trustee Richard A. Cantor.
Bauer-Wu's current investigations include one exploring the benefits of expressive writing for women with metastatic breast cancer and another evaluating the impact of mindfulness meditation for people undergoing bone marrow transplantation. A third research project is focusing on the relatives of breast cancer patients to learn how the diagnosis affects their coping and health behaviors.
In addition, Bauer-Wu is collaborating with Dana-Farber's Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrated Therapies and serves on several Harvard committees to promote nursing scholarship throughout the Harvard community.
Bauer-Wu has urged nursing-staff members to showcase their innovative work in research, patient care, and administration, and many nurses did so this summer by preparing abstracts for the 2002 Oncology Nursing Society Congress. One describes how nurses have changed the way they treat painful mouth sores in bone marrow transplant patients; another highlights an educational program for patients awaiting radiation therapy; and two abstracts outline Zakim Center programs on reiki therapy and yoga that are led by Institute nurses.
Being named to lead the Cantor Center was "a great gift," says Bauer-Wu, whose experience includes 10 years in oncology and other specialty nursing, and postdoctoral work in psycho-oncology research. Her appointment signaled a reunion of sorts, as she was a per-diem Adult Oncology nurse at DFCI during the early 1990s. Says Patricia Reid Ponte, RN, DNSc, senior vice president for Patient Care Services and chief of Nursing at Dana-Farber: "Susan's leadership is already helping establish the Cantor Center as a vital entity for improving nursing and patient care in a wide array of areas."
