JCMC Nursing Annual Report - Mountain States Health Alliance

From the Chief Nursing Officer
It is with great
pleasure that I am
writing to you as the
chief nursing officer
to acknowledge the
nursing excellence
evidenced at Johnson
City Medical Center.
Being the first hospital
in Tennessee to
achieve Magnet status
and redesignation
has provided us with an opportunity to focus on our
success as a Magnet organization by “Celebrating the
Strengths That Nursing Brings to Patient-Centered
Care.” These strengths are the key to excellence and
our overall success at Johnson City Medical Center
( JCMC). The strengths cross all Magnet forces and
provided the basis for our redesignation success and
the evidence that our nursing staff is continuously
identifying new ways to improve how patient care is
delivered.
The exemplars identified by the Magnet Site
appraisers included our strategic plan to eliminate
travel nurses with the onboarding of 120 new grads
and the hiring of 10.6 FTEs of support in clinical
resource nurses and educational roles to support
the transition of the new grads. The projected cost
savings for elimination of contract labor, an 84-hour
cardiovascular option, an Emergency Department
weekend staffing option, the use of i-choice
scheduling options and nursing role definitions have
been estimated at $7.2 million. We also exceeded
Magnet expectations in disseminating quality
data throughout the organization. Our personal
Blueprint cards, based on our four pillars of quality,
Magnet cited as an exemplar for communicating
quality data to all team members. We exceeded
Magnet expectations in providing adequate resources
for consultation and access to nursing expertise to
nurses at all levels in the organization and fiscal
allocations for affiliated schools and colleges of
nursing based on the identification of needs within
the nursing program to meet the goals for health care
in the region. They commended the examples offered
that demonstrate how nurses are used in promotional
materials, brochures, advertisements, newspaper
articles, television and radio advertisements, direct
mailings, educational booklets, pamphlets and
community activities. JCMC was congratulated on
providing resources that include tuition support,
scholarships and flex time to attend school, and
demonstrating support to nurses, financially, to
attend different conferences or symposiums.
With our Magnet redesignation, it will truly be
a year to celebrate our excellence. ANCC honors
all the newly designated and redesignated Magnet
organizations at the National Magnet Conference
each year. We look forward to receiving this honor
at the 2010 ANCC National Magnet Conference
in Phoenix, Oct. 13-15, 2010, at the Phoenix
Convention Center.
We also realized a successful Joint Commission
survey and achieved, for a second time, the TNCPE
Governor’s Award for Excellence.
Over the past five years, our organization
has made significant investments in improving
recruitment and retention. RN recruitment, turnover
and retention are now blueprint measures for the
CNO and her nursing leaders. We now have 150
students enrolled in our scholarship program who
will be employed at the completion of their RN
program. We are developing LPN to RN and LPN
to BSN programs. We have also implemented a
JCMC Nurse Retention Committee. With these new
initiatives and dedicated resources, our recruitment
numbers have shown an increase for this year.
In addition, to recognize and financially reward
excellence at the bedside, the “BEST” Nurse (Bedside
Excellence Shining Through) Clinical Advancement
Program at Johnson City Medical Center is the spirit
and practice of caring for patients, families and the
community through leadership, knowledge and
compassion. We believe that nursing is both an art
and a science incorporating multiple realms of care
including the physical, developmental, emotional,
social, psychological, cultural and spiritual. Nursing
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