Nurses Set Expectations for Excellence

Tower 8 Cardiac Surgery nurses kicked off the New Year by unveiling the work of their Cardiac Surgery Nurse Practice Council: a set of expectations for nursing excellence. The council’s priority is to promote “the care of our patients and the support of their families and significant others.” With input from Tower 8 nurses, the council tapped the American Association of Critical Care Nurses’ standards for establishing and sustaining healthy work environments as a framework to articulate the elements of good care.

The six standards are: true collaboration, effective decision making, authentic leadership, skilled communication, appropriate staffing and meaningful recognition. The council determined expectations in each category that will guide nurses in their clinical and professional practice.

“These expectations will guide our day to day care of patients and future nursing endeavors,” said Katie Schade, MSN, RN, NP, of 8AB, one of 14 nurses on the Cardiac Surgery Nurse Practice Council.

The practice council was established by Alison Gilmore, MSNc, RN, Sarah Thompson, MSN, RN, and Suellen Breakey, PhD, RN, in 2006 after a multidisciplinary survey pointed to the need for a nursing forum to address clinical practice and professional issues. All staff nurses were invited to join the practice council to identify priority areas for concern and begin to address them systematically.

“We realized accountability was something we needed to work on,” said Meg Nemitz, BSN, RN, of 8CD, member of the Nurse Practice Council. “We needed to define what nurses expect from their fellow nurses and put that into writing.”

In addition to developing the nursing expectations, the council surveyed Tower 8 nurses in 2007 to assess their comfort level in providing feedback to one another. “We learned it’s easier to hold each other accountable when the expectations are clearly articulated, and it’s easier to resolve conflict with communication,” Nemitz said.

The council gained input and feedback from staff by sharing drafts of the expectations as well as by having peer-led focus groups where nurses could provide feedback and ask questions about the process.

The work isn’t done yet, though.

“We received a Lily Kravitz Award that will help us better communicate with each other going forward and help us to make sure our work is guided by these expectations,” said Monica Domanski, BSN, RN, of 8AB.

Chief of Cardiac Surgery R. Morton “Chip” Bolman, MD, applauded nurses on this work. “I really admire the way you’ve all come together,” he said. “This is an extremely important initiative in the effort to provide top quality, safe care to our patients.”