How OU Health's Professional Practice Model Is Defining Nursing Excellence

This model enables OU Health to elevate nursing education, practice, and outcomes, says this CNE.

Foolproof change management processes are essential for CNOs who want to streamline their workforce during times of transition.

Organizations often have to endure cultural shifts as well as workforce changes,  so it's critical that CNOs are able to guide nurses and provide resources to help them adjust accordingly.

Stefanie Beavers, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, chief nurse executive at OU Health, and HealthLeaders Exchange member, recognized the need for resources during OU Health's cultural transformation, which occurred as the organization leaned into its identity as an academic health system.

"I learned very quickly as we walked through, what are the resources for our teams?" Beavers said. "How do we organize within the nursing workforce from the lens of nursing excellence, and what's the definition of nursing excellence?"

The solution, for Beavers, was a professional practice model.

The concept

A professional practice model, according to Beavers, is an evidence-based practice that aligns organizational values with a framework driven by research and outcomes. The goal is to elevate nursing excellence and patient outcomes, but also to solidify the identity of the organization's teams.

The OU Health Nursing Professional Practice Model was developed based on the Joanne Duffy Quality Caring Model, so that the organization could take caring behaviors and integrate them into OU Health’s values.

"As we led this initiative, I wanted to make sure that we did not confuse the workforce," Beavers said, "[and that] we didn't confuse our nursing teams and create this whole different grouping or parallel model that was outside of our organizational values."

According to Beavers, this strategy followed the streamlining and establishment of OU Health's mission, vision, and core values.

"It was important to me that our nurses could find their identity," Beavers said, "and we took those caring behaviors from the Dr. Duffy model, and we wove them in."

Defining values

Beavers explained that, first and foremost, patients come first at OU Health.

"They're at the core and center of everything that we do," Beavers said.

The dedication to relentless excellence, integrity, practicing in a space of inclusion, teamwork, and learning are also critical core values, according to Beavers.

"We took the professional practice model as our guiding light and really [asked,] what is our identity as [the nursing workforce] within the organization?" Beavers said. "What is the brand of OU Health nursing, and how do we show up, and then how does that translate to our care delivery?"

The next step was to spread the word about the professional practice model to the nurses.

"How do they know the expectations?" Beavers said. "How do they know this is the professional identity that we live in the organization?"

According to Beavers, they incorporated the model into all clinical orientations and did a huge roll out with emphasis on elevating the professional practice of nursing.

"A lot of questions always come up around Magnet designation, and what I tend to tell people is the Magnet designation is one aspect," Beavers said. "Nursing excellence is a continual journey."

OU Health has also worked to line up the layers of nursing leadership and intertwined the professional practice model with the AONL core competencies of leaders.

"We take it and translate for the bedside nurse with our values and those caring behaviors," Beavers said, "but then we actually elevate it even more for our leaders, and say, 'okay, what are the core competencies of leaders in the organization? What are our standards through AONL? And then how does that actually look in practice?'"

Outcomes

Beavers said there have been several positive outcomes from implementing the professional practice model. With the organization in a continual state of evolution, OU Health has been able to more accurately define standards and processes in nursing.

The next step is determining how to improve processes and define what high reliability looks like in the organization, according to Beavers. It's about having all the tools come together to define the culture, which should be one of engagement.

"I always say, if your nurses are not engaged, it's really hard to propel a healthcare organization forward," Beavers said. "They become the backbone because they are that constant at the bedside, right? Every discipline has to wrap around them."

OU Health has seen massive improvements in quality performance, fall reduction, and stabilization of quality outcomes and data-driven metrics. The organization has also seen huge workforce initiatives, including a partnership with the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing.

"This professional practice model has been an opportunity to really dive in and help as students come in, even to identify [transition to practice processes]," Beavers said. "What does it look like to be successful as a nurse, and what does it look like to be a professional nurse?"

OU Health has employed a student model in the organization as well. When students come in, they can work as employed students, and they can participate in jobs like a nurse tech role. This way, OU Health is setting the stage for professional practice, while also helping students identify where they want to work as a nurse.

"We're matching them to those spaces so that they can actually transition to practice through their clinical expertise, their nurse tech roles, focusing those shifts in the area that they think they want to work in as a nurse," Beavers said.

The students can acclimate to professional practice in real time, and are gaining experience in the environment they want to spend their careers in.

"We set the stage with our professional practice model. Now, here we paint, 'what does your career journey look like?'" Beavers said. "It allows us to elevate the core of the organization through academic practice, but also helps people to see, as we've been through all of these changes in the past, we are a stable organization." 

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