of the Year

John Elliott, BSN, RN, CPN
RN/Staff Educator, Nursing Resource Management (Pediatric Float Pool)
Manager: Peggy Woolf
John Elliott epitomizes the professional nurse. Whether he
is working with patients directly, leading organizational
projects, as a scientist looking at evidence-based practice,
or transferring knowledge to his peers, patients, or
leadership team, John does it in the finest way. John’s
good heart and desire for patient-centered care, staff
appreciation and organizational success makes him a
highly engaged leader in Nursing Resource Management.
As chair of the NRM’s unit-based nursing practice council
(UBNPC) John has improved UBNPC efficiency, with timed
meeting agendas, rethinking of retreat dates to allow for
better planning, and helping to organize NRM’s
Professional Practice Day.
John is committed to patient safety and quality
improvement and part of a group dedicated to fall
reduction. He keeps dialogue on fall prevention alive, and
communicates fall trending and creative prevention
approaches to float pool members.
As staff educator for the Pediatric Float Pool, John
collaborates on orientation for new hires, mentors and
advocates for them, and assures that Pediatric Float Pool
RNs are up to date on competencies. He also enjoys
precepting nursing students, and seeks the opportunity
whenever he can.
John has been key in developing and monitoring the
group’s signature moment patient experience project,
“Face Time”, and spearheaded last year’s “Hit the
Breaks” project to ensure that float pool nurses receive
breaks. He consistently encourages ongoing
professional certification and continuing education
with his peers and provides them with the tools to
accomplish it.
John’s influences reaches beyond OHSU: he was
instrumental in forming a local chapter of the Society
of Pediatric Nursing.
John wrote the lyrics to OHSU Nursing’s Magnet video
“The Dream is Alive in Portland”,
which spoofed the infamous Portlandia video.
View the video on the Magnet web page
(search 02 for “Magnet”).
The Mentoring category is described as “a nurse who provides positive professional influence, guidance, and support of
other nurses in any setting. This nurse inspires others to transform service and care.”