Recognizing Excellence: A Systematic Approach to Developing and Maintaining Peer Recognition for Excellence in Clinical Practice in Oncology Nursing Megan Mikula, RN, BSN, OCN Mary Fleury, RN, BSN, OCN Legna Hernandez, RN, BSN Rebecca Cohen, RN, BSN, OCN Hematology, Oncology, & Transplant Day Hospital Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD Objectives To share our unit s story for recognizing excellence. To equip participants with a model for a unit based staff recognition award for excellence in clinical practice that can be implemented within an oncology unit or program of care, using survey, nomination, and submission evaluation tools. 3SE Day Hospital Outpatient treatment center at the National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD Serve hematology/oncology /transplant patients on clinical trials for the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Open 365 days per year 42 treatment chairs/beds 29 full and part time nurses on staff Serve between 50-80 patients per week day Why develop an award? The Day Hospital is a fast paced, high throughput area Nurses caring for chronically ill patients risk caregiver role strain and burnout Validation of positive contributions to patients and peers is needed Need for consistent method for staff recognition Evidence for Staff Recognition High functioning groups Consistently and genuinely recognize peer contributions Value actions that embody excellence in attaining the organizational mission Employee Recognition and Rewards are effective in improving service quality and customer satisfaction Kopelman, et al 2011 1
Evidence for Staff Recognition The core of feedback associated with meaningful recognition involves acknowledging one s behaviors and the impact these actions had on others, ensuring the feedback is relevant to the recognized situation, and is equal to the person s contribution. AACN, 2005 Purpose of 3SE Award To retain talented staff To praise outstanding contributions that Positively affect the patient experience Positively affect the image of nursing To objectively select award recipients based on individual merit; and his/her impact to the unit, patients and nurses Staff Survey Recognized need for staff involvement in program development to ensure staying power Survey Monkey was used to assess program needs 74% Response Rate!!! Staff Survey How would you like to be recognized? 76% - Letter to their personnel file How often should peers be recognized? 65% - Monthly Who should be recognized? 94% - Nurses Staff Survey What do you think the program should be called? Excellence in Practice aka EIP When you think of clinical excellence, what characteristics come to mind? 2
Nominations A nomination form is available for all nurses All nurses are eligible to nominate and all nurses are eligible to receive the award regardless of level on the clinical ladder Handwritten or electronic submissions are accepted A group e-mail address is available to aid in the submission process Nominations are accepted on a rolling basis Reminders are sent to the staff prior to submission deadlines (emails, announcements, & word of mouth) Evaluation & Selection Process After the submission deadline, each nomination is evaluated by the Excellence in Practice (EIP) Committee The unit defined EIP qualities are grouped into the pillars of people, quality, service, safety, and leadership This creates the basis for a Nomination Evaluation Tool using a Likert-like scale The tool allows for a total possible score of 50 points and the highest scoring submission is awarded EIP for the period Time to Celebrate!!! A brief reception is held on the unit to announce the recipient It s a surprise to the winner as well as most other staff and nominators when the ceremony takes place A picture of the nurse and the letter of accommodation are framed and displayed in the conference room The letter is placed in the personnel file 3
Process Improvement Frequency has been changed from monthly to quarterly EIP Committee has been formed to sustain the project Planning checklist has been created to keep track of the process and allow for alternating leadership of each quarter s award Outcomes Since it s inception in January 2009, 17 nurses have received the EIP award The award has sustained professionalism and teamwork during management turnover, increased patient census and associated staff growth Consistently, nurses state they value EIP and want to see it continue on the unit Next Steps Administer an anonymous survey to reappraise the initial aims of the award Assess eventual direction of EIP Present this session to our Recognition and Retention Committee to share the work and propose EIP as a model for a house wide unit based award References Kopelman, R.E., Gardberg, N.A., & Brandwein, A.C., (2011). Using a recognition and reward initiative to improve service quality: A quasiexperimental field study in a public higher education institution. Public Personnel Management, 40(2), 133-149. Lefton, C. (2012). Strengthening the workforce through meaningful recognition. Nursing Economics, 30(6), 331-338. American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). (2005). AACN standards for establishing and sustaining healthy work environments: A journey to excellence. Retrieved from: http://ajcc.aacnjournals.org/content/14/3/187.full.pdf Thank you! Thank you to Linda Bedker for planting the seed Thank you to Georgie Cusack for recognizing our excellence and mentoring us in the abstract and presentation process Questions or Comments? mmikula@cc.nih.gov 4
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