April 2024
We wish to celebrate and honor our Caritas Colleagues and share their contribution and commitment to Caring Science. This month we are celebrating: Gisso Oreo, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, NPD-BC, Caritas Coach®, Director, Center for Education and Professional Development, Stanford Health Care.
My Journey
I have been a Caritas Coach® since 2017. I have always connected with others with authenticity and genuine compassion. When I first heard Jean Watson present her work and theory during a course at Stanford Health Care, I felt that I had found the words to describe me, she resonated with my heart. Watson Caring Science has provided me caritas literacy and consciousness. It is a way of doing and being for me that informs my interactions with others and validates my compassionate heart.
Since then, I have been involved with integration of Watson Caring Science into the foundation of our education and professional development offering at Stanford Health Care. When the opportunity was presented to become a Caritas Coach, I didn’t hesitate. As a Caritas Coach in a WCSI Distinguished Affiliate hospital, I have been able to be integrally involved with embedding the theoretical foundation of Watson Caring Science into everything we do at Stanford Health Care, starting with our professional practice model. The theory is integrated into our onboarding and orientation programs, transition to practice programs, and professional development programs such as mentorship, preceptor, and charge nurse. I have also been involved with the Caritas Leadership Program (CLP) through WCSI, participating as faculty during the inaugural cohort and subsequent cohorts.
I strive to engage in transpersonal caring moments, maintain an authentic presence and create a caring healing environment for my department to flourish.
Contributions to the legacy of Caring Science
I’m grateful for the opportunities presented to me to continue the legacy of Caring Science. As a Caritas Coach and faculty for the Caritas Nurse®/Caritas Partner™ Humanistic Care Certificate Program at Stanford Health Care, I am honored to bring this unique program to our staff at all levels and be part of their awakening to a caritas consciousness that they may have already had but didn’t have a means to articulate. Nursing is a caring profession, and it brings me joy to witness our care providers reconnecting to their purpose through this program. As a mentor to our Leadership and Management Academy participants, I witness the same revelations at a leadership level by those who would otherwise never make the connection between human caring and leadership. As a leader in the organization, I strive to engage in transpersonal caring moments, maintain an authentic presence and create a caring healing environment for my department to flourish. As an advisor to our shared governance council, I have an active role in supporting and encouraging the integration of caring science beyond my department to a macro level in the organization through Nursing Grand Rounds dedicated to showcasing our integration work, and crosswalk of Daisy award nominations with the Caritas Processes. To quote Jean Watson, I strive to be ‘a light in the institutional darkness’.
Areas of Expertise
I currently oversee all programs related to professional development at Stanford Health Care.
Location
Palo Alto, California, USA
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