Editorial Team
Maria Nix, MSN, BSN, RN, Clinical Educator, Editor
Jordan Kahan, MSN, RN, CPHON, Manager System Nurse Strategy, Ochsner Health
Tracey Moffatt, MHA, BSN, RN, System Chief Nursing Officer and System VP of Quality
Ann Lockhart, MN, RN-BC, VP Nursing Practice
Ochsner Marketing Communications Department
Dear Nurses,
I’m pleased to share the 2021-2022 Ochsner Health Nursing Annual Report to celebrate the incredible contributions and impacts that all nursing roles make every day. One of my favorite quotes is, “Every shadow has its light.” While the past two years have been challenging, they also have pushed us to work as a team to innovate and redesign nursing practice and patient care in ways we might not otherwise have had.
As we look ahead together, we are building on what we’ve learned, experienced and accomplished in the past two years. The lessons we’ve learned are making us stronger as a profession. This is more important than ever, as nursing continues to be a critically essential role in healthcare. This edition showcases the investment in programs, technology and new care models that will support nursing practice and improve patient care as we move beyond the past year and celebrate what’s ahead.
• Ochsner’s collaborative program with the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses that introduces nursing students to the perioperative specialty
• Our Transition-to-Practice Program bridges the gap between the classroom and nursing practice, providing mentors to support our new graduate nurses in their profession
• Ochsner’s Diversity and Inclusion Councils, assist to ensure Ochsner attracts people from all backgrounds to work and grow their careers here
• New legislation and tools to help ensure workplace safety
• Ochsner’s investments in the next generation of nurses with enhanced clinical rotations and opportunities for nurses to serve as faculty members. As we look to the future of nursing, we anticipate that between now and 2025, we will double the number of nurses that our select colleges of nursing are producing, from 560 per year to roughly 1,200 in 2025.
Taking time to highlight what Ochsner nurses have done and continue to do as leaders within healthcare allows us to reconnect with our purpose as nurses and the incredible impact we have on our communities. I’ve been fortunate to spend some time over the last year with many of you across different regions of our organization. Overwhelmingly, I hear how much you admire your colleagues and leaders, how much you care about your patients, and how you’re still committed to being the best nurses anywhere. You all amaze me every day! Thank you for showing the world what it means to be an Ochsner Nurse.
Sincerely,
Tracey Moffatt, MHA, BSN, RN, System Chief Nursing Officer and System VP of Quality
Our enduring beliefs and inspired behaviors
Our Mission
We serve, heal, lead, educate and innovate
Our Vision
Inspiring healthier lives and stronger communities
135 9 62 80 40 2747 56
Nurse technician honors summer program graduates OR nurse technicians trained
Mentors trained in SNPD’s Mentor Academy
of Nurses
2,587 125 72 548
1,225 963
Our nurses have the opportunity to practice in multiple locations in dozens of specialties and subspecialties - across every service line and every setting, without ever leaving the health system!
We remove barriers to practice by creating venues where nurses practice in any setting and nursing specialty, and we encourage career growth on the nursing career ladder.
• Ochsner’s Chief Nursing Officer and System VP of Quality, Tracey Moffatt, MHA, BSN, RN, recognized as a Becker’s Hospital Review Chief Nursing Officer of Hospitals and Health Systems to know in 2022. The nurses featured on this list are strong leaders who have built a strong culture of quality, patient safety and caregiver wellness at their organizations.
• Achieving Magnet recognition has raised the bar for patient care and inspired every member of our team to achieve excellence every day
• Tuition assistance benefit supports advancement of education
• Discounted training and certifications through the American Heart Association Community Training Center
• Certification Bonuses
• Voucher Program for nursing certifications
• New certification prep courses
• Clinical Ladder Program provides compensation for strong clinical and professional skills
• Nursing Education Grant Fund supports continuing nursing education and professional development
• Student Loan Assistance Program
• Emotional and social counseling support, through Ochsner’s EAP, the Wellness Hub on Ochweb
• Access to discounted childcare through Bright Horizons
• Weight Watchers Program for healthy eating and weight control
Abnormal. New normal. New abnormal. Whatever label you assign to the past two years, they were anything but normal. While we had hoped we would return to some sense of normalcy, we were again presented with incredible challenges: COVID-19 surges, staffing shortages, Hurricane Ida, and the “invisible” personal battles that we had to overcome.
The Collaborative Staffing Resource Center (CSRC) was created to provide the organization with flexible and adaptable clinical staff to meet the highly variable patient care needs. Flexibility and adaptability describe the CSRC staff and its culture as a department. Even while experiencing workforce and staffing-related challenges, the CSRC grew its staff by nearly 50% in 2021. Employment offerings were expanded by creating a new In-House Agency, while also increasing clinical services to include respiratory therapy, lab and radiology. Not only has this program brought in over 200 new clinical employees to the organization, but it has also offered current employees an alternative opportunity to continue caring for our patients.
Flexibility is an essential part of the CSRC experience. Beyond its growth of clinical staff, new options provided to staff gives them an opportunity to expand their exposure to patients in all types of settings, including clinic, infusion, pre/post-procedure areas, cardiac cath lab and PACU. Through these growth opportunities, clinical staff has the chance to work with a larger and more diverse patient population at varying intensities.
“It can be taxing to work at a high-intensity level every shift, but now we are able to offer staff more variety and a mix of intensity, hopefully leading to a richer and satisfying employment experience,” says BRUCE WEINBERG, VP of Nursing Workforce Management
“Rather than focus on what went wrong or what we wish didn’t happen,” BRUCE WEINBERG, VP of Nursing Workforce Management, said “I would rather rejoice in how we met these unprecedented obstacles and what we did to overcome them.”
Providing flexible options for employees is foundational to the CSRC and is becoming increasingly important as we strive to continue growing to serve more patients. While the past year presented many challenges, we courageously faced them head-on. Together, as a team, we adapted and adjusted to meet our patients’ needs. This task, however, could not be accomplished without addressing and meeting our employees’ needs as well.
From the very moment emergency use authorization was approved for the Pfizer vaccine and the first Louisiana citizen was vaccinated on December 14 at Ochsner Health, the Ambulatory Nursing team sprang into action leading efforts to vaccinate the community and help bring us one step closer to ending the pandemic.
“We expeditiously recruited, hired and trained 400 employees to work as COVID-19 vaccine administrators,” says JLYNN WESTLEY, MSN, ASN, RN, AVP Clinic and Clinical Resource Ambulatory Nursing
Much like the entire country, Ochsner Health navigated through uncharted territory through the use of innovative ideas, tenacity and resilience. Through the help of our team members, leaders and government officials, we were prepared and equipped to meet the mounting vaccination needs and demands.
Leveraging the emergency proclamation issued by the governor, Ochsner Health garnered additional staffing resources through retired nurses, pharmacists, medical assistants, physicians and advanced practice
providers to help increase the velocity and bandwidth of vaccination operations.
In partnership with our nursing educators and ambulatory practice coordinators, we rapidly developed a systemwide process to launch and operationalize 16 competency validation sites across the organization, extending from the Bayou, to North Louisiana, and as far away as Hancock, Mississippi, to ensure that we had fully trained and competent personnel administering vaccines. We collaborated with our Nursing Workforce Management colleagues to improve vaccinator scheduling efficiency, reduce the workload of vaccination site leads and improve employee engagement.
Identifying untapped scheduling resource capabilities in our clinic divisions, we activated self-scheduling functionality to support vaccine operations. This enhancement proved to be of significant value to vaccine site leads, as they faced the overwhelming challenge of sorting through approximately 500 emails a week related to scheduling, prior to leveraging the Kronos feature.
“All of these efforts facilitated the organization’s ability to deliver over 600,000 COVID-19 vaccines to our patients, employees and the communities that we are honored to serve.” -
JLYNN WESTLEY, MSN, ASN, RN, AVP Clinic and Clinical Resource Ambulatory Nursing.
