Thank You, Nurses

By Kelly Hancock, MSN, RN, NE-BC

During this holiday season, Cleveland Clinic Nursing has much to be thankful for.

Our organization has been improving scores in areas such as core measures, quality of care, patient safety and patient satisfaction. We’ve stepped up as a leader in care affordability within the Cleveland Clinic health system. We’ve taken on large-scale initiatives to improve nursing practice, including the integration of care management and the alignment of ambulatory nursing as well as the launch of new technologies like eHospital and medication barcode scanning.

Additionally, many of our team members are now involved in nursing and healthcare legislation activities in an effort to ensure that the voice of nursing is heard on local, regional and national political levels.

In today’s age of healthcare, initiatives like these are imperative for nursing organizations to prosper. It’s a challenging and competitive time, but it’s also an exciting time with ample opportunity for organizational growth and innovation.

And, while the Cleveland Clinic Nursing leadership team is proud of and grateful for all our organization has accomplished this year, we wouldn’t be where we are today without the 12,000 steadfast, dedicated nurses throughout our health system.

Recognition programs speak volumes

Recognizing caregivers for the work they do and the contributions they make to an organization is something that most think goes without saying. However, it’s often a commonly overlooked facet of management that even great leaders can neglect.

A solid caregiver recognition strategy is proven to aid with employee engagement, morale and turnover. Statistics have shown that one of the top reasons Americans leave their jobs is because they don’t feel appreciated.

Cleveland Clinic places great emphasis on caregiver recognition across the health system and, specifically, within our nursing organization. Below are some of our key recognition initiatives, which could be helpful in generating recognition ideas within your healthcare organization.

Cleveland Clinic Experience

An enterprise initiative, the Cleveland Clinic Experience program encompasses empathy, patient satisfaction and employee engagement to continue building a strong base of engaged and committed caregivers who are dedicated to fulfilling Cleveland Clinic’s mission of putting Patients First.

It was developed to enhance and transform the culture at Cleveland Clinic by integrating exceptional employee and patient experiences. It offers caregivers the opportunity to align themselves with Cleveland Clinic’s mission, values, expected service behaviors, Respond with H.E.A.R.T.® service recovery model and serving leadership principles in order to put patients first and deliver world-class care. Today, it is part of new caregiver, nursing and resident orientations and is an integral part of the performance management process.

Caregiver Celebrations Program

Cleveland Clinic’s Total Rewards and Compensation program is designed to attract, engage, motivate and retain well-qualified and highly skilled caregivers to drive successful business results and clinical outcomes. It offers service awards to recognize caregivers for their notable years of service (5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, etc.), discounted tickets to local events and activities, tuition reimbursement and more.

It also includes the Caregiver Celebrations program, which gives caregivers the opportunity to recognize and thank their fellow caregivers. It features an easy-to-use online recognition and rewards website that offers four award types, including options for monetary gifting.

• Appreciation Award: On-the-spot, non-monetary recognition
• Honors Award: Individual and team recognition for outstanding actions and performance
• Excellence Award: Institute-level quarterly recognition for excellent performance exhibited by individuals or teams
• Caregiver Award: Annual enterprise-wide award celebrating the best of the best award recipients

Thank A Nurse Initiative

A Cleveland Clinic Nursing initiative, our Thank A Nurse program gives both patients and caregivers the opportunity to thank Cleveland Clinic nurses for all they do. The program features a thank-you card service for patients to send electronic thank you cards to their nurses. Also, during National Nurses Week, patients, caregivers, friends, community members and family members can order flowers, balloons, e-cards and other gifts and have them sent to Cleveland Clinic nurses.

Nursing Excellence Awards

Each year, Cleveland Clinic Nursing holds an annual awards ceremony honoring and recognizing nurses who have excelled in their careers. The recipients are nominated by those who witness their commitment to excellence day in and day out, including fellow caregivers and physician colleagues, patients and volunteers.

Held in September, the Nursing Excellence Awards ceremony is Cleveland Clinic Nursing’s most prestigious event and recognizes 33 Cleveland Clinic nurses annually. This year’s ceremony was especially memorable as we welcomed our largest number of attendees to date, including special guests from Cleveland Clinic Canada, featured our second social media campaign surrounding the event, displayed an honorary photo wall and released a tribute video featuring our 2015 award winners.

Thanks to nurses everywhere

Our nation’s nurses play an integral role in the overall success of the healthcare system. What would healthcare be without nurses? From the moment a patient walks into a healthcare facility to the moment they leave, nurses are on call, tending to every need, comforting and healing to the best of their abilities and delivering compassionate care.

Our profession is comprised of thousands of excellent nurses – from bedside nurses to nurse managers, nurse researchers, advanced practice nurses and more.

During the holiday season as we enjoy this time, I’d like to express my appreciation and thanks for all the wonderful nurses out there, especially the men and women who serve the Cleveland Clinic organization. I also encourage you to remember to offer thanks for the special nurses in your life.

Kelly Hancock is the Executive Chief Nursing Officer of the Cleveland Clinic Health System, and Chief Nursing Officer of Cleveland Clinic Main Campus.