Fall 2007

 Introducing Students to Perioperative Nursing at Hopkins Bayview

Although nursing students typically receive experience in hospitals before graduation, many do not spend clinical time in the operating room. A nursing student’s lack of exposure to the OR can prevent new nurses from selecting the OR as a place to work upon graduation. Mary Anne Greene, Director of Nursing Education and Practice at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, wanted to change that by creating an introductory course in perioperative nursing that would spark an interest in students to enter the field.

 Shared Leadership at Shore Health System

Christopher Parker, chief nursing officer at Shore Health System, saw a need for collaborative decision-making among staff nurses. To address this need, he created a Shared Leadership Global Team—consisting of staff nurses in 2002. Parker thought the team would help with retention efforts because participating nurses would feel more involved as stakeholders within the health system.

 MHA Scholars Program Awards Future Health Care Workers

In order to address the nursing and allied health shortage, the Maryland Hospital Association created a scholarship program to attract students to Maryland health care careers. Since receiving a grant from BD Diagnostics in 2002, MHA has awarded at least ten $2,500 scholarships each year—84 scholarships total.

Fall 2006

 Frontline Nursing Leadership Program a Success at
 Western Maryland Health System

Participants of this two-year comprehensive leadership program are nearing the end of their course and have already improved nursing practice in Western Maryland.

 From a Nursing Badge to a Nursing Career

Area Girl Scouts are introduced to a career in nursing at Garrett County Memorial Hospital.

 University of Maryland Medical Center is
 Growing Its Own Respiratory Therapy Program

Current employees, as well as others in the community, are eligible for a full scholarship if they qualify for the respiratory therapy program at a local college.

Spring 2006

Patient interaction is a reason many enter the field of nursing, but in today’s health care environment nurses have to juggle multiple tasks and interacting with patients unfortunately loses its importance. When Judy Brown, Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services at Howard County General Hospital, established the Volunteer Nurse Program in 2002 she was relying on those very nurses who enjoyed spending time with patients.

Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare Launches
  New Program

The Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (BACH), a nonprofit work force development consortium that includes seven local hospitals, has chosen an institution, the Maryland Center for Arts and Technology, a North Howard Street training center already geared toward serving Baltimore’s unemployed or underemployed, with which to partner in its effort to train unemployed workers for health industry jobs. Through a 12-week bridge program, which began April 10, 2006, BACH intends to enhance the basic skills of workers with low level reading and math abilities, helping them bridge the gap to new careers. In turn, the hospitals hope to get more skilled workers for their hard-to-fill positions.

October 2005

Ernestine Cosby, R.N., inpatient unit director at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Baltimore, was looking for a way to recognize outstanding contributions to patient care. She noticed that the annual hospital-wide recognition ceremony was a real morale booster. From that, the idea to implement “Morale Teams” was born.

The GAIT program is funded by a University of Maryland System Redeployment Grant to the Geriatrics and Gerontology Education and Research program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The project is an opportunity for students to experience rural health care first hand through clinical training, including: the principles of interdisciplinary care, health care team skills, interdisciplinary geriatric assessment of host site clients, presentation and discussion of student team care plans, and interdisciplinary geriatric assessment.

Washington County Health System Skin Snoopers Class
  Enhances Nursing Assistant Role and Improves Morale

Program Manager Ann Roney found that the prevalence rate for pressure ulcers had risen quite dramatically from previous years. Concerned for the health and welfare of patients at the Hagerstown hospital, Roney developed the “Skin Snooper Specialist” course, designed to train nursing assistants on how to prevent, identify, and treat pressure ulcers. She knew that if nursing assistants were taught what to look for, the problem would be greatly reduced. An added bonus to the program is that it has enhanced the role of nursing assistants while improving morale.

May 2005

More than a year ago, executives at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore brainstormed on ways to help with the problem of running overcrowded emergency rooms more smoothly. The result was the creation of a new position at the hospital—a critical care resource nurse. Since then, things have been running with improved efficiency and employees at the hospital have been taking notice.