In the wake of Hurricane Ida, the strongest storm in Louisiana on record, Ochsner’s Patient Flow Center (PFC) transported 120 patients out of harm’s way from the Bayou Region. Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center and Ochsner St. Anne Hospital endured the brunt force of Hurricane Ida. Lying in hard hit Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes, they were forced to evacuate patients, as both hospitals sustained significant structural damage. The PFC team was faced with their own personal hardships while focusing their efforts on the community. Team A took shelter in the Flow Center at the Elmwood campus throughout the storm. In the days that followed, team members not only battled power outages and extreme heat, but also remained in the dark in regards to the safety of their families and homes. They carefully monitored their water usage, preserved battery supply and rationed meals, while answering the calls of those in need. “Despite the challenges nurses have faced over the last two years, it is the determination to come together and serve that persists,” says AMBER HEBERT, BSN, RN-BC, Unit Director, Patient Flow Center, Ochsner Health.
“As part of a connected healthcare system, our hospital and caregivers were empowered to make a greater impact on the entire Bayou Region,” says JENNIFER WISE, MHA, BSN, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Ochsner St. Mary. Following the hurricane, Ochsner St. Mary accepted more than 30 inpatients from neighboring hospitals, Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center and Ochsner St. Anne Hospital. “We were also able to redeploy staff and physicians who were displaced from the impacted hospitals,” says JENNIFER. As one of only two fully functioning hospitals remaining in the Bayou Region, Ochsner St. Mary saw an unprecedented number of patients in the Emergency Department (ED). To meet the increased patient needs, the nursing staff designed a separate fast-track area for lower acuity patients. Supplies, equipment and staff were deployed to what was once vacant space in the hospital business office, and within a few hours, a fully functioning Emergency Department Fast Track was in place. YVETTE BOUDREAUX, RN, Clinical Educator, volunteered to work in what became known as the Business Office Clinic. YVETTE shared, “It was amazing to see staff from different units, clinics and hospitals come together for a common purpose, to care for a community in need. That is what healthcare is all about. Every bad situation will have something positive. Lots of people in the region suffered a loss during this time, but that loss brought us all together to learn and to serve.”
The nursing team in the Behavioral Health Unit (BHU) at St. Charles Parish Hospital (SCPH) along with staff from the medical surgical unit and intensive care unit evacuated patients and cared for them on units at Ochsner Medical Center – Kenner and Ochsner Medical Center — New Orleans, while the ED team stayed at the hospital working through the aftermath of the hurricane without interrupting services. “The staff and leaders at St. Charles Parish Hospital were able to accomplish these amazing acts because we learned to trust and rely on each other, despite the fact that many of our staff and leaders had significant damage to their homes, their children’s schools were closed, and their daily lives were disrupted, they came to work with a commitment to our patients and to each other. The foundation of trust that has been strengthened this year is essential to our ability to improve quality and patient outcomes and continue to create an environment where staff feel welcomed and valued.”
- JARRETT FUSELIER, MBA, BSN,RN,
AVP of Nursing Administration, St. Charles Parish Hospital.
In the midst of a pandemic and a historic polar vortex during February 2021, Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport team members continued to show up for our patients and community. Many in our area were left without heat and water and faced dangerous travel conditions; however, from transporting colleagues to work safely then staying overnight in the hospital, to serving warm meals to patients and staff. Our #OchsnerLSUHeroes proved that we could get through it together.
Nurses from the entire Ochsner Health organization also stepped up to show their support, traveling by bus from South to North Louisiana. During the polar vortex, many of our staff worked long hours and stayed multiple nights at the hospital to provide patient care throughout the winter storm.
Nurses working across the Bayou region have used Ochsner Health’s Lean Program to drive patient safety and quality outcomes.
Patient safety and healthcare quality are an integral part of every nurse’s role across Ochsner Health. Ochsner nurses’ dedication to high quality and safe patient care has resulted in impressive quality outcomes and safer patient care environments across the system.
Nurses have unique perspectives for complex healthcare barriers and use this perspective to develop and implement creative solutions. Ochsner Medical Center (OMC) — New Orleans exceeded its target reduction rates by decreasing Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) 18% between 2020 and 2021. Nurses focused on increasing bundle compliance and obtaining appropriate urine cultures to decrease CAUTI rates. Bundle compliance and urine cultures are patient care components most often performed by nurses. This successful quality outcome is strongly associated with excellence in nursing practice. In the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at OMC — New Orleans, the team decreased pressure injuries by 60%. In conjunction with the systemwide preventative measures, the team implemented an innovative nursing process, referred to as the SICU “HAPI Toolkit” that includes:
• Standardized tracking binder, logging each skin integrity issue for each patient
• Standardized process of rounding with a team on patients listed in the tracking binder biweekly with consistent follow-up and feedback to staff after patient rounding
• Established criteria for use of specialty beds after certain surgical procedures
DEBORAH FORD, MSN, RN, Chief Nursing Officer — Ochsner Medical Center New Orleans states, “Our amazing SICU nursing team worked together to prevent patient harm.”
• LACEY PERCLE, BSN, RN, Manager of MedSurg and Intensive Care Unit, Ochsner St. Anne Hospital, focused on patient safety, increasing the inpatient experience nurse responsiveness score from 51 to 76 through the implementation of Spectralink assignments and monitored usage. Nursing staff were made more accessible by carrying an assigned Spectralink phone throughout their shifts. In addition, a call bell log was implemented to ensure messages were getting to appropriate staff members in a timely manner.
• ANGELA PLAISANCE, RN, Ochsner St. Anne Hospital, completed a Root Cause Investigation (RCI) targeting the reduction of sepsis-related Rapid Responses through proactive provider rounding. She implemented proactive rounding and early sepsis identification tools in January 2022, where the goal was to decrease rapid responses related to sepsis by 75%, and we achieved 100% decrease in sepsisrelated rapid responses (none in February, March, or April 2022).
January through May of 2022, Ochsner Health was already seeing remarkable results in Target Zero Measures. Systemwide improvements in quality outcomes include:
• Catheter-Associated Blood Stream Infections are down 28.57%.
• Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections are down 11.11%.
• Clostridioides difficile infections are down 26.32%.
• Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infections are down 40%
“Nurses are fierce patient advocates, relentless champions of quality and innovation, and exceptional caregivers, and they continue to humbly take care of the sick and will be remembered by those who they have helped.”
- LYNN NECAISE, Director of Quality for Ochsner Medical Center — Hancock,
Population Health focuses on making improvements to preventive health strategies and creating new programs to help manage chronic diseases. Population Health places importance on improving patient experience and healthcare outcomes while decreasing healthcare costs. These goals are achieved through provider and patient engagement, education, and promotion of preventive care, such as cancer screenings, blood pressure management, and diabetes control. Population Health utilizes nursing informatics to operationalize and standardize the quality and delivery of care for patients.
“Our team has been instrumental in improving numerous workflow processes, such as a systemwide approach to access and standardization of the diabetic eye camera workflow to aid in diabetic retinopathy prevention,” said KIM R. HARRIEL, LPN, Supervisor - LPN Performance Improvement, Ochsner Center for Primary Care and Wellness..
“In addition, we are working with the endoscopy team to enhance the referral and case request process, which will ensure timely scheduling of colon cancer screenings and promote early intervention. We have partnered with Primary Care to provide rooming standards training to clinical support teams. During the rooming process, nurses are trained to capture a patient’s vital signs, depression-screening responses, immunizations, medication adherence, and social determinants of care. This information is used by providers to identify resources and patient education opportunities that improve patient compliance with their healthcare regimen. Population Health also promotes patient engagement and education through programs like diabetic education, Ochsner digital medicine, and utilizing the MyOchsner app, which has allowed us to introduce A1C home testing.”
