Professional Practice and Professional Governance
Mission Health nurses are dedicated to providing exceptional patient and family-centered nursing care with compassion and integrity to achieve optimal outcomes for each person and team member. Our daily work incorporates regulatory and specialty guidelines, interprofessional collaboration and professional organizations’ standards of practice to promote enhanced clinical practice. We participate in Professional Governance Councils and Committees to raise our voices in discovering and implementing best practices to ensure ongoing quality and safety improvements.
Nursing Professional Practice Model
The framework by which nurses identify what is important in their work is outlined in the professional practice model. The redesign of Mission Health’s Nursing Professional Practice Model over more than six months in 2016 and 2017 was the cumulative work of hundreds of clinical nurses and clinical leaders who answered the question, “What is the professional nurse?” Four words, which spell the acronym CARE, were chosen during a system-wide nursing retreat on January 23, 2017, to represent our practice model.
The schematic for this model pictures a dogwood flower surrounded by a cross. This image has been used to represent Mission Health nurses for over a decade. The “Nursing is Our Mission” logo is embedded on each of the four dogwood petals. The CARE words (Compassion, Advocacy, Respect and Excellence) are set along the four pillars of the cross. The model represents our nurses’ expectations in caring for their patients, families and each other, as well as their collaboration with additional professional disciplines.
>C-Compassion – According to the MERIT* value of Mercy, we employ the virtues of caring and compassion to enter into the human experiences as a way of establishing a meaningful connection.
> A-Advocacy – We promote and advocate for the protection of human rights of health and safety by safeguarding people’s autonomy, acting on behalf of truth and championing social justice in the provision of healthcare.
>R-Respect – We value the innate dignity of all persons, respect their uniqueness and diversity and enable the development of each one’s full potential.
>E-Excellence – We maintain the standard of excellence by exceeding expectations and continuously improving our clinical knowledge, relationships with each other, and the practice environment.
Mission Health Nursing Philosophy Statements
We believe as professional nurses that:
- Caring is the essence of nursing.
- We keep the patient and family at the center of our care by owning our practice.
- We celebrate and are accountable for our individual practice and professional image.
- We will honor and respect the diverse needs of others, whether their needs are physical, psychosocial, or spiritual.
- We will lead the integration of evidence-based practice to achieve exceptional patient outcomes.
- The care we deliver will be safe, individualized, and holistic, while encompassing Mission Health’s MERIT* values of Mercy, Excellence, Respect, Integrity, and Trust/T
- This philosophy will promote an environment of professionalism in order to retain the nurses of yesterday and recruit the nurses of tomorrow.
Mission Health Professional Nurse
A Mission Health Professional Nurse is a registered nurse and practices according to the Mission Health Guiding Principles by:
- Demonstrating a positive, caring, empathetic, and compassionate attitude toward patients and their families, team members, and the community.
- Exhibiting a strong knowledge base while furthering their own professional development.
- Embracing change and progress.
- Collaborating with our team members and family partners in care.
- Advocating for patient and family centered care.
- Exemplifying integrity, accountability, and ethical behavior.
- Continually examining and transforming our current practice as guided by best available evidence.
- Maintaining a professional image.
- Owning nursing practice and applying the nursing process when developing nursing plans of care for each patient.
Click here to save and/or print a .pdf copy of the Mission Health Professional Practice Model, Nursing Philosophy and Professional Nurse details.
Nursing Mission and Vision
In January 2017, during a nursing retreat in Asheville, nurses from across Mission Health enthusiastically discussed various aspects of their desired impact on western North Carolina. Jointly, they established their mission and vision, which guides strategic planning and communicates direction and inspiration for the future.
Nursing Strategic Plan
The Nursing Strategic Plan of Mission Health guides the focus of all our nurses in their work to provide quality excellent patient and family care and to further their own professional development in an environment that fosters exceptional outcomes for each person, family and team member.
Nursing Strategic Plan 2016-2019
Professional Governance
The Mission Health Nursing Professional Governance structure supports the empowerment of every professional nurse to own his or her nursing practice and standards of care. Professional Governance allows us to achieve desired outcomes and strengthen our relationships with colleagues to drive improvements in nursing care and the profession of nursing. Our Professional Governance groups include System Councils, committees and task forces, which review nursing professional practice changes or workflow impacting nursing.
Open Comment Forum request form –on MissionPoint via Mission Health computers or remote access accounts
Resources
Professional Governance Congress (Mission Point)
Nursing Practice Change Decision Request Form
Translation Model
Translating evidence to nursing practice and policy remains a challenging and onerous process, particularly in large healthcare systems. Mission Health nurses established a Translation Model to assist in reducing barriers and facilitating uptake, ultimately reducing the research to practice gap. The theoretically based model outlines who should review and approve proposed evidence-based changes, best process for implementation, evaluation of uptake and associated outcomes, and sustainability of practice change.
Resources:
Education Rollout Planning Form
Nursing Practice Communication Level Process
Mission Health nurses implemented a communication process to disseminate nursing practice information, issues or concerns to enhance patient safety and improve outcomes. The standardized approach promotes comprehensive distribution among nurses systemwide in all of our western North Carolina facilities. Information is categorized in three levels: Practice Drift, Practice Alert or Urgent. In order to ensure that recommendations for addressing each issue meet nursing practice guidelines, the Nursing Practice, Education and Research department serves as a central point for evaluation, categorization and distribution.
Nursing Practice Communication Level Process Updates
NC Board of Nursing (NCBON) Practice Drift Article: What Could Happen: The Consequences of “Practice Drift” … Is It Worth the Risk?
Quality and Safety
Nursing leaders and front line nurses developed the Mission Health system nursing quality plan to guide performance improvement and align with organizational quality structure.
Resources:
Professional Governance – Mission Point
Nursing Practice Council- Mission Point
Nursing Quality and Safety Council – Mission Point
Nursing Professional Development Council
Nursing Evidence Based Practice and Research Council
Professional Practice Model Orientation Video