School Lends Expertise to Health Systems Pursuing Quality Designation

More than 35 nurse leaders from University of Minnesota Health and Fairview Health Services gathered in June at the School of Nursing for a half-day meeting to plan the adoption of a new professional practice framework for how nurses interact with patients and deliver care in their everyday work.  This new framework is based on strengthening partnerships between nurses and other clinicians, patients and their families. The new approach supports nurses in delivering care that is holistic and patient-centered, verses function centric, and represents a philosophy shown to be effective in improving outcomes.

The new nursing practice approach provides a blueprint that will impact how patients are assigned, how care plans are developed, decisions are made and tasks are carried out.   

This initiative will involve a system wide training program, utilizing the expertise of the two health systems as well as faculty and graduate students from the University of Minnesota School of Nursing and the Center for Spirituality and Healing.

This work supports the goal of achieving formal recognition by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a system meeting the highest level of excellence in nursing practice. The ANCC’s Magnet designation is recognized worldwide as a sign of quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovation in professional nursing practice.

The project grew out of an established academic and practice partnership known as the Nursing Collaboratory, an integrated leadership team comprised of nurse leaders from University of Minnesota Health, Fairview Health Services and the University of Minnesota School of Nursing.