SIH St. Joseph Memorial Hospital in Murphysboro is celebrating their nursing program. They recently earned a prestigious designation from a national nursing program for the second time.
In 2020 the nursing staff at SIH St. Joseph Memorial earned the Pathway to Excellence designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center(ANCC). In June the hospital found out they were awarded a re-designation for the same pathway.
The ANCC pathway to excellence focuses on how nursing programs meet standards that create a positive nursing environment that supports quality patient care.
St. Joseph Memorial administrator Craig Jesiolowski says the designation shows that they have a culture supporting nurses to help them do their job well, "It's nurses taking care of nurses. You know, it's the support, the empowerment of nurses to do their job. And when nurses are empowered, patients get better care."
To earn the designation, ANCC evaluates the hospital on six standards. They look at safety, quality, professional development, leadership, shared decision-making, and how well they support the nursing staff’s well-being.
"So it's really about our nurses having a voice, feeling empowered, being a part of processes, and improving quality and safety for our patients," says Johnna Smith, St. Joseph Chief Nurse Executive.
According to Smith they began working on the re-designation in 2021. Leaders work with the nursing staff to pull information showing how the hospital adheres to the standards. Once that’s done, ANCC conducts a survey of the nursing staff as a whole.
Smith gives credit to the nursing staff for supporting their vision, "This is where our our nurses use their voice. They get to say, yes, these things are a part of the organization here at Saint Joe's. Or you made it up. And so, our nurses did an amazing job. We had a 98% participation rate. So that shows the engagement of our staff and how proud they are to work here."
While earning the designation for a second time is an honor, the hospital says it's a reflection of the work they’ve put in to create a culture supporting the nurses. An example they point to is a group of nurses and doctors that meet monthly. Danielle Vordtriede, Medical-Surgical Nurse Manager, says the group reviews hospital practices so they can have a voice. "They created a whole standard of practice or a policy around how we use a certain medical device on our unit. And they were able to do the research with this, have conversations, figure out what is best practice, and then push it through committees and actually became a policy."
Vordtriede says the supportive work culture for nurses creates better care for their patients, "We just really want to take good care of the patients that we serve. And I want them to know that we're right here in their hometown."
St. Joseph Memorial Hospital is only one of four hospitals in the state of Illinois to earn this designation.