Maryland Hospitals Adopting Concierge Services for
  Busy Employees

Traditionally, concierge services are provided by hotels to assist their guests with running errands or making reservations and recommendations. But now workplaces, including some Maryland hospitals, are attempting to improve employee satisfaction and retention by offering concierge-type services to their employees-and many workers are happy to save time on necessary but time-consuming errands such as car washing, ordering flowers, or finding tickets to an event.

January 2005

Hospital System’s Financial Planning Service Going Strong
  for Nearly a Decade

The Washington County Hospital System (WCHS), which has about 2,100 employees, launched a service in 1996 for employees enrolled in its retirement program to get independent, professional financial advice. Before the program began, employees would sign up for their retirement plans or make changes to their financial portfolios without professional advice. Many blindly made decisions about money they plan to use in their golden years based on a hunch or with limited information.

GBMC Employs Successful Recruitment and Retention
  Pilot Program

Like most hospital officials responsible for recruiting, Susan Coe, director of human resources at Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) couldn’t figure out why the hospital was struggling with luring nurses to the Towson-based hospital and keeping them there. With a team of hospital officials, Coe designed “Teamwork is Rewarding,” a program that uses existing nurses to help retain new recruits. The program also provides an intense six-month training academy for new recruits to help get them adjusted and prepared for the job. “Teamwork is Rewarding” is designed to stabilize and reduce turnover through the creation of a more stable work environment.

For years, Franklin Square Hospital Center in Baltimore employed nurse recruitment strategies that they felt produced average results. So Ann Possidente, manager of nurse recruitment and retention in collaboration with nursing management and staff took the hospital’s recruitment strategy up a notch. After brainstorming with other hospital nurses, they decided to launch a recruitment and retention program that involved all nurses in the hospital. The idea sounds simple but it ended up with a recruitment rate of 72 new nurses in five months.

Back to the top

November 2004

When Sheppard & Enoch Pratt Hospital clinical director Kay Sienkilewski heard her nurses complaining about communication issues, she decided to step up and reorganize. In February, the 322-bed psychiatric hospital, applied for magnet status--a nationally recognized gold standard awarded to hospitals with the best nursing management, philosophy, and practices.

Chesapeake Registry Program: Providing Quality
  Staffing Solutions

Hospitals routinely go through cyclical changes that create a need for supplemental staffing — opening new units, nurses and other staff taking leave or vacation, to name a few. To address hospitals’ concerns regarding the availability of quality supplemental staff, the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA) searched for a creative solution and developed the Chesapeake Registry Program.

Holy Cross Provides Incentives for Employees to
  Mentor Students

On a monthly basis, Carla Halik, RN, who heads the Holy Cross Hospital Explorers Program, invites as many as 42 teenage students to her work place to expose them to various health careers in hopes of recruiting them. “Forty-two teenagers is quite a handful,” she says, “especially when you’re bringing them into a hospital.” When the program started 14 years ago, it was often difficult to get staff to volunteer their time to take students on a tour. Now Holy Cross Hospital has an Exceptional Contributions Pay Program that incentivizes its employees to participate in the program. Halik reports that today she has employees coming to her to find out how they can help.

Back to the top

September 2004

Reorganization Lowers Vacancy and Turnover Rates at
  Washington County

In one of the few industries in the nation where positions outnumber applicants, health care managers have to sell their organizations Donald Trump-style. With little of the glitz and glamour of casinos and hotels, hospitals need managers with tremendous creativity to attract and keep a corps of experienced staffers. Enter Mary Towe, RN, MBA, executive for nursing services at Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown.

At a time when hospital R.N. positions are hard to fill, it may seem a bit strange that Union Hospital in Elkton would encourage a veteran ICU nurse to leave the premises and work elsewhere. But hospital officials say that by having an R.N. spend part of her week as a clinical instructor for local college students, they are helping to secure the future of health care in Cecil County.

“When can we get in our clinical instruction?” This question is part of a yearly headache for many nursing program coordinators—finding where and when their nursing students can get that essential hands-on experience they need to enter into the profession. Waiting until the last minute may be the problem, but Mt. Washington Pediatric in Baltimore has a surprisingly simple solution.