Ochsner Health is revolutionizing the role of Population Health nursing by changing our approach to care from a reactive to proactive approach.. Ochsner empowers nurses to develop additional skills in the areas of operations, business, and education. The application of these skills enhances policies and procedures and improves quality outcomes. As health disparities and inequities threaten our communities, Population Health nurses will lead Ochsner into the future by focusing on performance improvement processes, supporting our clinical team members, and promoting patient engagement.
When the nation saw a downturn in experience results, our nurses kept their focus on Patients First. Our patients noticed. Thank you for your continued gracious guidance and support to all of those around you.
Our patients know the truth, and thankfully they are willing to share how our nurses make them feel:
• “The staff was so nice!!! The nurse who took my weight/vitals was an absolute gem. This was my first time going to an endocrinology appointment by myself (as well as first time at Ochsner). I was super impressed with all of the staff for their positive and wanting-to-help energy.”
• “My nurses and assistants were great to me. I felt comfortable and ready to heal.”
• “Our nurses were INCREDIBLE. I cannot say enough good things about them. They helped answer all of my questions, they were gentle, they were kind, they took the time to talk to my little girl and listen to her and colored and played with her. They praised her every chance they got through the hard, tough parts. They explained to her what was going on the best that they could. We were so sad to leave them. They really love their jobs and love being there, and you could tell. They made every situation better. We could not have had a better team. Such a blessing they were to our family!!”
In 2021, we had 69 units performing above the 75th percentile nationwide for the Communication with Nurses domain and 45 units above the 90th percentile!!
“When faced with extraordinarily difficult situations this year, our nurses continuously found a place within themselves to discover more and more kindness that they shared with our patients. We should all learn from them on how to display this level of empathy Every. Single. Day.”
– ALISON SOILEAU, MA, FACHE, CPXP, Vice President of Patient Experience and Service Excellence, Ochsner Health
Nurses have received a unique spotlight since 2020. This spotlight has highlighted to other professions what we as nurses have always known — our work as nurses is essential, our work is rewarding, and we are resilient.
Recognizing that the more nurses are involved in creating and designing solutions to improve care, the better care becomes for our patients, the Infection Prevention team hosted a hackathon event to capture frontline nurses’ creative ideas to prevent hospital-acquired infections (HAI) in COVID-19 positive patients. Nurses were asked: What innovations do you have in store to keep patients safe from infection? How can we make hand hygiene compliance easier? What would you change about the PPE options on your unit? “We were grateful to collaborate with a group of frontline staff on the COVID-19 HAI Rapid Cycle Improvement Project in 2021,” shares BETH ANN LAMBERT, MS, CIC, Director of Infection Control. The workgroup met virtually in the midst of ongoing COVID-19 surges to identify opportunities to improve infection rates. The dialogue helped the team clarify solutions needed, which included reinforcing infection control policies to help decrease HAIs in the four locations that were hit early by COVID-19.
“Not only are we getting back to pre-COVID-19 HAI rates, in some metrics, we’re doing better than ever before,” says BETH ANN. “Thanks to the improved compliance with MRSA decolonization, including daily CHG baths for COVID-19 patients and others at high risk for MRSA, the systemwide hospital acquired MRSA BSI rate is currently 0.05 infections per 1,000 patient days — the lowest it’s ever been since we started reporting the data.”
BETH ANN LAMBERT, MS, CIC, Director of Infection Control says, “In the recent years, nurses have been more innovative than ever, and we are carrying the momentum forward in infection control prevention.”
As with many challenging or potentially harmful situations, Ochsner nurses are often in the right place and right time to observe and maybe even provide guidance. Human trafficking is on the rise in the states we serve, and as with any issue, nurses are often at the forefront to implement processes that recognize and help victims feel seen. Ochsner trains our staff to watch for, observe or even flag anything we see in a patient’s visit for their safety. We do this for cases where different forms of potential abuse may be happening either real-time or outside our walls, including human trafficking.
Since implementing a new program designed to stop human trafficking, the Ochsner LSU Health — Shreveport team has doubled the number of patient identifications and offers of assistance since introducing the Epic tool and process. Each identification impacts a person’s life directly and may potentially save lives from human trafficking. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that the at-risk person feels seen and safe and is aware of resources available to them.
Human trafficking is defined by U.S. Homeland Security as the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Every year, millions of men, women and children are trafficked worldwide — including right here in the United States. It can happen in any community, and victims can be any age, race, gender or nationality. Traffickers might use violence, manipulation or false promises of well-paying jobs or romantic relationships to lure victims into trafficking situations. Language barriers, fear of their traffickers and/or fear of law enforcement frequently keep victims from seeking help, making human trafficking a hidden crime.
Ochsner LSU Health — Shreveport implemented Operation R.A.H.A.B., a program modeled after Henry Ford’s program that stands for Rescue, Assess, Heal, and Break free and immediately wanted to work on a process to implement the program across the system. Ochsner Shreveport established a process to identify patients at risk for trafficking and increase the assistance extended to them. Based on the success of the program, Ochsner is adapting protocols to recognize and rescue victims of human trafficking, initially focusing on Ochsner Baptist.
A systemwide committee and Ochsner’s project management office pulled together our colleagues from safety and security, nursing, legal, diversity and inclusion, Epic and other key stakeholders to work on a plan to roll out at all campuses over the course of the year.
“Operation R.A.H.A.B. has impacted the lives of 24 individuals in North Louisiana to date, and I am so excited that through this initiative, we will be changing lives for the better, offering a healthy life, free of coercion,” says SHEREE STEPHENS, RN, MSN, CPHQ, VP of Quality, North Louisiana & CNO of Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport. “One of the individuals our team played a part in rescuing is now an Ochsner LSU — Health employee, living a happy, healthy life,” says SHEREE “It is truly inspiring how a partnership with a community organization can allow healthcare organizations to impact and change lives outside the four walls of our hospitals,” she said.
Ochsner Baptist is preparing to launch the program in New Orleans. DONNA MARTIN, MSN, HCSM, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Ochsner Baptist shares, “Knowing that New Orleans is a target for human trafficking, we are committed to implementing solutions to protect our community from harm. Our Ochsner LSU Health — Shreveport colleagues have built the foundation for the success of Operation R.A.H.A.B., and we are so grateful to expand this important work and bring the program to Ochsner Baptist.”
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking call the National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1 (888) 373-7888
SMS: 233733 (Text "HELP" or "INFO")
Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week
Languages: English, Spanish and 200 more languages
Website: http://humantraffickinghotline.org
“Learning is a journey that lasts throughout your entire professional life,” says ANN LOCKHART, MN, RNBC, VP Nursing, Ochsner Health. “Ochsner’s System Nursing Professional Development department offers valuable programing for nurses to pursue their passions throughout all stages of their career.”
Ochsner’s SNPD programs provide continuing education for nurses and a robust variety of professional development opportunities for newly graduated nurses, emerging nurse leaders, executives nurses and nursing students preparing to join the nursing workforce. SNPD courses support personal and professional development for nurses as they transition from one role to another and throughout their careers through programs like the following:
Ochsner’s TTP Program empowers newly licensed nurses as they transition into clinical practice by bridging the gap between the classroom and real-life nursing practice. Expert nurses and mentors guide participants through case studies and through reflective practice debriefings following clinical interactions. In 2020, our TTP Program targeted nurses in the medical-surgical specialty and focused heavily on supporting nurses caring for patients with COVID-19. In summer 2022, the program will be expanded to impact nurses in every specialty. The new Ochsner Health Nurse Residency program is a year-long offering that will engage new nurses in professional development, supporting excellence in patient outcomes, professional growth, self-care and shared experience.
