Palisadian Surgeon is “Outstanding Physician Colleague of the Year”

By JACQUELINE PRIMO | Reporter

Palisadian Dr. Charles Brunicardi, Chief of General Surgery at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, recently received the 2015 award for “Outstanding Physician Colleague of the Year.”

Each year, nurses from each campus vote on the awards, which are given to physicians (one on each campus) who are role models in recognizing the important part nurses play in relationship-based care teams, and the importance of these teams in providing the best possible experience and outcomes for patients, according to Simi Singer, Marketing and Media Relations Analyst at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica.

“For me it’s a very special award because it comes from all of the nurses, and for the nurses to give it to a surgeon is rather unusual,” Brunicardi told the Palisadian-Post as he waited in line for a ride at Disneyland with his 20-year-old son and his son’s girlfriend. “It’s very special.”

Brunicardi said he was awarded a framed certificate, which he plans to display on his wall.

“The nurses are the people that really, truly take care of the patients and it’s very important we [doctors] have a wonderful, collaborative relationship with the nurses,” Brunicardi said. “If the doctors and nurses work together in a special way, the level of care is upstanding and the patients feel that. So I think that’s what happens at Santa Monica Hospital.”

Brunicardi also loves music and about 18 months ago completed his own original folk/country album, “Where Sunset Meets the Beach,” which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in music. He insisted his latest award will be treasured.

“I have been practicing for 26 years and I was a resident for nine years before that, and this is my favorite hospital to work at by far because of the wonderful relationship between the nurses and doctors,” Brunicardi added. “That’s why this was so special. It means so much.”