Martha A. McNiff , Ph.D., R.N., CS, the eighth person to head the Nursing Department since the hospital's inception, serves as a member of the IRB and is responsible for the departments of nursing, social work , pharmacy, recreational therapy , and radiology. The Rockefeller University Hospital meets not only the General Clinical Research Center standards outlined by the NIH , but also those of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations and the New York State Department of Health . It is a fully-accredited acute care hospital. Nurse managers participate in an interdisciplinary Management Council and serve on a variety of other hospital and university committees. The Nursing Department performs numerous Hospital and University functions, such as Infection Control and Surveillance, Central Supply, Continuous Quality Improvement, and admissions scheduling.
Nurses also participate in the campus medical emergency response team.
The nursing staff practice within a Research Nurse Protocol model. In providing 24-hour care for patients who voluntarily participate in research protocols, nurses collaborate with investigators and members of the interdisciplinary team and participate in the Medical Director s Rounds. On both the inpatient unit and in the outpatient department, nurses assist with various procedures ranging from bronchoscopies and sigmoidoscopies to light treatments and skin biopsies. Today s nurses are partners in the research process and are involved in cutting-edge research which investigates the genetics link to such conditions as heart disease, diabetes, schizophrenia, and hearing loss.