The Staff Garden platform is a new electronic platform that will make it easier to track activities and submit clinical ladder packets. The Staff Garden Platform offers benefits such as: eliminating the need to scan packets manually, uploading in real time, obtaining most validation requirements and leader signatures through the platform and the ability to request help through the platform. In 2021, nearly 1,000 nurses participated in Ochsner’s Clinical Ladder Program that engages nurses who spend 50% of their time in patient care in professional development activities. The professional development program recognizes and rewards clinical nursing expertise in direct patient care. The program engages nurses in professional development activities with the goal of enhancing professional nursing practice and fostering ongoing skill development. Nurses who participate in the clinical ladder program go above and beyond in their roles, and each year, participants have the chance to move to the next level of the clinical ladder with pay incentives for each new level.
Through Ochsner’s new Leadership Café Program, Ochsner nurse leaders have access to professional development in a convenient virtual format. Participants from across the system are welcomed to self-enroll in the hour-long virtual program for monthly sessions. Ochsner’s Leadership Café Program began in 2020 and grew in 2021, touching nearly 3,000 nurses in last year alone. The program positively impacts nursing leaders in manager, director and supervisory roles from across Ochsner Health and the teams they lead by connecting nurse leaders with evidence-based content to enhance knowledge of relevant and timely topics that clinicians encounter in today’s healthcare field. Through self-assessment and engaging with peers, participants are supported to cultivate self-awareness and develop personal and professional goals that develop individual well-being, effective leadership skills and a healthy working environment.
“As leaders, we define departmental culture through our actions or inactions. Our Leadership Café offerings use reflective practice as the nidus for leadership skill and knowledge development to foster excellent work environments.” – ECOEE ROONEY, DNP, RN, AFN-C, NPD-BC, SANE-A, DF-AFN, Director of Nursing Leadership, System Nursing Professional Development, Ochsner Health
Each year the Center for Evidence Based Practice (EBP) and Nursing Research hosts a conference that provides an opportunity for nurses and their colleagues to come together and share best practices and new initiatives. In 2020, the event was converted to an internal, asynchronous online event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Ochsner nurses were happy to open the event once again to colleagues from around the country for a one-day virtual program offering the chance to learn, network and grow.
The theme of the conference was nurse retention, a topic that has taken on extra importance as the pandemic continues. Since the beginning of 2021, the United States saw a trend of employees leaving the workplace — a trend that popular media dubbed “The Mass Resignation.” It has impacted all areas of employment, including healthcare.
Dr. Karen Hill served as the event’s keynote speaker. Dr. Hill is the former Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) of Baptist Health in Lexington, Kentucky, and serves as the editor of The Journal of Nursing Administration (JONA). As a journal editor, she is at the leading edge of current research, and her speech was titled, “Nurse Retention: What does the Evidence Say?”
Following Dr. Hill, the program consisted of oral and poster presentations provided by nurses from around our system and across the country who responded to the call for abstracts. The three general sessions covered topics in professional development, staff safety and mental well-being, and patient safety and outcomes, all of which are tied to nurse satisfaction, engagement and retention. Sessions addressed retention efforts such as educational scholarships, nurses’ experiences working during the COVID-19 pandemic and early recognition of patient decline through preventative or virtual monitoring.
The day ended with a panel discussion comprising Ochsner experts who work on nurse retention. A CNO, an HR representative and a psychologist who works with The Office of Professional Well-Being provided their unique insights into the challenges facing organizations in relation to nurse retention. The discussion covered various topics and provided suggestions for thinking differently about how to address retention in the post-pandemic environment.
A survey at the end of the day highlighted participants’ appreciation for the keynote address and content of the oral and poster presentations, as well as the opportunity to network.
The 2021 Conference Keynote speaker, DR. KAREN HILL, highlighted factors of the pandemic that have exacerbated nurse staffing demands. Between immediate issues, such as sharply increasing admissions, staff requiring quarantine, or struggles with child or family care and more long-term issues such as retirements, nurses’ rethinking career choices, and nurses leaving for lucrative contracts as travel nurses, a staffing crisis has emerged that has been difficult to manage. In her talk, she walked through several recent publications that provided suggestions for increasing nurse retention and engagement. She highlighted the importance of preparing unit-based leaders to manage through emergency situations and the importance of ensuring accessible stress management assistance for frontline staff.
“It was a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from across our system and from other organizations on ideas and solutions to common issues, especially nurse retention.”
JESSICA PETERSON, PhD, RN, Sr. Nurse Researcher, Ochsner Health
Nurses experience joy and deep satisfaction in work throughout their careers. Many nurses feel that there couldn’t be a more fulfilling profession than nursing, despite some of its challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most challenging times in the history of nursing, and it also was the nursing profession’s finest hour.
Living out Ochsner’s vision to inspire healthier lives and stronger communities, begins with empowering the wellbeing of our team. More than ever, Ochsner is investing in strategies to enhance the well-being of its employees.
“Nurses make up the largest sector of the healthcare workforce. Elevating the voice of nurses is vital to the success of programs aimed at enhancing workforce well-being, which is tied to patient care quality,” says MARIA NIX, MSN, BSN, RN, RN Educator, System Nursing Professional Development and nursing liaison to the Office of Professional Well-being.
Ochsner Nursing launched a Well-being Advisory Group that provides a forum for nurses to contribute input and feedback on system resources, elevating the voice of nurses across the system. In the first advisory group meeting, participants focused on Cabana, by Even Health, an anonymous, online peer support program. It’s one of the tools provided to all Ochsner employees to enhance mental health.
“In addition to supporting nurses through resources, we are focusing on the future by engaging frontline staff in being a part of creating solutions aimed at creating greater joy in work,” says Maria. Ochsner Health recently announced that the organization’s Office of Professional Well-being has been awarded a $2.9M federal grant that will support mental health and well-being of clinicians at Ochsner. With support from this grant, nurses from across the system will participate in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Finding and Creating Joy in Work Program, identify common barriers and test interventions to enhance joy in work.
“It’s imperative that we invest in the well-being of our nursing workforce and the entire healthcare team. We are determined to help our workforce stay engaged, reclaim joy and find harmony and with the grant award we are excited to implement new trainings and strategies well ahead of what we had initially planned.” – NIGEL GIRGRAH, MD, Chief Wellness Officer.
Employees reflect on their experience of working during a global pandemic through artistic expression.
Ochsner Nursing’s employee art exhibit was hosted in honor and gratitude of the contributions made by healthcare workers during the pandemic and provided employees with a chance for reflection through artistic expression. The exhibit launched in July 2021 and featured artwork from nurses, medical staff and other clinical and nonclinical staff from 8 Ochsner campuses across the health system, in addition to two submissions from external artists. The Bayou’s Andrea Matte, RN, is one of the artists whose painting Climbing Out of a Global Pandemic Together (pictured above) was featured in the exhibit.
Through a nursing research study, Ochsner nurses are gaining insight into nurses’ individual experiences, their experiences as an organization, and new models used to redesign care delivery during COVID-19.
In 2021, the American Organization of Nurse Leaders (AONL) Foundation awarded a nursing research grant to Ochsner’s Center for Evidence Based Practice and Nursing Research and a nursing research team including Jessica Peterson, PhD, RN; Maria Nix, MSN, BSN, RN; Denise Hancock, PhD, RN, LCCE; Kenesha Bradley, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC; and Shirley Divinity, DNP, MS-HCM, APN-CNS, CPHM, for their study entitled Nurses’ Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining Nurse Leader Impact and Staff Redeployment.
Safety in the workplace is of paramount importance, and as part of our commitment to continue building the safest environment for our employees, we continually identify investments that will protect our staff.
