Grace is always pushing for the next level of greatness but remains protective of all nurses at the same time. She always wants to know what we can do to retain staff and grow our current staff at the bedside. She has a consistent focus on excellence that is balanced with reality. At the same time, she is always kind. She has been a consistent supporter and editor when needed for the SNGH Magnet Document submitted Feb 2018 with a "straight to site visit" decision. This step would not have happened without her role-modeling of exemplary practice and true support.
She has breakfast meetings set up for bedside staff to come and share anything they want to share with her. At both the executive level, and at the bedside level, she creates an environment that fosters care and compassion. She personally recognizes all of our DAISY Award Honorees with a ceremony to make them feel truly special. She rounds on the busiest of days to let staff know they are supported. She makes every attempt to be present when staff is recognized by managers for moments of excellence. She recognizes every nurse when they receive their certification. This nurse leader was instrumental in assisting in bringing the DAISY Award to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital before coming to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Her willingness to find different ways to recognize and reward staff for the care they provide our patients is well known; through her support, the DAISY Award Program was implemented at SNGH as well in order to recognize extraordinary compassion as recognition for SNGH nurses.
Throughout the master facility plan for our new patient tower, she has elicited input from staff, involved them in all aspects of the build, and listened to their many concerns around relocating (downsizing or upsizing) and staffing. She treats everyone with respect, valuing their input and often incorporating their ideas into plans. She seeks out those interested in growing professionally and offers them opportunities for that growth through project leads, visibility, and recognition.
Grace leads our nursing initiatives with passion, sharing the goals, seeking input from staff on how to achieve the goals, and ensuring everyone is armed with the tools they need to meet goals. She is always aware of each unit's goals related to nurse sensitive indicators and quality metrics as if she was a member of that team and works to improve them as best as she can.
Grace has been a mentor to staff by including people who are looking to become leaders in different meetings and events. She has invited Unit Coordinators to the local VONEL conference to help them learn about their leadership potential. She has sent leaders to the Magnet Conference to help them learn what other hospitals are doing so they can learn from them and bring back those ideas to SNGH. She has a bi-monthly meeting with Unit Coordinators to include them in the leadership team and provide them a connection to her and give them a chance to ask questions to her directly, making her more accessible to the direct care nursing staff. She learned about the Nurse Residency Program at a conference and was instrumental in bringing the program not only to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital but to the entire Sentara system with the goal of preparing new bedside nurses and making them adapt to the challenge of making the transition from new graduate nurse to proficient bedside nurse.
She ensures her nurses know who she is by doing leadership rounding. She takes time to listen to the nurses, provide guidance, or provide resources needed. She ensures that clinical nurses are present when decisions are made. She supports her leadership team by allowing them to attend developmental opportunities. She coaches them to be a member of professional organizations so that their words are heard. She is selfless in her time and knowledge. She guides individuals through new processes and structures. She allows her leadership to take the lead in facilitating meetings, speaking with executive leaders. She gives feedback for improvement. Through succession planning, she will help you obtain your goals or help you to prepare for your goal. She leads through change and is a role model for professionalism and advocacy. She has provided guidance and support for advancement opportunities. She provides guidance, honesty, and resources to plan for the future.
She has made a personal habit of rounding on the units to be sure the staff know who she is and give them opportunities to ask questions, whether those questions be about staffing concerns, the Master Facility project, their educational goals, or a patient they are having difficulty with. She also has monthly lunches with staff to provide them with another chance to ask her questions away from the bedside where they can have more time to formulate a question and not be distracted by patient care. She attends nursing practice council meetings, attends the Magnet Champion Council meeting monthly to be accessible to staff diverse all areas where nursing is practiced. She writes the first article of the monthly Nursing Navigator Newsletter as another means of being accessible and responsive.
This nurse leader has been a strong supporter of our community efforts on Family Maternity Center. The director went to her with an idea to create a program that as we know, has never been done before - to benefit the health outcomes of entire families AFTER discharge. There was no blueprint, article, or literature to assist in our idea to create a full, comprehensive WIC clinic on an inpatient hospital unit in order for mothers to enroll prior to discharge. We started from scratch collaborating with WIC to launch this program, 6 months after our first meeting. She was supportive the entire journey, saw the value not only to the mother but all the children in the family and the community benefit. She escalated our program and gave us a platform to tell our story to the Medical Executive Committee - to highlight that 3 nurses led the program to influence so many lives at SNGH. Because of her support and advocacy of our patients, approximately 60 individuals a month more are enrolled in a health program that not only gives the mother a fully funded benefit card for 3 months for their entire family but also enrolled in a system for referrals to other social agencies. We proudly showcase that we impact lives not only within our hospital, but utilize our presence, by building relationships in the community to influence lives outside our brick building for years to come.