Page 17 - Christiana Care Focus April 2019

“Some nurses think the only way they can advance is to become a manager, but we really want them to know that they can advance clinically, professionally and by salary in the work that they are doing every day,” said Cynthia Griffin, MS, BSN, RN, CPHQ, CCM, Christiana Care’s chief nursing officer, Community Care.
Requirements for the RN III include the completion of a Bachelor of Nursing. Studies link nursing education to better clinical outcomes, according to the 2010 Institute of Medicine report “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.”
The report recommended that 80% of nurses have a bachelor’s degree in nursing by 2020. Today 77% of Christiana Care nurses have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
| Nursing Alexa Maloney, now an RN III, with Cynthia Griffin, MS, BSN, RN,
Christiana Care’s chief nursing officer, Community Care.
Many nurses on the clinical ladder have published the results of their projects and present their findings at conferences, said Dot Fowler, MSN, RN-BC Emeritus, APRN Retired, nursing professional advancement
coordinator. Fowler helped develop the clinical ladder program at Christiana Care.
The clinical ladder and Magnet designation are valuable tools for recruitment and retention. “I’ve talked with many new nurses who said these were factors when they were considering employment,” Fowler said.
Alexa Maloney, BSN, RN III-BC, OCN, a radiation oncology nurse at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, was one of the first ambulatory care nurses to be promoted under the expanded program. Maloney participated in a project to improve patient education and satisfaction.
“We want to address patients’ fears and concerns during their exam for radiation treatment,” she said. She’s also working on an education program for patients with head and neck cancer to improve medication compliance and health literacy.
“The clinical ladder motivates me and inspires me to want to be better, learn more and become certified in other areas,” Maloney said. “Ultimately, it’s about providing better care for the patients.” 
Dot Fowler, MSN, RN-BC Emeritus, APRN Retired, nursing professional advancement coordinator, helped develop the clinical ladder program at Christiana Care.
The RN III “brings nursing up to another level,” said Susan Sinigaglio, MSN, RN III, CCRN, CCRP, a lead nurse in Cardiac Rehabilitation.
Journey to RN III
Sustained movement toward that goal is required to earn the Magnet® designation, the highest level of recognition for sustained nursing excellence, from the American Nurses Credentialing Cen- ter. In 2010, Christiana Care was the first Delaware health system to earn Magnet and the first to achieve redesignation in 2015.
To achieve a promotion to RN III, nurses also must complete a project related to their clinical area.
In her cardiac rehab project, Sinigaglio helped create a shared decision-making committee to identify ways to increase the graduation rate for patients enrolled in a 36-session program. There are multiple reasons patients drop out, and the committee is analyzing the data, a task that previously would have fallen on managers’ shoulders.
Learn more about nursing careers at Christiana Care at careers.christianacare.org/nursing
FOCUS • APRIL 2019 15