Earlier this year, a terrible incident took place at our OMC — West Bank Campus ICU, when one of our nurses, RAMSES CONNOR, RN, was violently attacked by a patient’s family member. This attack left all of us in the Ochsner family feeling shocked, sad and angry. This is one example from our campuses here at home and at healthcare facilities all over the country. Ochsner immediately resolved to take action to address growing violence against healthcare professionals at Ochsner and throughout Louisiana. Today, Louisiana’s healthcare professionals can feel safer at work, thanks to two bills that became law this summer.
“When an event such as this happens, we are all affected — the nurse who was injured, the staff who witnessed the event and the remainder of the staff who work on the West Bank,” says MELISSA ADAMS, MHCA, BS, BSN, RN, CNO, OMC — West Bank. “Our leaders and staff showed incredible strength, resilience and determination while advocating for change. As a system, we have learned so much from this horrible event and made positive changes in visitor management, technology and legislation that enhance the safety of the staff, patients and visitors,” says MELISSA
In February, Ochsner began working with Louisiana lawmakers to develop legislative solutions to address workplace violence. As a result of these collaborative efforts, two bills were introduced in this year’s state legislative session. The first, Senate Bill 136, states that battery of healthcare professionals or those working in emergency rooms or in emergency services will carry stiffer penalties, and that assaulting a healthcare professional or causing disruption to a healthcare facility is a crime.
Ochsner is proud to have played a leading role in protecting our state’s healthcare workers by advocating for this important state law. Lawmakers also recognized the importance of this legislation and overwhelmingly supported our efforts. This bill was passed and officially signed by Governor John Bel Edwards at the close of the legislative session and took effect August 1.
Ochsner also strongly supported and lobbied for the passage of an additional bill, House Bill 312, regarding workplace violence in healthcare settings that passed and is awaiting the governor’s signature. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Dustin Miller (D-Opelousas), makes it illegal for employers to retaliate against individuals who report healthcare workplace violence. And all Louisiana healthcare facilities will be required to put workplace violence prevention plans in place, along with policies for reporting incidents.
Healthcare workers deserve to feel safe and secure when they come to work. Healthcare settings are stressful enough, and all those who have cared for patients throughout the pandemic have put their lives on the line to care for patients at their most vulnerable state. No one should have to worry about facing violence from others while doing extremely important and lifesaving work. We believe the new enhanced penalties and protections delivered through these bills will help prevent future incidents against those who do so much for our patients.
• Deployment of more than 3,000 Strongline personal alert badges in Behavioral Health Units (BHUs) and EDs, with plans to install in mother/ baby units as well — the badges help staff discreetly call for help to their location if needed.
• EvolvExpress® security scanning technology is live at all behavioral health units, at the Ochsner Baptist emergency room and will be added in other emergency rooms throughout 2022. Evolv scanners are the world’s first AI-integrated screening system for healthcare facilities and the most advanced technology available. The system provides a touchless experience that does not require visitors or employees to stop or to take items out of their pockets or purses, and screens 10 times faster than metal detectors.
• Hired Associate Program Manager of Workplace Violence.
• Self-defense courses scheduled and underway systemwide.
• Workplace Violence Education included in Rapid Regs to all employees.
• Additional access controls, panic buttons, forensic cameras and regional security dispatch centers.
• To round it out, 3 K-9 officers and dogs were added throughout the system.
Ramses recently returned to Ochsner to continue his important work for our patients. When he initially came to New Orleans, he was excited to experience Mardi Gras for the first time but missed the celebration while recovering from his injuries. When he returned to work, Ramses’ team surprised him with a Mardi Gras-themed “welcome back” celebration. The John Ehret High School Band performed at OMC – West Bank Campus, and Ramses served as Grand Marshall, leading our staff on a second line parade through the first floor of the hospital.
Ochsner’s Workplace Violence Committee 2.0 works to mitigate risk of occurrences. Here are some of the initiatives underway to help keep our employees safe:
Nursing Informatics (NI) leads projects that focus on the clinician’s ability to improve patient safety and quality outcomes. Ochsner’s NI team facilitates change in documentation, operational processes, and performance improvement. “Nurses are essential to bringing new technology solutions to life to enhance highly effective safe care for patients,” says TRACEY MOFFATT, MHA, BSN, RN, System Chief Nursing Officer and VP Quality.
“Our Nursing Informatics team supports the design and implementation of new technologies at the bedside and works closely with frontline staff to integrate technological advancements into nursing workflows,” says ANN LOCKHART, MN, BSN, RN, VP Nursing. “Our partnership with information services is integral to ensuring streamlined documentation and ease of practice for nurses,” says ANN
AMY TRAINOR, MHA, RN, VP Clinical Systems IS Administration, says, “Making nursing practice easier is a high priority for the Information Services team. We will continue to try to find creative ways to ensure our nurses have more time at the bedside with their patients and that the time spent in Epic is useful and efficient.”
Improving Lab Specimen Identification (LSID) to Ensure Accurate Patient Identification — LSID barcode scanning of the patient’s ID band and the barcoded lab label at the patient’s bedside automates positive matching, therefore reducing errors caused by manual processes. The LSID project pilot began at Baptist in 4Q2019, with systemwide implementation completed by early 3Q2021.
Launching the HealthSightTM Viewer (HSV) Dashboard Enabling Enhanced Patient Monitoring — HSV leverages technology by bringing the bedside nursing leader the ability to monitor guardrail status at the convenience of their
computer screen in all inpatient nursing units utilizing BD AlarisTM infusion devices. HSV is an integrated dashboard that pulls BD AlarisTM device data to show medication safety guardrail usage, alerts, and IV infusion status in realtime. HSV was launched to all in-scope facilities in April of 2021.
Inpatient Nursing Balanced Workload, Nursing Assignment Wizard (NAW), and Kronos Integration — Through this tool, Ochsner nursing leaders are able to quantify and balance nursing assignments.
Clinical Decision Support (CDS) — Best Practice Advisory nurse fatigue has been decreased by removing over 1.5 million alerts. Existing alerts are being made actionable to guide practice.
Inpatient Nurse Charging — This process allows for charge documentation during routine nursing documentation.
Telemetry Strip Integration with Epic — Integration of Airstrip® application with the GE Healthcare cardiac monitoring system allows for capturing of the strip, heart rate, rhythm, and measurements to provide a seamless flow of documentation into the electronic medical record.
Barcode Medication Administration (BCMA) Report Useability — The Epic BCMA report has enhanced useability that provides compliance-level overviews for system, facility, departmental, and employee levels. This report provides leaders the data needed to provide barcode-scanning compliance coaching to the nursing staff. Sepsis — Creation of a sepsis dashboard provides rapidcycle feedback in the care of septic patients, comparing care given to national sepsis benchmark data. Artificial Intelligence alerts provide decision support for intervention when patients are at risk of developing sepsis.
Wound Care — The Hospital Acquired Pressure Injury (HAPI) Reporting toolkit provides a one-stop resource to address HAPI in the inpatient setting. The toolkit consists of: How to Document Altered Skin Integrity (Pressure Injury), Altered Skin Integrity Wound Treatment Panel BPA, iO HAPI Preventions Bundle (BPA and Order Set), Harm Prevention Dashboard, HAPI Tableau Dashboard, and IP Pressure Injury with Diagnosis Code.
Technology-focused Nurse Strategy Day — NI hosted a technology-focused nurse strategy day in 2022 to identify the needs of nurses to improve mobile and desktop clinical documentation. Over 1,200 nurses contributed input through a survey, and the team is in the process of creating action plans to address improvements identified. The strategy day was jointly provided by Nursing Informatics and the IS team.
In 2021, Ochsner Health launched a Nursing Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Council aligned with the system’s D&I objectives: Care, Leadership, Environment and Communication. As an organization, Ochsner values the diversity of our people and the communities we serve and wants to attract people from all backgrounds to work and grow their careers here. This is critical to our success in the future in healthcare.