Back to the top

Summer 2004

Job Shadowing at Shore Health Introduces Students To Health
 Care Careers

Through the Job Shadowing program at hospitals managed by Shore Health System (parent of Memorial Hospital in Easton, Dorchester General Hospital in Cambridge and a host of outpatient facilities on the Eastern Shore), students at participating middle and high schools often get tours of the hospitals’ emergency rooms, various diagnostic departments, as well as one-on-one mentoring from medical professionals. The program is aimed at making a dent in the nationwide shortage of health care workers.

New Technology Aids Scheduling
  at Hopkins

Manual scheduling and payroll once was an arduous, time-consuming job for nurses at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. But that changed when the hospital added new technology that Hopkins nurses expect will result in greater employee satisfaction and time savings.

Nursing leaders at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore are addressing the nursing shortage by respecting the needs of nurses in an aging workforce. Through its Retired Nurse Initiative, Sinai Hospital offers older nurses creative job options, allowing them to remain in the workforce while enjoying their retirement years.

Today, almost two years after the permanent night charge nurse on Greater Baltimore Medical Center’s (GBMC) busy Post Partum unit took an extended leave, the staff continues to cover the charge role. Sharing the charge nurse position is “a leadership opportunity for every RN who’s in post partum,” says clinical manager Etna Weinhold, who came up with the idea of rotating charge nurses. The opportunity enhances the nurse “in terms of professional development and in terms of thinking globally.”

Back to the top

April 2004

Western Maryland Health System Creates “Weekends Only”
  Nursing Positions

To alleviate the ongoing problem of weekend staffing at its two hospitals in Cumberland, Western Maryland Health System in Cumberland created a new job category—the “Weekends Only” RN position. This allows registered nurses to work two 12-hour shifts on Saturdays and Sundays.

Anne Arundel Medical Center Looks to Philanthropy to Combat
  Nursing Shortage

Usually, a hospital’s philanthropic effort is aimed at raising money for new buildings. But one local hospital is changing the norm. It’s focused on soliciting money to attract and retain nurses as part of the hospital’s solution to the national nursing shortage.

Faced with the challenge of attracting and retaining a skilled, entry-level workforce, the Johns Hopkins Hospital is combating the problem through an educational program that has not only improved the basic skills of its employees, but also has significantly reduced turnover among the hospital’s entry-level workers.

With shortages expected in nearly all health care professions, one local hospital is raising awareness about how children can change that future, through its annual calendar dedicated to children at play being medical professionals.

Back to the top

February 2004

The University of Maryland Medical Center Expands Education
  Benefits to Cover Every Stage of Life

One lesson emerging from hospitals’ ongoing recruitment and retention efforts is that unique job benefits can, over time, reduce turnover. . . .

Relieving “Pay Compression” — A New Compensation Strategy
  for Calvert Memorial Hospital

Calvert Memorial’s new pay strategy is designed to address the unintended consequences of the hospital’s efforts to close the nurse vacancy gap. . . .

The New England-Style Town Meetings Help Union Memorial
  Address Nursing Shortage

If you think that town hall meetings with their grassroots approach to problem solving happen only in small-town New England, please think again. . . .

Back to the top

November 2003

Good Samaritan Taps Community Partners to Raise
  Career Ladder

How successful has Baltimore's Good Samaritan Hospital been in establishing a "foundation of learning" as the organization's underlying culture? Remarkably so, judging by Director of Professional Development Stacey Brull's use of "phones ringing off the hook" and "snowball effect" in describing the past year's progress toward this goal.

With Help from the National Youth Leadership Forum, St. Mary's
 Helps High School Students Explore Health Care Careers

For the past two summers Pat Piepoli, a clinical recruiter for St. Mary's Hospital in rural Leonardtown, has coordinated a day-long visit that covers six hospital departments for a group of high school students from across the country. Why? After all, it takes quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work to make it happen, from getting permission from any patients with whom students may interact to lining up things with department leaders.

"Beam my voice up, Scotty" . . . Hands-free, Wireless
  Communication Comes to the Bedside at St. Agnes

The new wireless communication system now in the pilot stage at St. Agnes HealthCare in Baltimore does have a Star Trek quality about it: While not quite as sophisticated as the futuristic technology behind "Beam me up, Scotty," the system does allow a staff member's voice to be beamed instantly anywhere in the hospital just by talking to it.

