In 2017, I had the pleasure of transferring to St. Anthony Hospital as the Director of Nursing Operations. The very first week, I attended my very first Pathway to Excellence meeting. It was during this meeting, that I knew I had come to the right place to expand my professional nursing career. The amount of commitment and dedication these fabulous 5 nurses had while trying to pursue the Pathway to Excellence Designation is an understatement. This team spent countless hours writing stories, sharing ideas with their colleagues and collaborating with other departments to promote the teamwork culture at St. Anthony Hospital. This team also provided their colleagues with information at nursing forums, recognized them for quality and excellence, and created monthly "fun" themes to ensure all nursing staff felt recognized and appreciated. The Pathway to Excellence Team also came in during the wee hours of the night to help inform staff about the Pathway to Excellence Survey and provided them with knowledge about Pathway to Excellence so they all knew the amazing quality care that was being provided at St. Anthony Hospital. The amount of commitment and dedication it took for all 5 of these nurses was completely inspiring and I am truly honored to have been able to witness the professionalism of each of these nurses.
In January 2018, the team was informed they indeed had received the Pathway to Excellence Designation! To achieve this goal, the team had to work with the entire SAH Team to draft a 105-page document providing evidence that St. Anthony Hospital met the Pathway criteria in the area of Shared Decision Making, Leadership, Safety, Quality, Well-Being, and Professional Development. In addition, this team had to lead the St. Anthony Hospital Nursing Team through a survey process that required a 60% response rate and at least 50% favorable responses on all questions and at least a 75% favorable on 21 of the 28 survey questions. This team far exceeded the requirements as St. Anthony Hospital achieved a response rate of 87% and scored greater than 75% favorable on all questions. When the results were provided to the St. Anthony Team, the Pathway Organization described the results as "exceptional" and "outstanding". Because of this team of professional nurses, St. Anthony Hospital is the first hospital in CHI Franciscan Health to receive the Pathway to Excellence Designation. In addition, St. Anthony Hospital is one of only two facilities to receive this recognition in the state of Washington. As a result, they are the leading pioneers for our entire healthcare system and exemplified how frontline nursing staff can lead the way to professional nursing excellence. They are members of an extraordinary team. It is my distinct honor to recognize Elise Bacon, Shannon Daily, Kelly Davila, Bonnie Poore and Kathy Stitz with The DAISY Team Award for exemplifying our CHI Franciscan mission, values and leading the way in making a difference in the lives of our patients, families, and community!