“When done well, diversity isn’t in one siloed stream of work. It’s an integral part of everything we and the nursing team’s practices and processes, quality and safety — all with the patients’ best interests in mind. In fact, the nursing diversity council will help us all become better patient advocates to improve their experience and to assist in creating an inclusive environment for everyone who enters one of our facilities as a patient or a caregiver.”
– DEBORAH F. GRIMES, RN, JD, MSHQS, System Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer
The council’s focus areas include:
• The Patient’s Experience
• Becoming a driving force in advocating and improving the culture of diversity and inclusion for nursing
• Creating a robust mentorship program for our nurses
• Supporting career planning and educational programs for nurses
• Increasing D&I Visibility (Internally and Externally)
• Working to Improve Health Equity
In January, Ochsner announced a refreshed set of Core Values and behavioral commitments, based on staff feedback introducing the new Core Value: Inclusivity. Below are commitment statements for the value of Inclusivity.
Inclusivity inspires us to do our best.
• I treat all people with dignity, celebrate individual differences and take the initiative to understand and show respect for others’ experiences, needs, values and skills, especially where they differ from mine.
• I ensure all voices are heard and opinions considered by inquiring, actively listening and acknowledging responses.
• I acknowledge my assumptions and blind spots and am open to learning about them from others. I work to remedy the situation if I say or do something others perceive as hurtful.
In 2021, Ochsner Health launched BD AlarisTM Interoperability, a new technology enhancement that allows for two-way communication between BD AlarisTM IV infusion pumps and the Electronic Medical Record. BD AlarisTM Interoperability enhances ease of use for nurses and increases patient safety during medication administration. This technology solution not only eliminates nurses’ manual entry of orders, which reduces the risk of pump programing errors, but also facilitates accurate and timely data entry. With interoperability of technologies, there is two-way communication that allows for a medication infusion order to be automatically prepopulated on the pump at the start of the infusion, then allows for continuous data flow to Epic throughout the infusion. The enhancement also reduces the number of clicks and manual programing points on both the pump and in Epic, which translates to ease of use for nursing.
A systemwide multidisciplinary workgroup, including nursing, nursing education, nursing informatics, pharmacy, biomed and the Epic team, and both BD AlarisTM and Epic corporate led each stage of the implementation. The team consulted with subject matter experts and collaborated with BD in meetings with each service line and specialty to introduce the change and discuss the individual needs of each team. Leading up to Go-Live, nurses participated in BD AlarisTM interoperability trainings to learn how to use the new technology. Select nurses participated in superuser trainings to serve as champions to support the implementation and subject matter experts from various nursing specialties completed full record testing, testing more than 2,000 medications to identify any workflow issues prior to go live.
In April 2021, after much systemwide coordination, BD AlarisTM-Epic Interoperability launched at the first two Ochsner hospital campuses. Following a successful launch at the first two Ochsner facilities from March through December, BD AlarisTM Interoperability SuperUser trainings and End User Trainings and Go-live were launched in all regions including Ochsner Baptist, OMC — Kenner; St. Anne Hospital; L.J. Chabert Medical Center; OMC — Baton Rouge; the Grove Infusion; OMC — Hancock; OMC — Northshore; and Ochsner St. Tammany Cancer Center.
“It was incredible to see colleagues from all areas work together to bring this innovation to life at Ochsner,” said ANN LOCKHART, MN, RN-BC, VP Nursing Practice.
Ochsner Nurses are excited to create new models of care in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, building on the innovations designed to care for patients throughout the pandemic. Ochsner Health has taken a creative lens to evaluate and respond to the national nursing shortage and meet patients’ healthcare needs that continue to grow in complexity. A variety of nursing units across the system have piloted new models of care, to discover the most effective way to leverage teamwork while meeting our patients’ needs. Through these new models of nursing care, Ochsner will be able to allow professional nurses to work at the top of their license, using new collaborative approaches and new paraprofessional roles.
“The Integrated Care Model will be a game changer in the post-pandemic world. It allows us to take care of more patients with more human touches and allows us to continue providing excellent and safe patient care,” says SHEREE STEPHENS, MSN, RN, CPHQ, Chief Nursing Officer, Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport. We know that strong teams take nurturing and attention, and DIAN TERRY, RN, Director of Women’s and Children’s, Ochsner LSU HealthShreveport-Monroe summed it up best: “We have been mindful of the need to check on each other. We are our brother’s keepers’, and by keeping a check on each other, we can impact our team’s spiritual and mental well-being to protect and maintain a healthy team that is able to provide the highest quality of care to our patients.”
Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center (OLG) and Ochsner Acadia General Hospital (OAGH) are piloting a new 1:1 Nursing Care Model that provides the right care at the right level for patients. RENEE DELAHOUSSAYE, MBA, BSN, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center shares their story:
“Currently, our nursing shortage is at a critical point, so we have to be creative to ensure safety
and quality do not suffer. The model we are piloting allows our staff to have the support they need. Patient Care Assistants (PCA) are the newest piece to the new model. Our PCAs are noncertified personnel who have healthcare experience. PCAs are able to assist our patients with day-to-day activities of daily living, allowing our certified nursing assistants (CNA) and nurses to function at the top of their licensure or certification. Our goal is to staff our 24-bed units with a charge nurse, 4 direct care nurses, 2 CNAs and 2 PCAs across all shifts. The team has shared great feedback on the new model. Currently, the Orthopedic Trauma Unit at OLG is at the 92nd percentile and the MedSurg Unit at OAGH is at the 81st percentile for the “Likelihood to Recommend” question on our health system’s patient experience survey.”
YVETTE BERTAUT, MSN, RN, Regional Chief Nursing Officer — Northshore shares more about the Ochsner Northshore’s team’s experience: “I am so thankful that the team has continued to embrace this philosophy of caring for the patient how and where it is needed daily. Some days this might mean floating a patient care technician to ICU to assist with tasks, an ICU nurse taking a critical care boarder assignment in the Emergency Department or peri-op nurses caring for surgical patients on the Med-Surg unit. Their flexibility and willingness have further strengthened our teams, and this rolesharing has redefined our concept of teamwork. This experience has empowered us to continue to adapt our nursing models of care to be more inclusive by incorporating cross-trained nurses, multifunction techs and assistive members to help support patient care delivery. I look forward to continuing to support our team to develop the added competencies to facilitate implementing innovative nursing models to meet our patient needs and support each other.”
KIMBERLY WALKER, MSN, RN, Divisional Chief Nursing Officer — Northshore says, “I am honored to be able to assume the new role as Divisional CNO for Slidell Memorial Hospital and Ochsner North Shore during such an important time in healthcare. Through shared leadership of both campuses, we are able to improve workflows and reduce duplication of services. I am working on increasing the number of shared staff members between campuses to better serve our regional population. I’m most excited about consolidating critical care services at one hospital campus to meet the needs of patients and improve employee satisfaction.”
Ochsner Nursing values and understands the importance of finding joy and fulfillment in the work that our team does each and every day. We strive to ensure that employees and clinicians can leverage all of their skills and talents to enable them to function at the top of their scope of practice. Medical assistants (MA) serve as an essential role on our care teams, and we couldn’t do what we do for our patients without them — and the last few years have certainly proven that. Historically, MAs have not been permitted to administer medications in our clinics, which creates additional demand for our nurses, while also limiting our valued MAs from functioning at their full potential.
After hearing from you, we assembled a team to reexamine and review the delegation rules and healthcare billing mandates. With the guidance and expertise of our legal, quality and revenue cycle teams, we identified an opportunity to expand MAs’ scope of practice at Ochsner. In May 2022, MAs working in provider-based Primary Care, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Pediatric Primary Care began training and education required to administer medications.
An additional multidisciplinary project team was formed in 2021 to organize and develop a detailed education, training and implementation plan. There are a few parameters that we must adhere to in order to remain compliant with the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) billing regulations, the Louisiana State Board of Nursing (LSBN) and the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners’ (LSBME) scope of practice delegation guidelines. One major stipulation is that a physician must be present in the building during medication administration by an MA.
