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Magic Valley Hosts 2018 System Nursing Excellence Awards Ceremony to Celebrate Nurse Leaders
Celebrating its third year as a health system event, the 2018 System Nursing Excellence Awards Ceremony was hosted in the Magic Valley for the first time on May 8, 2018, at the Canyon Crest Events Center in Twin Falls. With great attendance and representation from across the system, nurses were celebrated at the ceremony. In honor of the new location, St. Luke’s offered a ride-sharing option to assist with transportation to the event. The bus was hosted by “Bus Mom” Deb Compton, MSN, RN, NEA-BC. All who rode the bus to the event had a great time and were grateful not to have to drive.
A record number of nominations were received this year, with 64 nominees in the individual award categories. Additionally, a new category was introduced in 2018 to recognize groups of nurses working together to address St. Luke’s strategic priorities. Six groups were nominated, celebrating the collaborative efforts of 49 nurses among the groups. To recognize this many nurses at one event was historic. Cy Gearhard, MN, RN, NEA-BC, Vice President, Patient Care Services/System Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), opened the ceremony with a year in review of nursing accomplishments. She then took a moment to recognize all the nominated nurses as leaders in the organization. Chris Roth, System Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Dr. Jim Souza, System Chief Medical Officer, provided remarks to the group, both acknowledging the key roles nurses play in making the system a success. CNOs from each site were present to celebrate with their nominated nurses and to present awards to those who won. Future celebrations will continue to rotate between the Magic Valley and Treasure Valley to ensure access for all nurses.
Jerome Leads the Way in Bar Code Medication Administration Accountability
Jerome has experienced great success with bar code medication administration (BCMA) accountability. In June 2018, Jerome was achieving 98.4% compliance with both drug and patient scanning. Kat Dow, BSN, RN, Director of Nursing/Patient Care Services, Jerome OB/Med-Surg/ED/Swing, began reviewing compliance reports weekly and then discussed them every Monday with staff at the safety huddle. Nursing staff received a copy of the non-compliance and engaged in discussions around the “why” behind the non-compliance. They reviewed the issue, what barriers they were experiencing and brainstormed how to resolve the issues.
Nursing staff were instructed to not override any medications when pharmacy was onsite, unless there was an emergency. The override is a warning, and nurses were coached to ask themselves “why is there a warning, is there something wrong?” Nurses were encouraged to collaborate with pharmacy to resolve the issue prior to giving medications. Even on the night shift, the expectation was the same and staff were to call the telemetry pharmacy in Boise before overriding any medication. With education, accountability through weekly check-ins and collaboration with pharmacy, nursing staff in Jerome continually have the highest percentage of compliance with BCMA.
In September 2018, St. Luke’s released their first Practice Playbook to strengthen compliance with BCMA. Practice Playbooks are intended to help leaders solve practice problems and provide nurses the knowledge, skills and motivation to meet practice expectations. The strategies used by Dow are included in the BCMA Practice Playbook.
Download Full Copies of Our Nursing Annual Reports
2018 Nursing Annual Report
This year's report highlights the accomplishments and exemplary outcomes of our talented nurses.
2017 Nursing Annual Report
2016 Nursing Annual Report
Our 2016 report expanded to include the entire St. Luke's Health System for the first time, including our successful implementation of a system-wide electronic health record.
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