Source: The News-Enterprise
On the door to Chief Nursing Officer Sharon Wright’s office at Hardin Memorial Hospital is a poster displaying the six Pathway to Excellence standards.
“I’ve had that on the door for a long time,” she said, noting it’s been a goal for the hospital to receive the designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Hardin Memorial Health officials announced last week it earned the designation, which recognizes that nurses trust their employer and that the hospital team supports them.
HMH is one of seven hospitals in Kentucky to receive the designation and one of 163 internationally.
Wright called the designation a reflection of the skilled, dedicated nursing team and the supportive culture leadership and physicians provide.
“When nurses are trusted, valued and empowered to care for their patients, it has a direct impact on patient outcomes,” Wright said. “We are beyond thrilled to receive this designation.”
She said earning the designation was more than a yearlong process documenting how the team met the six practice standards of shared decision-making, leadership, safety, quality, well-being and professional development. Along with the application, the credentialing center considered the results of a survey of the nursing team.
Wright said the survey had 28 questions and nurses had to take it within a three-week period. At least 60 percent of its 867 nurses at the time had to take the survey. Wright said 743 nurses took it.
“Nurses have to agree that all six standards and all components of those six standards are met,” she said.
Of the 28 questions, at least 21 have to be 75 percent favorable and no item could be less than 50. Wright said the hospital’s lowest score on the survey was an 80.
President and CEO Dennis Johnson said in a news release the designation was one of the highest international recognitions the hospital’s nurses can receive.
“Nurses across the HMH system are highly trusted and already met the requirements for designation, but I am so glad their excellence is now documented, earning them this well-deserved recognition,” he said.
Marcie Backus, manager of patient experience and pathway program coordinator at Baptist Health Richmond, served as a coach for HMH during the application process. Backus said it was evident the hospital was well-positioned to receive the designation.
“They already had the processes in place,” she said in the release. “At HMH, nurses are treated as valued partners in health care.”
Backus said positive culture goes a long way not only in nurse recruitment, but also in retention, citing the hospital’s low nursing turnover rate of 6.4 percent compared to a national average of 20 percent.
The Pathway to Excellence designation lasts four years and has requirements to submit additional data to sustain designation.
