Carroll, Evegan among top nurses in state
From staff reports
Because of their instrumental roles in workforce development, improving patient outcomes and hospital leadership, two of Beaufort Memorial Hospital’s nursing leaders have earned the 2025 Palmetto Gold Award, a prestigious honor and designation given by the South Carolina Nurses Foundation.
Karen Carroll, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Beaufort Memorial Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services, and Tricia Evegan, BSN, RN, Director of Nursing Supervisors and Float Pool, are the winners of the 2025 award. The two will receive their accolades on Saturday, April 26 at the Palmetto Gold Gala in Columbia.
Now in its 22nd year, the Palmetto Gold program awards nursing excellence, recognizing the state’s 100 top registered nurses annually for their contributions to patient care and their leadership in promoting the nursing profession.
“We couldn’t be prouder of these two fantastic nursing leaders, whose contributions continue to move our organization forward,” Beaufort Memorial President and CEO Russell Baxley said in a news release. “Their commitment to our patients and Beaufort Memorial’s mission of compassion and innovation make them invaluable to this organization and to the community as a whole.”
Carroll played a valuable role in launching the Beaufort Memorial People Achieving Their Highest (PATH) program, which creates an internal pathway for front-line, non-clinical staff to transition into a clinical role. This program’s impacts have already rippled through the organization, reducing staff vacancies, nurse turnover rates and lab delays – improving patient throughput overall in acute care settings – and it continues to expand and evolve.
Improving nursing efficiency and staff satisfaction, Evegan put scheduling software into place to increase transparency in shift vacancies. She’s also a mentor to front-line nurses as well as a leader on several committees driving process and policy change at Beaufort Memorial, improving overall patient care and outcomes.
She has worked hard to improve mental health care at the hospital, leading and owning suicide prevention interventions such as the organization of a pool for patient sitters (nurses who are responsible for monitoring assigned patients at risk of accidental or intentional self-harm). Evegan’s initiative led to 100% of Beaufort Memorial’s suicide ideation patients having one-on-one sitters throughout their stay.
“Tricia and Karen put patient care at the center of everything they do, and are not only leaders at Beaufort Memorial, but advocates, mentors and innovators,” Baxley said. “Their future-forward outlook makes our organization stronger and more adaptable to meet the healthcare needs of our community.”
Carroll and Evegan are leaders in their communities as well, with Carroll serving on several boards, including the Nursing Program of the University of South Carolina Beaufort, and the board of the Good Neighbor Free Medical Clinic. She has also spoken at nursing leadership conferences and volunteered on church committees.
Evegan is also a dedicated volunteer, having spent countless hours volunteering with COVID-19 clinics and dedicating time to workforce initiatives related to Beaufort Memorial employee safety and a zero-harm environment.
