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Tears and Cheers: A Celebration of Nursing's Image

 |  By HealthLeaders Media Staff  
   October 05, 2009

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A few weeks ago, in a non-descript ballroom at a nice Boston hotel, I experienced what I can honestly say was one of the highlights of my career. I stood teary-eyed with a roomful of applauding, cheering nurses—many of whom may admit to being teary-eyed themselves—as we recognized some pretty amazing nurses.

It was the end of a beautiful, New England fall day and the sun lit up the view across the harbor of the city's skyline, but the pride and joy radiating inside that room eclipsed any expensive vista the city had to offer.

We were there for the presentation of the 2009 Nursing Image Awards, and the pride I saw on people's faces was mirrored by my own pride at having the opportunity to help judge the awards, which were presented on September 21.

I thought these awards were an interesting topic for the first issue of NursingLeaders, our new weekly e-newsletter. I've been covering nursing for more than four years for HCPro, Inc., HealthLeaders Media's parent company, and now I'll be offering my perspective on nursing issues and news in this weekly column. The e-newsletter will include original reporting and analysis, guest features, audio interviews, and links to interesting articles from HealthLeaders magazine and other news sources, all focused on issues that matter to nursing leaders.

The awards were conceived last year as a way to recognize nurses who embody a professional image of nursing. We sought nominations in two categories, leadership and clinical excellence, and healthcare professionals were invited to nominate nurse individuals or teams who personify a positive image of nursing in those categories.

We received around 200 nominations, awe-inspiring considering we required a 500-word essay, and I read every single one of them. Sitting at my desk, pouring over the 199th essay, something jumped out at me.

Along with hard data about the measurable outcomes nominees achieved—staff satisfaction levels up, turnover reduced, quality improvement initiatives succeeding—the essays contained themes about mentoring, learning, educating, and inspiring, which were repeated over and over again. And it made me think about how the presence of excellence can have a positive effect in any workplace. Think about when you first started out as a new nurse and watched the experienced nurse on your unit in awe, determined to one day be a skilled, competent nurse just like him or her. Or consider the inspirational leaders who you have sought to emulate and who have mentored you—whether they knew it or not—as you moved up the career ladder.

Dianne Aroh, RN, MS, NEA-BC, is one of those leaders. Aroh was the winner of the Image of Nursing in Leadership award and the nomination essay noted Aroh's abilities as a transformational leader, who increased staff nurse involvement in shared governance and fostered a transparent, dynamic culture of excellence, collaboration, harmony, and synergy across the entire organization.

Aroh is chief nursing officer at Hackensack (NJ) University Medical Center and the judges picked her for all the positive, measurable outcomes she had achieved, but also because she serves as a role model for promoting a collaborative, professional nursing environment.

"What an inspiration this leader is!' says judge Shelley Cohen, RN, BSN, CEN, president of Health Resources Unlimited, and co-author of the book The Image of Nursing: Perspectives on Shaping, Empowering, and Elevating the Nursing Profession, "Empowering nurses at the staff level not only promotes excellence in patient care, but role models excellence in leadership."

I was delighted to note that Aroh was accompanied to the award presentation by a large contingent of senior leadership from her hospital, including the president and CEO, which says a lot about how nursing leaders can succeed when working in a supportive, collaborative environment.

Equally impressive were the winners of the clinical practice category. The judges chose the neonatal ICU team at University Hospital of Brooklyn SUNY Downstate Medical Center for their focus on quality improvement issues and dedication to providing compassionate, competent care to patients and their families. The team focuses on continuing education and works to present a positive image of nursing.

The two nurse managers of the unit were there to receive the award, along with several members of their staff, and it was heartening to see their reaction as the entire audience gave these top performers a rousing round of applause.

It's an oft cited notion that managers spend too much time coaching the bottom performing 20% of staff and trying to help them improve, rather than spending time with the top performing 20% of staff and helping them excel even higher. These are the employees who are so competent and good at their jobs that we largely leave them to it, knowing they will be just fine, rather than helping them excel even further.

So it's worth turning our full attention to our exceptional employees—the Dianne Aroh's and NICU teams of the world—both because we should be recognizing and rewarding them for all they do, but also because given the right environment and encouragement, exceptional employees can be role models, mentors, and teachers. They lift up the spirit and performance of all of us around them—as they did in the hotel ballroom in Boston, where we all felt a little more inspired for having met them.

Editor's note: I'd be interested in hearing about ways readers promote a positive image of nursing at your facilities and ways you recognize and reward the shining stars at your organization. You can contribute your thoughts on this topic, nursing leadership, or the business of healthcare by e-mailing me directly at rhendren@hcpro.com.


Note: You can sign up to receive HealthLeaders Media NursingLeaders, a free weekly e-newsletter that offers concise updates on the top nursing leadership headlines of the week from top news sources.

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