Mary Ellen Bouve

Overview

Mary Ellen Bouve is a registered nurse with 25 years of experience and a neonatal critical care certification. She specializes in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Pediatrics, Home Care, and Discharge Education, having worked at a nationally recognized pediatric hospital. Additionally, she has experience in medical review of physicians and facilities for Blue Cross & Blue Shield.

Education

Bouve obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Chamberlain College of Nursing & Framingham State University in 2009-2011. Prior to that, she earned an Associate of Science in Nursing from Mass Bay College in 1995-1998.

Career

Bouve has spent a significant portion of her career as a Registered Nurse at Boston Children's Hospital, working in the Neonatal ICU (NICU) for a total of 17 years, from 2004 to 2013 and again from 2016 to the present. In this Level IV NICU, she has gained extensive experience caring for infants with various medical and surgical diagnoses, including sepsis, birth trauma, pulmonary hypertension, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), prematurity, wound care, IV infiltration/extravasation, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), abdominal wall defects, cardiac defects, neurologic disorders, metabolic disorders, rare genetic disorders, and multi-system failure.

Her responsibilities have included caring for patients on multiple modes of ventilation, with tracheostomies, chest tubes, gastric tubes, and central lines. She has also provided end-of-life care for dying infants and grief support for their families. Additionally, Bouve has served as a preceptor for new hires and as a member of the NICU Discharge Committee. She has also worked as a Home Discharge RN for the "NICU to Nursery" grant, conducting home visits to ensure a smooth transition of care from the NICU to home and providing caregiver education.

From 2015 to 2016, Bouve worked as an RN Pediatric Care Manager at Boston Children's Hospital, coordinating care for high-risk pediatric patients within the ACO for Children's Hospital Integrated Care Organization, with the goal of improving patient outcomes and reducing hospital admissions for the medically fragile pediatric population.

Between 2013 and 2015, Bouve served as an RN Corporate Peer Review Specialist at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Massachusetts. In this role, she assisted medical directors on the peer review committee in determining the validity of grievances towards physicians or facilities (nursing homes, long-term care, skilled nursing facilities) through medical record review and medical claim review. She determined if there were quality of care issues that needed to be addressed, discussed concerns with the peer review team, and formulated appropriate corrective action plans or prepared legally sound cases for termination of provider's contracts.

Other positions held by Bouve include working as a Home Care Registered Nurse at PSA Homecare, Inc. from 2009 to 2011, an RN Case Manager at Sunrise Senior Living from 2002 to 2003, a Registered Nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2001-2002, and an Interim Nurse Manager at Westwood Lodge Hospital from 1999 to 2001.

Licenses and Certifications

Bouve holds a Massachusetts Board of Nursing RN licensure since 1998. She is also certified in Critical Care RN - Neonatal, Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP), and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS).

Memberships and Committees

Bouve has been a member of the AACN (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses) since 2018. She has also served on the NICU Discharge Committee since 2017 and has been a co-lead for the NICU to Nursery grant-funded project from 2018 to 2023.