The University of Maryland Medical System’s award-winning nursing culture is the result of one vital factor, according to Peggy Norton-Rosko, DNP, RN.
Twelve units within the Baltimore-based health system have won the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ Beacon Award for Excellence. Dr. Norton-Rosko, senior vice president and system chief nurse executive, told Becker’s the success is a result of supporting nurses owning and governing their own practice.
Engaging front-line nurses should feature care improvements not only from patient to patient, Dr. Norton-Rosko said, but on a unit-to-unit, patient population basis.
“Really speaking to nurses about the data, about the outcomes and about the overall impact they have beyond their individual patients they care for is a larger context we need to keep setting,” she said.
The system focuses on educating nurses on how their care influences patient satisfaction and safety metrics, such as patient falls and other nurse-sensitive quality indicators.
UMMS commits to this measurement and communication every day, according to Dr. Norton-Rosko. It also happens at each unit and hospital and systemwide.
“The nurses, they like to be able to see how they’re doing on a more consistent basis because when you tell someone a month or a quarter later that your unit had five pressure injuries, it’s difficult to understand,” she said. “If we can talk about it every day and keep it top of mind, they’re able to change their practice in real time, more proactively than reactively.”
The health system operates 11 hospitals — including a 739-bed academic medical center in downtown Baltimore, the nation’s first and only integrated trauma hospital, several community medical centers throughout suburban Maryland, and small rural hospitals along the state’s Eastern Shore.
“We really are agile in understanding what the needs are for the people of the state of Maryland,” Dr. Norton-Rosko said. “Our nurses embrace that no matter what type of site they work at.”
For example, the labor and delivery patient population of Largo-based University of Maryland Capital Region Health is high risk and high acuity, meaning it handles a large volume and an active neonatal intensive care unit.
Recently, a Capital Region nurse raised a concern during a huddle: Stressed family members of NICU patients do not want to go home, but after several days, they need to leave to shower. The nurse recommended setting up a place for them to “shower, feel refreshed and get a little bit of time to have some respite,” Dr. Norton-Rosko said, adding that the accommodation was successful.
“[Nurses] are part of their community and they understand that we are serving the needs of our community, and they really take that to heart,” she said. “They really work together to understand our patient population and work to improve the outcomes.”
