Unit Based Council members share ideas and best practices at spring summit

Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital’s Department of Nursing recently brought together nurse leaders and co-chairs from each Unit Based Council (UBC) and Nursing Committee for the UBC Summit to share ideas and best practices. The program activities were designed to enhance knowledge and skills to support success as a nurse leader.

The day began with a welcome and ice breakers by Executive Director of Nursing Professional Development, Practice and Innovation Colleen West, MBA, BSN, RN, CPHQ, followed by a department update from Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services Cori Loescher, MM, BSN, RN, NEA-BC. Loescher began by saying, “This is one of my favorite days. It’s wonderful to have so many of you here excited about our work.” She went on to provide an update on the Nursing Strategic Plan, workplace safety initiatives, the department’s Shared Governance structure and the work being done in our journey toward Magnet Designation.

To round out the morning, Workforce Development Program Manager Mary Duggan, MEd, joined the group to present on a multigenerational workforce, leadership and conflict management followed by the introduction of the department’s new Mission, Vision and Values statements and review of the existing Professional Practice Model by Professional Recognition and Advancement Committee Co-Chairs ICU Clinical Leader Ellen McCarthy, MSN, RN, CCRN, and 6 South Clinical Leader Tracy Lane, BSN, RN-BC.

They also updated the group on our progress on the journey toward Magnet Designation. To date, the department has drafted 70 percent of the exemplars needed to submit its application in August. During the interactive presentation, summit participants also had the opportunity to vote on a design to help promote the new Mission, Vision and Values statements and took a pop quiz on the Magnet Designation process, all on their smartphones! Nurse participants confirmed the Professional Practice Model was still reflective of our nursing practice. One participant shared the educational experience will support the ability to “Incorporate the Mission, Vision, Values into practice.”

After lunch, Nurse Scientist and Regis College Professor Margaret Oot-Hayes, PhD, RN, and the Weiner Center for Preoperative Evaluation’s Robin Kaufman, DNP, RN, CNP  shared their new study, “iPad Education to Optimize Patient Education and Efficiency in the Preoperative Setting,” and the Emergency Department’s clinical nurses Joanne Hallahan, BSN, RN, and Kristen Dolan, BSN, RN, shared their research, “Health Care Providers and Patients Perceptions of Administration of Narcan Kits in the ED Setting.” To cap off the day, each UBC had the opportunity to present an update on the work being done on their unit. In the evaluations for the day, one participant reflected, “It is exciting to listen to my colleagues describe their evidence-based projects. It is energizing and stimulating to be surrounded by so many good ideas and suggestions. It inspires me to bring new ideas to our unit.”

For the ICU’s Meigan Young, BSN, RN, this was her first UBC as a council member. “I think we’re lucky to be part of an institution that values their nursing department. As a newer nurse, it’s inspiring to be a part of shared governance to make change that comes from the minds of bedside nurses. We are the ones in the trenches and working the front lines… it makes me proud that we are able to show how much of an impact we can make on patient care,” she says. “I really enjoyed listening to all the nurse driven projects going on in all the different units. Sometimes we’re so isolated in our own work and units, it’s nice to come to together and collaborate with other nurses of other specialties to bounce ideas off each other. I am so impressed with the projects and official research studies that my colleagues have implemented! Strength comes in numbers, and together we can make a huge difference. As a nurse from a unit that is going through a lot of change right now, I am hopeful we will be able to come up with our own project to present by the next UBC Summit.”