Page 16 - Christiana Care Focus January 2018

“Our engagement helps us create a culture that attracts, engages and retains nurses and their colleagues. This is the place to be!”
Michelle Collins, MSN, APRN, CNS, ACNS-BC, RN-BC, LSSBB
that they partner with their leadership team; and that they have the opportunity for their voices to be heard when they re- quest assistance with resources, workflow, service recovery or support in addressing evidence-based practice.
“We are improving care delivery because we are improving nursing professional practice,” said Michelle Collins, MSN, APRN, CNS, ACNS-BC, RN-BC, LSSBB, director of Magnet Recognition, who facilitated the professional practice model task force and governance teams.
“These statements, and our new profes- sional practice model, reflect the many facets of nursing and are inclusive of the entire representative body of professional nurses at Christiana Care.”
Chief Nurse Executive Ric Cuming, Ed.D., RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, described the nurses who drove this process as “bold and aspirational” and said their work provides a “wonderful true north” for all Christiana Care nurses.
“The nurses’ collective work accurately reflects what Christiana Care Nursing stands for, how we operate and what we aspire to be,” he said.
According to Collins, the alignment of the professional practice model, strategic plan and governance structure intercon- nects the pieces and creates a connect- ing framework to expand excellence in nursing care.
“This culmination of a dynamic year’s worth of work by our nurses sets us on course for evolving our own professional practice and toward our collective goal of improving patient care and outcomes,” Collins said. “Our engagement helps us create a culture that attracts, engages and retains nurses and their colleagues. This is the place to be! What nurse wouldn’t want to work at Christiana Care?”
Task force and work group members brought their own perspectives to the table and vetted feedback from clinical nurse colleagues and nursing leadership, Magnet ambassadors, members of the Magnet Steer and nursing professional develop- ment specialists. The Nursing Value Coun- cil (formerly the Nursing Coordinating Council) gave final approval.
Rooted in The Christiana Care Way
Maria Brown, BSN, RN, PCCN, a clinical nurse on the Transitional Surgical Unit and past chair of the Professional Nurse Council, chaired the 13-member
Christiana Care’s twice-designated nurses in inpatient and ambulatory settings, like these nurses at the HealthCare Center at Medical
Arts Pavilion 2, provide exemplary care with opportunities to advance their own professional practice and improve health outcomes.
professional practice model task force. A professional practice model depicts Nursing’s mission and vision, and the relationship that defines the complex roles of professional nurses.
“Our new professional practice model uses the visual of a tree to show how we, as nurses, practice, collaborate, communi- cate and develop professionally to provide the highest-quality care for our patients and their families,” she said. “It also speaks to Christiana Care as a supportive, rewarding and professionally engaging environment for nursing practice.”
The model, envisioned by the task force of nurses representing acute, ambulatory and home care practice areas, builds
on national standards for nursing practice and incorporates American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet model components for nursing excellence. It helps nurses understand and appreciate the importance of their practice and its roots in The Christiana Care Way — the health system’s promise to its neighbors.
“All nurses in Delaware work under
their nursing licenses and the state Nursing Practice Act, but the way we have organized nursing practice and science
at Christiana Care is very different and special,” Cuming said. “Everything we do in the Department of Nursing is patient- centered, evidence-based and data- driven. This is reflected in our nurses’ expertise, their engagement and their leadership, and it shines through in the care they provide to our patients.”
A voice for all nurses
As part of the new professional practice model, Christiana Care has a new professional governance structure — 11 nursing councils organized around the Magnet model components: Structural Empowerment; Exemplary Professional Practice; New | CONTINUED
16 • FOCUS JANUARY 2018