As a nursing leader and recent NAPH fellow, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to NAPH for their continued support for nurses and our nursing profession.

As nurses, we are uniquely positioned to transform, lead and strengthen the health care reform agenda. I’d like to touch on the impact nurses have on assuring quality patient care and start with a story.

The strong and vibrant maple tree that sits on the shoreline between our cabin and the lake protects the island shore from erosion. You can’t see the roots, but you know the strength of this healthy tree is a foundational structure. I think of my organization, Hennepin County Medical Center, and the many people doing important work, the branches being the services we provide, and the diverse colors of the leaves on the tree as the people who make us excel. Like the tree, key to our organization is foundational structure – the things we deliver on to assure quality and patient safety – compliance with regulatory standards, using checklists to make sure the right steps have been taken, each and every time. These foundational components become part of our practice.

Quality and patient safety is number one and is embedded in the patient experience – nurturing and serving our patients, listening to them. They are telling us to involve them, collaborate with them and empower them to heal and grow.

We are a collective of people making up the team supporting patients and families while delivering safe, quality patient care. If our foundation is weak, just like the tree – the trunk, branches and leaves are all affected. We can fall together or we can grow stronger together.

I ask you to consider: what is your role as a nurse to keep your organization and department strong? Do you practice patient- and family-centered care? Do you follow safety checklists and patient- and family-centered care principles with each patient, every encounter, every time?

I close with the definition of “The Good Life” that resonates with me…

“Living in a place where you belong with the people you love, doing the right work on purpose.”

This is the renewal I wish for all of my nursing colleagues as we celebrate Nurses Week.

Namaste

——-

Kathy Wilde, RN, MA
Chief Nursing Officer
Hennepin County Medical Center