Welcome
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to welcome you to the 2010 Nursing Annual Report, a celebration of all our many achievements over the past year. We hope this report serves as a testament to the dedication our nurses demonstrate every day in helping our patients achieve and maintain their health.
Over the past 20 years as a nurse providing frontline care, I have witnessed many changes at the Medical Center. These changes include programs that improve patient care, initiatives that empower nurses in their professional practice, and new buildings that enhance our physical environment. During this transformational time, I also witnessed nursing at the University of Chicago Medical Center evolve. This past year, in my new role as acting chief nursing officer, I felt a sense of great pride as I watched our shared governance model expand to mirror this growth. Effective shared governance is key to nursing and patient satisfaction because it gives clinical nurses autonomy in practice, and the ability to make decisions related to both clinical and professional practice.
During fiscal year 2010, nurses and other staff at the Medical Center shared in a united sense of excitement as we watched nursing research earn the important recognition it deserves. One of our own, Janice Phillips, RN, PhD, FAAN, was selected for the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation health policy fellowship in Washington D.C., where she is learning how to shape policies that impact the health of Americans. Michele Rubin, APN, CNS, CGRN, featured in this report, earned a grant to study methods of preventing a significant quality-of-life complication among her inflammatory bowel disease patients. And numerous other nurses are in various stages of planning and implementing nursing research projects that will change outcomes for patients at our hospital and beyond.
Nurses are the heart and soul of patient care at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Hearing from our patients about the ways that our nurses made a difference during their stay with us is always the ultimate reward. This past year, patients expressed in multiple ways the importance of the compassionate care they received from our nursing staff. One burn victim shared in a letter how his nurse, Richie Gil, RN, BSN, CCRN, was able to restore dignity through the kind act of providing clothing. Another family, the Heunings, established an award in gratitude of the excellent care provided by Medical Center nurses in the Medical Intensive Care unit.
Finally, we watched as the values of kindness and benevolence embodied by our nurses took them far beyond our walls when they responded to the crisis in Haiti. Many of our nurses participated in various roles alongside other caregivers from the Medical Center and other organizations to help Haitians on the road to recovery. Actions such as volunteering—abroad and locally—truly speak to the passion that motivates nurses every day.
I hope you enjoy reflecting on the remarkable journey of our nurses in this report as much as I have. I look forward with great anticipation to continued growth in the years to come.
Sincerely,
Sue French Kranzer, RN, MSN
Acting Chief Nursing Officer
