BWH Center for Nursing Excellence
Mary Pennington, BSN, RN, CCRN, CNRN, Critical Care Program coordinator, Center for Nursing Excellence, at right, and Michael Anne Kyle, BSN, RN, 10B.?
Combining research, education, professional development with clinical nursing
The primary mission of BWH’s new Center for Nursing Excellence is to merge education, research, professional development and innovation to support clinical nursing practice, said Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer and senior vice president for Patient Care Services. The center combines the former Center for Excellence in Nursing Practice and the former Department of Nursing Professional Development in to a new entity under the direction of Trish Gibbons, DNSc, RN, associate chief nurse and executive director of the center. Gibbons’ title and role signify the interdependence of nursing practice, education, research, professional development and technology innovation to advance clinical practice and the care of the patient and family, as well as to develop the discipline of nursing.
The center’s initial work focuses on assuring that the best programs are in place to achieve eight important goals:
1. Support the successful transition of experienced clinicians and newly licensed nurses into nursing practice and as members of an interdisciplinary team at BWH;
2. Create orientation and development programs for unlicensed staff who provide care to patients, families and support clinicians in their work;
3. Use evidenced-based and innovative teaching strategies to guide teaching practices, assuring excellence in the teaching of both practicing nurses and nursing students;
4. Utilize innovations in technology to enhance patient safety, expedite the work of the clinical nurse, improve documentation processes, build simulated clinical environments for learning and seamlessly integrate these innovations for practice;
5. Establish a center for evidence-based research so that nursing practice at BWH reflects the current best science, experiential learning and clinical knowledge development;
6. Promote the integration of healing and integrative care therapies into the practice of nurses;
7. Partner with colleges of nursing to discover better ways to educate nursing students, seamlessly integrate students across their professional education and identify the critical role of BWH’s clinicians in that endeavor.
8. Develop a global health agenda based on a culturally competent approach that incorporates the roles of clinical nurses and educators to promote health, reduce disease disparities, and improve treatment outcomes.
Gibbons said that the philosophy guiding all programs of the Center for Nursing Excellence is the recognition that practice is the central professional work in Nursing and that practicing nurses develop both clinical knowledge and moral agency as they learn from their patients and families. The center will be a place where center staff, clinical nurses, nurse managers and nursing directors come together to find ways continuously to strengthen and refine that clinical knowledge. The ultimate goal of all center activities is the improvement of care to patients and families in supportive practice environments that foster the development of clinical expertise.
The programs of the center will focus on interdisciplinary work by exploring the role of the nurse as a leader and member of the health care team and advancing the qualities of successful collaboration. Gibbons said her goal for the center is that it will be an “alive and vibrant place that continuously reshapes itself and evolves” to enhance the personal and professional growth of all BWH nurses.
Meghann Lynch, RN, 14CD, and Anne Bane, MSN, RN, interim program manager for Nursing Practice.?