While riding my bicycle with hundreds of NorthBay Healthcare employees walking in the Fiesta Day Parade a few weeks ago, it was great to see so many employees from all the different positions taking part in a magical "Pink Heals" parade.
The air was full of life as Mary Dickey led walkers in chants and danced along with the crowd.
Several pink clad employees and their family members road on the float that followed the large pink fire truck.
The firemen were in full pink uniforms, down to their pink boots! I was literally tickled pink to see Bob Armijo, Diane Irby, Donna Dabeck, Becky Mock and her entire family, Patrick Garner and his dog, Max as well as Kim McQueen and her family all in pink chanting, "We are NorthBay!" The camaraderie was palpable!
Structural Empowerment is one of the Magnet five model components and is seen when the entire organization promotes relationships among all its employees. It encourages self-governance in each employee, shared decision-making structures, and processes that establish standards of practice and address issues of concern in patient care. This creates an empowered team of healthcare professionals.
The five sub-components of the second Magnet Model component Structural Empowerment are:
- Professional Engagement
- Commitment to Professional Development
- Teaching and Role Development
- Commitment to Community Involvement
- Recognition of Nursing
Through the Professional Engagement sub-component of the Magnet application, we will show how the organization provides the following:
- The structures and processes that enable nurses from all settings and roles to actively participate in organizational decision-making groups, such as committees, councils and task forces.
- Two improvements in different practice settings because of nurse involvement in organizational decision-making groups such as committees, councils and task forces.
- The structures and processes that enable nurses at all levels of the organization to participate in professional nursing organizations at the local, state and national levels.
- Two improvements in different practice settings that occurred because of nurse involvement in a professional nursing organization.
The Professional Engagement sub-component of the Magnet application's Structural Empowerment section is seen in the nursing shared governance structure, with the inclusion of nurses on committees, councils and task forces throughout patient care.
The Stroke Alert and STEMI programs are two examples of nurse involvement in organizational decision making.
Participation in professional nursing organizations has many examples of our NorthBay nurses exemplifying their nursing knowledge through presentations, posters and published articles.
Two examples of this participation are Clinical Practice Managers, Kim Williamson and Elisa Jang who will be presenting at the June 21st American Case Management Conference on TeamSTEPPS: Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety and Trauma Program Director, Heather Venezio, R.N., will present at the National Emergency Nurses Association Convention in September on Care of the Psychiatric Patient in the Emergency Department.
The Structural Empowerment component of the Magnet program is already quite strong as we begin to write the documents to support the sub-components of the application. We are striving to make it even stronger and continue the magnetism throughout the organization to increase professionalism and education empowerment in all professions that encompass NorthBay. We are a structurally empowered healthcare system. We are NorthBay!
In my next blog, I will review one more of the five sub-components of Structural Empowerment - Stay tuned and stay empowered!
