Robyn Hilliard has been the Nurse Manager of Silverstein 7 since 2015. Prior to this role, she served as the Clinical Practice Leader for seven years after being recruited from her role as a clinical nurse on Silverstein 7. To say that she is incredibly dedicated to Silverstein 7 would be a huge understatement. There is nobody who is more passionate about creating a meaningful vision and sustaining positive outcomes for Silverstein 7 than Robyn. She is a constant presence on the unit, attending huddles, rotating sitting in care coordination rounds with other leadership members, and conducting frequent patient satisfaction rounds.
Silverstein 7 is very unique in its blended clinical population; specializing in Gynecology, Gynecologic-Oncology and Obstetrics with medical-surgical overflow. Our nurses have a diverse skill set and oftentimes have to be very flexible. Our staff is frequently pulled within the department and also has to accommodate for unique staffing situations. We recently implemented an initiative to lend three of our beds to Silverstein 8 where a nurse from that unit would come down and care for three post-partum patients on our unit. This was a big change for our staff and Robyn made sure to include bedside staff in the planning meetings and get their input on how to best accommodate for this change.
Coming from the role of Clinical Practice Leader, Robyn remains very much involved in the practice on the unit. She can be seen out on the unit, monitoring the practice and offering to help if needed. She is the first one to tell you that she is not afraid to place an IV if someone needs it! She is an advocate for our patients and for our staff; never afraid to speak up if she sees a situation in which a staff member or patient needs help. She is a true role model for exemplary practice and supports the unit in always maintaining an environment of quality care for our patients. Robyn can be overheard almost every single day sharing her passion for nursing leadership and her enthusiasm for creating a shared vision for the unit. Her bookshelf is full of nursing leadership books and her notebooks and white boards in her office marked with motivational quotes. She refers to the Advisory Board almost daily as she is continuously striving to improve her leadership skills and think of innovative ways to engage the staff.
Her passion for creating a safe and meaningful work environment for staff is infectious. She sees every member of the unit as valuable and is always encouraging staff to discuss ways in which we can improve. Giant post-it notes are a valuable tool to Robyn - we almost always have a giant post-it hanging up, encouraging staff to write their input whether it is for ideas on how to improve the environment, ideas for ways to be fiscally mindful, or innovative ideas on how to attain our quality goals. She does not just look at what the staff wrote, she implements it! She even supported a complete makeover for our break room based on staff feedback, giving them a desirable place to relax and decompress during a shift (and of course she polled the staff on what colors they wanted it to be painted!). This inclusive mindset is very important to Robyn; she strives to be open-minded and listen to her staff.
Robyn singlehandedly created an innovative strategic staff recognition bundle designed to improve peer to peer interactions and influence meaningful change of unit culture and to personally reflect on how to give positive reinforcement and feedback to her staff as a way to engage, motivate and retain them. This bundle included a unit culture peer review tool, a recognition toolkit in which staff can earn incentives for good performance and being mentioned in the HCAHPS surveys, and a restructuring of staff meetings to include a component of team-building.
Robyn initiated staff one to one sessions (outside of the annual evaluation) in order to allow staff to have face time with her that felt less intimidating than an annual evaluation. The staff appreciated the time she took to individually meet with them, to discuss how to improve the work environment and discuss their professional goals and development. She makes it a point to come in early to see night shift when needed and rotates to doing sporadic nightshifts to get face time with night shift staff.
Robyn is an active member of the leadership team at HUP and is active in many hospital wide initiatives including Penns Way, the Food Services project and being one of the Nurse Manager liaisons for the CNA group. She received her Yellow Belt certification and is working on her Nurse Executive certification as she also maintains her certification in Medical Surgical nursing. She contributes daily to the nursing profession as a whole. She has a huge interest and passion for African-American nursing history and has even consulted to do a presentation for her community on the topic! She is a stellar role model for staff for what it means to be a passionate and effective nurse leader and how to enhance the image of nursing within the organization, community and profession.
Robyn is always encouraging her staff members to be involved on the unit and throughout the organization. She also motivates ancillary staff as well, ensuring that they feel as though their voices are heard. She is generous with granting staff "meeting" time to pursue professional development opportunities such as lecturing at the system level. For example, there is a quarterly orientation for all new nurses into Women's Health at HUP, PAH and CCH. Silverstein 7 is the smallest unit but Robyn allows for three staff members to lecture during this orientation. Our unit council chair remarked: "One of Robyn's greatest attributes as a Nurse Leader is encouraging and empowering her staff to take on leadership roles on the unit and throughout the hospital. Robyn is always willing to provide ample time for nurses that are eager to take on evidence-based projects on the unit that contribute positively towards empirical outcomes. This year, I was awarded the Joan Brettschneider Shared Governance Leadership Award, but I would not have even warranted being a candidate without the constant encouragement, motivation, and support from Robyn. Robyn recognizes that empowering and offering recognition to her staff is key to nursing satisfaction and retention. That is what makes her a most exceptional candidate for this award."
Nurse satisfaction and nurse autonomy are very important to Robyn. Sometimes with a leadership change, one might see a decrease in satisfaction and scores. As compared to the previous NDNQI survey prior to Robyn becoming the nurse manager, in the category of nurse autonomy, Silverstein 7's score went from 4.07 to 4.30. We received 97% participation within the NDNQI survey, saw improvements in seven categories and outperformed AMC mean in five categories. In the Culture of Safety category of "Management Support of Patient Safety," we outperformed the benchmark by 8.19% and outperformed the benchmark within three categories on the Culture of Safety survey.
Robyn continuously motivates staff, responds to their feedback and creates an environment of trust, respect, professional development and compassion. As her partners on the Silverstein 7 Leadership team, we feel incredibly lucky to work with Robyn and are inspired by her every day. She always seeks out our opinions and feedback and we are undoubtedly always presented as a united leadership team to the staff.