Blue Ribbon Education /Practice Partnership: From Informal to

Sustainable

By:

Elizabeth Bruno, MSN,

Director, Organizational Development & Team Member Relations

Patricia Kraft, EdD, MSN, RN, CNE

Southeast Georgia Health System Distinguished Dean of Nursing and Health Sciences

Willingness

+ A Meeting of the Minds

+ Serendipity

= Success!

A new Dean, A new-ish Vice President for Patient Care Services, And an old-but-charming

Director of Organizational Development

MeetMeet . . . . . .

FindFind . . .

A willingness on the part of the Dean to hear it all. . .– The Good– The Bad– The Ugly

Which inspiredinspired . . .

Reflection and truth telling about nursing in the Health System

The Dean Listened and Asked:Listened and Asked:

• From your perspective, what about our program works?

• Where do we need to improve immediately?• Where do we need to improve over time?• How can we make your life easier? • How can we collaborate better?

The Director Listened and Asked:Listened and Asked:

• What part of this do we own?• How can we help?• What do we need to do to improve?• Where or in what way are we an obstacle?

We realizedrealized . . .

That the long-standing

beliefs we had about one another

might be incomplete if not erroneous.

Thus was born born . . .

• The death of “us” and “them”

• The birth of “we”

At the college, the fruits of the new “we” included

hard decisionshard decisions and risk takingrisk taking

including . . .

Faculty Changes

Reorganization of duties within the college’s nursing department

Redesign of courses and programs

• Expansion of advisory board

• Educational opportunities for Registered Nurses

• Service Learning Initiatives

At the Health System, fruits of the new “we” included . . .

A complete revamping of nursing orientation

Shared Electronic Medical Records

Enhanced clinical placements

Reconfiguration of the new graduate transition program

Finally, three other concepts/behaviorsconcepts/behaviors

which keep us moving in the right direction . .

• Framing all questions with the patient as the center

• Looking in the mirror• Speed dial communication

Thank you

Questions?

Comments?

ebruno@sghs.org

pkraft@ccga.edu