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Why did you become a nurse?
I originally wanted to pursue acting, but my mother
(who was a nurse at the Henry Ford Health System) convinced
me that becoming a nurse would make me more marketable.
Thanks to help from my mother, I was able to conduct
my internship on the neurosurgery general practice unit
at Henry Ford Hospital and then, after graduating, I
went right into ICU-one of the first new grads ever
to start in ICU at this hospital.
What has been the greatest challenge
of your nursing career?
Recently, I helped bring together two separate eight-bed
units (a neuro ICU and a neuro intermediate unit) and
transform them into one 16-bed neuro ICU. Bringing these
units together was a massive challenge because there
was a culture clash in terms of supervision, education,
training, authority and gender.
How did you go about the task?
With support from the institution, I hired a consultant
and together we developed a series of weekend retreats.
We selected 22 employees who were leaders (both formal
and informal) and embarked on a comprehensive training
and development program to coach them on areas such
as conflict management, developing their own mission
and learning how to run the unit more like a business.
Physicians also participated in the retreats whenever
possible.
We also initiated weekly rounds whereby a more novice
nurse is paired with an experienced nurse to help assess
for learning, discuss diagnoses, research family psychosocial
history, etc., in order to create plans of care from
the time a patient enters the unit until they leave.
The more novice nurse is expected to come fully prepared
and make a presentation to his or her peers-this fosters
communication, learning and leadership. It's all about
leading individuals through the change process and getting
their feedback and buy-in along the way.
Have these efforts paid off?
Yes. Our customer (patient) satisfaction has increased
remarkably. On this unit, we measure satisfaction weekly
to capture as much feedback as possible (as opposed
to waiting for the formal quarterly measurements conducted
by the overall hospital). We also have developed a true
collaborative practice with our physicians. I know you
have probably heard those words before-but this is the
real thing! Lastly, our unit has dropped from a 75 percent
RN vacancy rate to 11 percent in a year and a half-thanks
to getting the entire unit to participate in the recruitment
process.
What final thoughts would you like
to share?
If there is a dream that you are seeking within your
career, don't ever feel that it's impossible-it is never
too late to pursue your dream. With hard work and determination,
you can achieve anything you want. If you love nursing,
the sky is the limit.
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