We were honored and privileged to have the opportunity to recognize Chris Baker with The DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award.
Chris' tireless energy, generosity and lifelong commitment to the profession of nursing will be her honorable legacy. Her quiet approach to living the mission and values of SSM Health is not unlike our founding sisters. Chris isn't motivated by recognition, rather inspired by her love of science and nursing. Her love of science provides her with a depth of understanding that healthcare systems cannot be 100% safe because of the potential for human error. She challenges teams to work to design and continually evaluate current systems of care through becoming a learning organization. Chris believes health systems systematically learn and improve care through the use of internal data (reporting of errors/good catches, organizational data), along with experiences that are systematically integrated with external evidence (EBP/research). A learning organization is foundational to designing safe, high-quality care.
Her advocacy, vision, and ongoing support of professional nursing councils through the years has empowered nurses to embrace their practice, develop leadership skills, and engage in shared decision making. She helps nurses understand they have an obligation, accountability, and voice to make evidence-based decisions that impact their practice and working environment as well as the quality of care and patient experience. She refreshed our former Quality Improvement Council. Her vision was to provide a framework for front line staff to create innovative solutions through performance efforts to improve clinical practice and highlight the contributions of front line staff in their achievements through podium presentations, posters, and publishing.
Recently Chris provided leadership and expertise as she encouraged members of our front line staff to create our Nursing Peer Review committee. She mentored the staff as they methodically worked through the development of the structure and defined process for our nursing organization; empowering nurses to be accountable for nursing practice. She believes when organizations create structures of constant learning we develop an organizational practice that leads to better and safer care.
It was Chris' vision to create a nurse residency program at SMM. Chris partnered with the CNS team to create a curriculum for the professional development phase of our nurse residency program. Her goal was to design a curriculum that mentors and fosters growth for our new nurse residents as clinicians and professionals. Her commitment to our new employees is noble.
Chris deeply believes in and lives the SSM mission in her everyday work. In the midst of many challenges we currently face and the demands of a chaotic healthcare system, Chris continues to believe in our mission and purpose. She stresses the significance of developing therapeutic relationships and most importantly strives to always stay true to the mission and purpose, even during challenging times. Chris has a unique ability to quickly see a vision within our complex healthcare system. She has the courage, confidence, and devotion to take intelligent risks. Through her lifelong work SSM Health, St. Mary's, and our patients have all benefited from Chris' expertise, leadership, and quiet presence. Chris has given her all in the work she has accomplished.
Chris has always had a deep fondness for Sr. Mary Jean Ryan and our SSM's history. It was Chris' idea to honor Mary Jean Ryan's infamous words "it is in our hands" by adding the hand formation to our current Professional Practice Model. Chris is an influential leader and truly represents what it is to be an SSM Health Nurse.