Cooper University Hospital is proud to announce the 2010 Nurse of the Year, Patricia Pearlman, R.N., R.N.C., staff nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
This prestigious, peer-nominated award recognizes a nurse whose leadership and practice promotes the delivery of quality healthcare at Cooper.
“I am truly honored to have been chosen for this award,” said Pearlman. “This is an exciting time to be a nurse at Cooper and I’m grateful to be a part of such a wonderful nursing staff.”
Pearlman, of Cherry Hill, N.J., graduated from St. Francis Medical Center School of Nursing, Trenton, NJ in 1986. She came to Cooper in 1988 as a full time staff nurse in the Intermediate Intensive Care Unit (IICU). Since then, she worked as a staff nurse in several departments including Anesthesia, Critical Care Unit (CCU), Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Although she has excelled in every position she has held, her passion lies in providing direct patient care to mothers and their newborn infants in the NICU.
Pearlman has her R.N.C. in high-risk newborn nursing and is certified in Advanced Competency in Developmental Care from the National Association of Neonatal Nursing (NANN). Pearlman is one of only 17 nurses in the country to receive this certification.
“Pat is a true nursing role model,” said Dianne Charsha, R.N., M.S.N., NNP-BC, Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer. “She has been involved in numerous projects to enhance quality of care and to support patients and their families.”
Pearlman is extremely active in patient and nurse advocacy and continues to create better ways to promote family-patient centered care within the NICU department. Two years ago, she began “Clare’s Cupboard”, a non-profit organization that helps raise money to be used towards the purchase of basic baby supplies such as diapers, bottles, formula, clothing and other essentials for NICU patients and their families. To date, the program has helped over 100 families and raised more than $50,000. Clare’s Cupboard continues to grow and has recently expanded it’s donations for pediatric patients in the trauma department and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
“I find working in the NICU to be very rewarding,” said Pearlman. “I can have an influence on nursing care through the incorporation of evidence-based practice and my own research and charitable work, all while not giving up my favorite part of nursing—direct patient care.”