The "Grow Your Own" Approach Means Mercy Medical Center
 Didn't Have to Look Far to Find PET Scanner Technologists

As vice president for operations and nuclear medicine supervisor respectively, Bryan Fick and Pat Novak knew they were faced with two big workforce challenges last year as Mercy Medical Center acquired PET scanner technology to enhance its diagnostic capabilities. The first was finding scarce PET-trained technologists to perform and analyze the scans. The second was keeping current staff from leaving during the stressful period when, beyond building a suite for the scanner, the entire department was renovated.

Back to the top

September 2003

With the beginning of the school year comes a challenge for both hospitals and those employees who have children in elementary school: parents’ difficulty in finding alternative child care when schools unexpectedly close for weather emergencies often translates into difficulty in staffing hospitals. Doctors Community Hospital in Prince George’s County has, however, found the answer — or rather, created an answer.

Health Insurance Premium Relief for Part-Timers who Flex Up in
  Washington County!

Brooks McBurney and his human resources colleagues at Hagerstown’s Washington County Hospital have come up with a creative answer to a basic complaint of part-time hospital employees: If part-timers work more hours than they’re scheduled for — which health care facilities often need them to do — there may not be much of a reward in it for them.

Anne Arundel Medical Center Lowers the Language Barrier For
  Entry-Level Latino Workers

For two and a half years, the Anne Arundel Medical Center has offered a “shared” benefit to its Latino employees:the Medical Center underwrites instruction costs and allows the employees to take the last half hour of their work day twice a week to attend on-site “English as a Second Language” (ESOL) classes.

While Maryland’s most severe nursing shortage since the 1980s continues to be a problem, Shore Health System in Easton, is trying to recruit not only more female nurses, but working to add to the male nursing population as well.

Back to the top

July 2003

For Returning Radiology Techs, The Grass Turns Out To Be
 Greener at Anne Arundel

Combining relationship-building and a business model is the secret to Priya Jagannathn’s success in attracting more radiologist applicants than needed at Anne Arundel. It all started with calling alumni.

Crafting a single recruitment message through roundtable discussion among a broad spectrum of county providers is already producing results, says Chris Stephanides, Civista CEO. She predicts that identifying a “health care hero” will strengthen the effort.

There is more time for “management by walking around” in a small hospital, which is a strength in forging team spirit and demonstrating clinical excellence, says Garrett County’s Denise Liston. Highlighting the concept has sharply reduced RN complaints—to zero.

The Secret to Transforming Nurse Managers into Chief
 Retention Officers? Off-Load Most of Their Clerical Tasks

Creating a new clerical support position gives nurse managers more time for their ideal role as “chief retention officers,” says North Arundel’s Elaine Holman. The first coordinators hired have already become essential to their managers.

Back to the top

May 2003

Shore Health System: From High School Counselors to
  Elementary and Middle School Students — The Patient
  Approach to Nurse Recruitment

“Once is not enough,” says Shore Health System’s Cynthia Watson. In fact, “continual reinforcement” is what it takes to make sure that high school guidance counselors remember the health system as a good source of information on nursing as a career. . . .

The Care of New Nurses at Carroll County General Hospital:
 “Mother them; baby them; nurture them . . . ”

If an issue goes unaddressed, “New nurses may jump from hospital to hospital, looking for something they may not find.” That is why Carroll County General Hospital’s Leslie Simmons uses full-time mentors to coach new nurses and answer their every question
—quickly. . . .

Western Maryland Health System: Self Scheduling +
 Closed Units = Happier Nurses

“Happier and more satisfied nurses” is the reason for Western Maryland Health System’s dramatic jump in inpatient satisfaction scores (to the 85th percentile), says the health system’s Nancy Adams. She cites self-scheduling and the “closed unit” concept as building blocks. . . .

Sinai Hospital: Foreign Nurse Recruitment – Getting Beyond
  “Stealing” Nurses

In talking to Vice President for Patient Care Services Diane Johnson about Sinai Hospital’s foreign nurse recruitment effort, you get the distinct impression that she is a resilient person. That’s because after a conversation about her Philippine recruitment experience—a conversation that describes “aggravation, pain, and heartache” and an “emotional roller coaster”—she ends on an upbeat note: “For us, it was time well spent.”