While Phase I will focus on MAs in the pediatric and adult primary care settings, we plan to evaluate our capabilities to spread and scale the expanded role for MAs to additional specialties, including Women’s Services, Cardiology and Plastic Surgery. Evaluation of the additional specialty areas began in August 2022 during Phase II.
“We are thrilled to be able to offer this additional skill to further advance the careers of our MAs, while also providing much-needed support to our clinic staff, nurses, physicians and APPs,” said JLYNN WESTLEY, MSN, ASN, RN, AVP Clinic Nursing and Clinical Resource Ambulatory Nursing.
The Emergency Departments (ED) at Ochsner Medical Center — Baton Rouge and Ochsner Medical Complex — Iberville demonstrate creativity and resilience day-in and day-out. Over the past year, in response to high patient volumes during COVID-19 surges and multiple weather disasters, nurses in the Baton Rouge region teamed up with paramedics to create additional capacity to care for patients throughout the region.
“Nurses helped design and pilot a new staffing model leveraging the expertise of EMT- paramedics,” says DIANNE TEAL, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CPPS, FACHE, Chief Nursing Officer, Ochsner Medical Center — Baton Rouge. “Nurses led the onboarding of the first EMT- Paramedics in the ED at OMC — Iberville, and the pilot provided key learnings for the implementation of the new position in the Baton Rouge ED and beyond.”
“The use of the –EMT-paramedic model has allowed us to expand our expert care by both disciplines to the patients we serve,” says SUSAN GREEN, MSN, RN, Director of Emergency Services: OMC — Baton Rouge and Iberville. “I was so impressed by our team’s thoughtful and timely integration of EMT-paramedics into the staffing and workflow of the patient care team.”
With reinforced staffing, the Baton Rouge team stood up and managed additional COVID-19 testing and treatment locations, led by LENA HOOPER, BSN, RN, Manager, Emergency Department, OMC — Baton Rouge, to accommodate pandemic surges and ensure patients received timely care. From a tent to a temporary building, Lena led the team to create the appropriate workflows, provide for a safe environment and decrease crowding in the main ED. The Iberville team leveraged tele-medicine to provide timely oversight and care of patients at the new COVID-19 testing and treatment location.
ROSA CLEMENTE, RN, Clinical Coordinator, Emergency Medical Services, OMC — Baton Rouge, continues to utilize Ochsner’s creative staffing tools to ensure both adequate staffing and meaningful onboarding experiences for our new team members. Reflecting on the future impact of the program, CHAZ COOPER, RN, Manager, Free Standing ED, Ochsner Medical Complex — Iberville, says, “The growth and consistency of this program provides an opportunity in the future to enhance access to care and provide flexibility for the team.
The ED leadership team has identified the strong teamwork across departments that developed throughout the year as a strength they plan to take into the future. The coordination with Facilities Management and Project Management to create new locations and workflows, the support of the Quality and Clinic teams to assist with surge management and the implementation of a new Patient Transport team have all created relationships that will benefit the entire team as we continue creative planning for growth of ED services. The team has learned a variety of new skills that have enhanced their creativity, passion and flexibility in preparation for our future.”
“Being an international nurse, new to the city and country, I was wondering how the institute, city and the country would treat us. There was a volcano of queries in my heart, but I must say that it’s a blessing that I came to Ochsner. The team at Ochsner helped me not only to process the work culture but also groomed me to adjust and to know the city and world outside of the workplace. I had three months of orientation with a preceptor who has been like a mentor to me to this day and helped me to process the work culture, and even the culture out of the workplace.
Ochsner Health continues to seek innovative ways to care for our growing patient population and enhance the diversity of our care providers. Talent Acquisition Director
LEE YOUNGBLOOD, and AVP Human Resources
Business Partner KELLY MURPHY led the pilot of Ochsner’s International Nurse Program in 2021. In support of the growing need for nurses within our system, 10 RNs relocated to New Orleans from Nepal to join teams at Ochsner Baptist, OMC — Kenner, OMC — New Orleans and OMC — West Bank Campus. This program expanded in late 2021 to include additional partners to increase our pipeline from more countries such as Qatar, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Canada. Lee and the recruiters, with strong support from the CNO’s and Hiring manager, have already extended 200+ additional RN offers.
For the pilot, Talent Acquisition worked with the international recruiting agencies to locate the full-time nurse talent. After selection, they partner with Ochsner to assist new team members and their families with securing housing, citizenship, state licensing and acclimating to the New Orleans area. Additional support came from their new leadership teams, the leaders including ELEN CHACKO, DR. JEFFREY KUO and members from the Asian American Innovation Movement (AAIM); JACOB EVANS and members of the South Shore Diversity & Inclusion Program all played a large part in setting the new team members up for success.
LAXMI TAMANG, BSN, RN, Ochsner Medical Center — New Orleans, 14th West Tower, Stepdown Unit, shares her experience with the program:
Ochsner respects diversity, and I am a living testimony of it. On my unit, I have been accepted, educated, groomed, encouraged and listed to by the team with whom I work, which makes me feel that I am safe, valued and at home.
I’ve felt and experienced that although I am new to the country and institute, Ochsner has valued my work experience from the past and has shown trust toward international nurses by giving equal opportunity to national and international nurses.
The Human Resources team who guided us through the hiring process makes us feel they are there to help us. When one of Ochsner’s Human Resources team members said, ‘Please let me know if you need us. WE ARE FAMILY,’ it touched my heart! In this busy city and country, I came to Ochsner and found that I am valued.”
Ochsner Health is joining with Chamberlain University and the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) as part of a national education and workforce solutions initiative to address critical shortages of operating room nurses in the Gulf South. Ochsner Health is part of an inaugural group of three healthcare systems nationwide that are involved in expanding the initiative launched by Chamberlain University, which has the largest nursing school in the U.S., and AORN, creators of evidence-based guidelines and education resources for perioperative practice.
In early 2022, Chamberlain and AORN launched the first cohort of a 16-week online training module on perioperative nursing that is designed to prepare students to acquire an educational badge in perioperative nursing. Ochsner Health is collaborating with Chamberlain University to provide local participating students on-site opportunities to gain insight in a supervised perioperative setting, and students will be completing the clinical rotations in the summer of 2022.
“Ochsner Health could not be more excited to participate in this innovative program to introduce more students into the wonderful world of perioperative services, while also addressing the need for more operating nurses in the Gulf South and beyond,” said TRACEY MOFFATT, MHA, BSN, RN, System Chief Nursing Officer & Vice President of Quality, Ochsner Health.
The initiative, designed to be aligned with perioperative industry-specific competencies defined by AORN, is a noncredit-bearing program offered at no additional cost to students enrolled in Chamberlain’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program. The three healthcare organizations joining in the launch are Loyola Medicine, Ochsner Health and Emory Healthcare.
“We welcome these three esteemed healthcare systems as they join AORN and Chamberlain University in this national effort that represents Chamberlain’s ‘Practice-Ready. SpecialtyFocused’™ approach to addressing critical workforce needs in the perioperative setting,” said KAREN COX, PHD, RN, FACHE, FAAN, President of Chamberlain University.
“We believe strongly that the expansion of this initiative through the participation of these three healthcare systems will create a model for addressing a nationwide need for more nurses entering the field who are committed to perioperative nursing,” said AORN’s CEO/ Executive Director, LINDA GROAH, MSN, RN, CNOR, NEA-BC, FAAN.
