Donna Wimberly, RN, MBA/MHA, president, North Carolina Organization of Nurse Executives, left, and assistant vice president, patient services, Wayne Memorial Hospital, with Miss North Carolina 2008, Amanda Lauren Watson.
(Photo by Terri Gaffney)
Nurse leaders from around the state met in New Bern, N.C., to address the turbulent healthcare environment and share strategies to improve efficiencies and outcomes. Joanne Campione, PhD, MSPH, director of clinical measurement services at the North Carolina Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety, provided an update on national and state quality measures. The NC Quality Center is the state’s first federal patient safety organization. Its role is to analyze and aggregate patient safety events and facilitate a shared-learning approach to support healthcare quality improvement. The North Carolina Hospital Performance Report can be found online at www.nchospitalquality.org.
Keila Thompson, RN, BSN, student coordinator at CarolinaEast Health System, shared the outcomes of instituting a dedicated position to facilitate multiple groups of nursing students in a healthcare facility. Thompson synthesizes requests and develops a strategic plan to help students and faculty meet educational objectives and increase clinical time for students. The importance of this role became clear when Thompson had 200 students in her facility in one day.
The critical role of the chief nurse during a disaster was highlighted by Loressa Cole, RN, BSN, MBA, chief nursing officer, Montgomery Regional Hospital, Blacksburg, Va., as she shared her experience with the Virginia Tech shootings. In preparation for an influx of patients to arrive, Cole assessed the hospital’s capacity.
“All elective surgeries were cancelled, and our four operating rooms had surgeries underway that were able to complete within 30 minutes,” said Cole. “We freed up our 16-bed ED, 25-bed ambulatory surgery center, ORs, and surgical staff.” Montgomery received 17 victims of the disaster.
“Practice and drills do pay off,” Cole said.
A highlight of the meeting was the appearance of Amanda Watson, Miss North Carolina, who provided a link to the leaders of tomorrow. Watson, whose mother is a nurse at Rex Healthcare, Raleigh, N.C., began her college years thinking she, too, wanted to be a nurse; however she changed her mind after having to dissect a pig. Today, Watson serves as a national spokeswoman for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association and has testified before Congress in support of an ALS registry.
Keila Thompson, RN, BSN, student coordinator at CarolinaEast Health System, shared the outcomes of instituting a dedicated position to facilitate multiple groups of nursing students in a healthcare facility. Thompson synthesizes requests and develops a strategic plan to help students and faculty meet educational objectives and increase clinical time for students. The importance of this role became clear when Thompson had 200 students in her facility in one day.
The critical role of the chief nurse during a disaster was highlighted by Loressa Cole, RN, BSN, MBA, chief nursing officer, Montgomery Regional Hospital, Blacksburg, Va., as she shared her experience with the Virginia Tech shootings. In preparation for an influx of patients to arrive, Cole assessed the hospital’s capacity.
“All elective surgeries were cancelled, and our four operating rooms had surgeries underway that were able to complete within 30 minutes,” said Cole. “We freed up our 16-bed ED, 25-bed ambulatory surgery center, ORs, and surgical staff.” Montgomery received 17 victims of the disaster.
“Practice and drills do pay off,” Cole said.
A highlight of the meeting was the appearance of Amanda Watson, Miss North Carolina, who provided a link to the leaders of tomorrow. Watson, whose mother is a nurse at Rex Healthcare, Raleigh, N.C., began her college years thinking she, too, wanted to be a nurse; however she changed her mind after having to dissect a pig. Today, Watson serves as a national spokeswoman for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association and has testified before Congress in support of an ALS registry.
Terri Gaffney, RN, MPA, is vice president of nursing communications & initiatives, Gannett Healthcare Group.
