The Nurse Practitioner journal was created to both educate and promote the NP profession, as well as to celebrate NPs around the country for the outstanding work they do every day. This year, we decided to take that celebration public by asking readers to nominate their friends and colleagues for the new NP of the Year Award, which was presented at the National Conference for Nurse Practitioners, held in Boston April 25-28.
After a painstaking review process, pouring over touching and poignant letters of recommendation from colleagues, professors, and even patients, Patricia Chibbaro, RN, MS, CPNP, stood out as an NP who not only met all of the criteria, but also truly exemplified the concept of giving back through her extensive contribution to the profession over her 20-year career.
Advancing the profession
Chibbaro is a pediatric NP at the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, N.Y. A champion of the NP profession, she has published and presented numerous articles and lectures, mentored APN peers and students, and is a member of several professional nursing organizations. In addition, she is chairperson of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association and a board member of Forward Face-The Charity for Children with Craniofacial Conditions.
Her innovation and commitment to her patients and their families was evident when she collaborated with the Cleft Palate Foundation to develop and publish an educational video on feeding babies with cleft lip and palate. The video was released to obstetric and pediatric nursing units in hospitals throughout the United States.
Service around the world
Internationally, Chibbaro participates in The Smile Train, a charitable organization providing services to cleft lip and palate patients, especially to children in poor and developing countries.
Chibbaro recently traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina to present two lectures, "Feeding the Infant with Cleft Lip and Palate" and "Preoperative and Postoperative Nursing Management of the Infant with Cleft Lip and Palate" as part of an interdisciplinary team of physicians, surgeons, nurses, and speech pathologists at a symposium on oral clefts treatment.
Despite her busy schedule, Chibbaro always has time for her own workplace, leading and participating in diversified hospital-wide committees. These committees promote employee wellness, patient and family satisfaction, and child-friendly environments at the medical center.
Coworkers Maria T. Brillant, RN, NEA-BC, MA, BSN, and Phyllis Marchitelli, RN-BC, MA, BSN summed up Chibbaro's approach to her role as having a "singleness of purpose, synchrony, and coordination that are absolute, simultaneous functions to save lives. And she does all this with a grace, dignity, and compassion that is awe-inspiring."