Nurses, hospitals cited for excellence

Good news in the work force? Yes, it can still happen. In March, 10 Georgia nurses learned they had been selected for this year’s AJC Nursing Excellence Awards.

The winners, who were picked from 230 nominations, said they were honored and surprised at being chosen. Some assured me that while they were grateful for the recognition, they believed they were just doing their jobs.

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BARRY WILLIAMS / AJC Special

Venntilator settings on a patient just out from cardiac surgery.

But their patients and co-workers thought otherwise. The nominations spoke of nurses who had gone above and beyond their duties to give extraordinary care.

Congratulations to this year’s winners: Mary Lynne Berg, Sacred Journey Hospice; Jo-Anne Booker, St. Joseph’s Hospital; Donna Chambers, KSU Clinic at MUST Ministries; Laura Hochwalt, Grady Memorial Hospital; Rueleen Lavergne, Hemophilia of Georgia; Christine Miles, Piedmont Hospital; Barbara Negelow, Ready Birth; Maria Seo, Athens Regional Medical Center; Bonnie Shore, Emory University Hospital; and Tomas Vela, Embracing Hospice.

These nurses were honored at the fourth annual Celebrating Nurses event on May 6. The luncheon, which honored the profession as a whole, also recognized all the nurses who were nominated.

Nursing excellence — as acknowledged by the American Nursing Credentialing Center’s Magnet Recognition Program — is the subject of a story on Page 4.

“Magnet is the highest recognition that our profession can give to a health care organization. It’s like the gold medal for nursing care,” said Kim Sharkey, chief nursing officer at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta.

Becoming a magnet facility is a rigorous process. For its record fourth magnet designation, Sharkey turned in 15 inches of documentation covering 162 criteria.

ANCC appraisers decline an application or ask for additional information. If an application is accepted, recommendations from stakeholders are gathered. An appraisal team makes a three- to four-day visit to the hospital, interacting with staff to validate the application.

The site report goes to the nine-

member Commission on Magnet. Two or three primary readers go over it, make a recommendation and then the commission votes on whether to confer the designation.

Magnet organizations believe the process is worth the effort, because it creates an environment that allows “nurses to practice to their highest potential,” said Sharkey, BSN, RN, MBA, NEA-BC. “They have a voice in their practice and hospital operations, and know that their professional growth will be rewarded.”

“You don’t maintain an environment of high-quality care for an award, but because it’s the right thing to do,” said Marianne Baird, RN, MN, clinical nurse specialist and magnet coordinator at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Four hospitals in Georgia hold magnet designation: Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, St. Joseph’s/Candler in Savannah, University Hospital in Augusta and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta. Last year, those hospitals formed a consortium to share best practices and encourage other Georgia hospitals to pursue magnet recognition.

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