Department of Nursing gathers for Spring Nursing Summit 

Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital’s Department of Nursing recently invited chairpersons from each of the Unit Based Councils, Nursing Shared Governance Committees and the Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Council for their annual Spring summit meeting. The summit is designed to develop leadership skills, share examples of unit- or committee-level practice improvements and engage clinical nurses in the development of the Department of Nursing’s Strategic Goals. This Spring, much of the work was focused on brainstorming solutions for ongoing staffing challenges and sharing best practices.

The session was facilitated by Executive Director of Nursing Professional Development, Practice and Innovation Colleen West, DNP, MBA, RN, CPHQ, Professional Development Manager for the Perioperative Areas and 7 South Kathy McCarraher, MHA, BSN, RN, CPAN, Program Manager for Nursing Quality and Magnet Rose LaPlante, MBA, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, and Nurse Scientists Helene Bowen Brady, DNP, MEd, RN, NPD-BC, NEA-BC and Kathleen Ahern Gould, PhD, RN. The summit began with icebreakers and goal setting for the day before Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services Cori Loescher, MM, BSN, RN, NEA-BC, updated the group on progress toward the 2023 Nursing Strategic Plan.

To round out the morning, representatives from the Unit Based Councils, as well as the Shared Governance Committees, all provided updates on their work. Nurse Scientists Bowen Brady and Gould were joined by 6 South’s Jaceline Fianza, BSN, RN, and Cassandra Ramsey, MPH, BSN, RN, to talk about the Shared Governance Council Health Study and brainstorm ideas to enhance Shared Governance at BWFH.

Later in the day, LaPlante offered an update on the hospital’s Magnet journey. The Department of Nursing is currently in their document submission phase. All documents are due by August 1, 2023. Then, Professional Development Manager for Recruitment and Retention Ann Marie Reynolds-Lynch, DNP, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, shared with the group the hospital’s efforts to recruit and retain new members to the Department of Nursing as well as brainstorm ideas for mentoring programs.

Loescher, who recently announced she will be retiring in the summer of 2023, later said the day was bittersweet. “I’ve attended every Nursing Summit since their establishment in 2014 and have always walked away from the session feeling inspired,” she says. “To know this is the last time I will attend a BWFH Nursing Summit was emotional for me. But I wrapped up the day feeling confident our department is bursting at the seams with strong, motivated and compassionate leaders who will no doubt continue to advocate for the patient and ensure that the voice of the nurse is represented in all care decisions.”