Transformational Leadership

Nursing Strategic Plan

The Mercy Hospital of Buffalo Nursing Strategic Plan gives everyone a shared vision for our direction of Nursing. The Strategic Plan gives the ability to set priorities and provides us direction and a focus as a department. The plan describes what we want to achieve, sets our goals and develops a plan to accomplish those goals. The strategic plan aligns us to our Nursing Mission and Vison and to the Catholic Health System’s Strategic Plan. Our strategic plan is led by our journey with the Clinical Pathways to Excellence. We are committed to continually improving and evolving as necessary to meet the ever-changing demands of our industry and patients. Our journey has evolved and enhanced the development of the Nurse Executive Council (NEC), representing the overarching structure of shared governance. The shared governance has expanded to include nurses represented from each committee to sit at the table and share committee activities that occur every month. These committees include: Recruitment & Retention, Research, Professional Practice and Peer Review.

Our first task is to update our Professional Practice Model (PPM). We are excited for the participation and engagement from the UPC’s and committees to elevate our practice.

Nursing Peer Review Committee

The Nursing Peer Review Committee reviews incidents referred to them to identify nursing actions for their appropriateness in standards of practice. This committee consists of Registered Nurses from all areas of the hospital to ensure that nursing processes, scope of practice and standards of nursing practice are adhered to in-patient care. This committee allows nurses to identify areas of improvement to further extend resources, education and safe practices for nurses and patients. The nurses that participate in this committee have dedicated time and attention to supporting their fellow nurses in adhering to best practices utilizing evidence based practice for process reviews and nursing development.

In 2021, the committee voted in a new Chair and Co-Chair. Chris Anderson of 7 West was named Chair, and Jen Driscoll of 5 East was named Co-Chair. These newly appointed Chairs assisted in the restructure of the peer review committee as a whole. All cases are reviewed and presented by the chair and co-chair in order to facilitate open and honest discussion. Additionally, in that time, the committee members truly embraced the full understanding of the peer review process, and the discussions based on standards of practice for themselves as well as their colleagues. This allowed for lively discussions and finding the root cause of certain issues that sent a cascade effect of change, not just at Mercy Hospital, but throughout the Catholic Health System.

Having just undergone another year of the pandemic, this restructure has re-energized and empowered our nurses to effect change in their profession.