The specialty badge program is designed to create a pipeline of perioperative nurses, also referred to as operating room nurses or surgical nurses, who work with surgical patients in the pre- and intra-operative process and through recovery in post-anesthesia care units. A 2021 research paper, “The State of the Perioperative Nursing Specialty Workforce,” outlines how academic partnerships with hospital facilities can address recruitment and retention challenges, as well as be cost-effective. It can cost up to $120,000 to train and prepare a new perioperative nurse, according to the research paper.
The need for perioperative nurses is expected to grow due to an increased volume of surgeries and a nationwide shortage of qualified nurses, according to AORN. Contributing to the shortage is that 20% of operating room nurses are expected to reach retirement age within the next five years, according to data collected by AORN. Chamberlain, which is part of the Chicago-based workforce solutions provider Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE), will begin offering the specialty badge program to students at campuses in Chicago; Tinley Park, Ill.; Addison, Ill.; New Orleans and Atlanta, with the intent to expand nationally across all 23 of its campuses.
About Chamberlain University — Chamberlain University is a part of Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE). Chamberlain University’s mission is to educate, empower and embolden diverse healthcare professionals who advance the health of people, families, communities and nations. To learn more, visit chamberlain.edu.
About AORN — AORN represents the interests of more than 200,000 perioperative nurses by providing evidence-based research, nursing education, standards and practice resources to enable optimal outcomes for patients undergoing operative and other invasive procedures. To learn more, visit www.aorn.org.
With a rich history in education and training, Ochsner continues to invest in building relationships with the goal of growing an inclusive pipeline of professionals. Connecting students, academic partners and the Ochsner team has never been so critical as now. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing schools were encountering difficulties with sustaining enrollment or expanding to meet projected demands. While the country has experienced nurse burn-out, and some are leaving the profession, applications to nursing schools are increasing. Fortunately, there are individuals who recognize the shortage and are seizing the opportunity.
“We have launched a student experience survey through this platform, which gives us valuable feedback,” says SYLVIA HARTMANN, MN, RN, Director, Nursing Academics.
“The fall 2021 survey data indicates that connections with welcoming and knowledgeable frontline nurses is what can set us apart for students.”
Enhancing Clinical Rotations — Providing an opportunity for nursing students to complete clinical rotations is one way to begin to build the pipeline. In 2021, Ochsner Health provided clinical experiences for approximately 2,500 unique nursing students. Some completed more than one rotation. Nursing team members who serve as Student Clinical Placement Coordinators facilitate clinical placements year-round.
Student Placement Software — Investment in an electronic capacity management platform has allowed us to effectively place students. The system tracks hospital compliance requirements prior to starting and can track students longitudinally through school to employment.
Creating Opportunities for Nurses to serve as faculty members — One of the major roadblocks to increasing nursing school enrollment is lack of faculty. Several members of the nursing team are serving as faculty,
and plans are underway to recruit more to assist the schools. When a nurse invests time as a faculty member or preceptor for a senior-level student, it can be a game changer with recruiting and converting a student to an employee. Nurses at Ochsner who have an interest in becoming a faculty member or a preceptor can join the Clinician to Student Instructor (CSI) forum. The group will offer classes to help nurses become “Clinical Instructors,” and members will have the chance to serve as mentors for nursing students. Additionally, a scholar program is being created for those interested in pursuing a graduate degree. Tuition assistance will be provided in return for a commitment to serve as faculty upon completion of the program.
Finally, the solution to solving the shortage of nurses and building a pipeline takes collaboration among many teams. Academics works closely with Ochsner’s System Nursing Professional Development, Workforce Development and Talent Acquisition departments to implement innovative programs that will recruit and retain knowledgeable and engaged nurses. As we continue to build relationships, either financially or strategically, with our academic partners across Louisiana and Mississippi, we are also focusing on investing time to contribute on the schools’ advisory boards to impact curriculum. Ochsner has invested financially to provide expansion of facilities and classrooms, such as with Delgado and Fletcher Community Colleges. And other significant partnerships are those with Chamberlain and Loyola Universities. The availability of these programs provides additional options for qualified students, and opportunities for partnerships in other regions are also being explored.
Together, we can do this!
“Loyola University College of Nursing and Health is very excited to have formed an academic clinical partnership with Ochsner Health. Building the nursing workforce, via the education of both undergraduate and graduate nurses, will help to ease the nursing shortage burden throughout Louisiana.” – MICHELLE COLLINS, Ph.D., CNM, RNC-EFM, FACNM, FAAN, FNAP, Dean and Professor, College of Nursing and Health, Loyola University New Orleans
Since 2013, Ochsner’s Workforce Development team has provided 2,000 people in Louisiana with pathways to jobs in healthcare, including free training and skills development for in-demand positions. The comprehensive Medical Assistant (MA) to Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) apprenticeship program was created in 2017 to equip participants with a background in healthcare, allowing them to begin their nursing career working as LPNs. The Ochsner PN Registered Apprenticeship is the result of a federal grant provided to the LWC in 2016, with the goal of increasing the number of registered apprenticeship programs in the state.
Workforce Development launched its second and third PN Apprenticeships in 2020. The participants persevered during an unprecedented time through the global
pandemic, Hurricane Ida and staffing difficulties. The PN Apprenticeship recently held pinning ceremonies in both the South Shore and Northshore/Baton Rouge regions. Since inception, we have welcomed 44 new LPNs into our nursing families.
Ochsner has partnered with the Charity School of Nursing at Delgado Community College to create the first Ochsner Licensed Practical Nurse to Registered Nurse Apprenticeship training program. LPN to RN apprentices are employed by Ochsner and will receive 16 months of tuition-free related instruction on technical and academic competencies, plus on-the-job training from Delgado. The first cohort of seven began in January 2022.
“Nursing school is one of the hardest things you can do. We had the upper hand, thanks to Ochsner, and despite a pandemic and a hurricane, we made it out on the other side as family. It’s an experience I would do all over again because of the knowledge and friendships gained. Despite working across our vast system, we are now often able to call on each other for help within our own practices, continually putting patients first, and becoming better nurses,” shared HANNAH BEACH, LPN, General Surgery Clinic, St. Bernard Parish Hospital
“As a new nurse leader with Ochsner Health, I am grateful to work for an organization that invests its time and resources into not only the professional but also personal development of every employee. I am impressed with the number of programs available for everyone to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities to pursue many different careers throughout the organization. It is a pleasure to work in such a dynamic environment that strives to create continued growth and positivity.”
–
BRIAN SWAIM, MSN,RN, NEA-BC, Assistant Vice President (AVP) of Nursing, St. Bernard Parish Hospital
Ochsner nurses reflect on their experiences and involvement on professional boards
“More than ever, nurses, as vital members of the healthcare team, need to use their voice! Board service is an incredible opportunity for nurses to use their experience, skill and perspective to shape nursing practice and the professional landscape. In my role as Vice President of the Louisiana State Board of Nursing, I’m able to influence policies and regulations that support safe and effective nursing practice for the citizens of Louisiana. It’s truly a privilege to serve, and I strongly encourage Ochsner nurse leaders to find professional organizations and boards and committees where their voices can also be heard!”
– TRACEY MOFFATT, MHA, BSN, RN, Ochsner System Chief Nursing Officer and VP Quality.
“There is no doubt that nurses make a difference,” says ECOEE ROONEY, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, SANE-A, DF-AFN, Director of Nursing Leadership Professional Development, Ochsner Health. “One of the ways nurses can contribute their knowledge, experience and perspective is through service on boards. Serving on a nonprofit board, an organizational board or a hospital board brings the nursing perspective to the decision-making, strategy and service to the community. Over the years, I have served on nonprofit boards such as the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault, and more
recently for Hope Clinic in New Orleans, which provides care to survivors of domestic violence. Previously, as President of the New Orleans District Nurses Association, and currently as President of the Louisiana State Nurses Association, I have had the opportunity to work with other wonderful nursing leaders in our region and across our state to serve as a voice for nurses across Louisiana,” says ECOEE.
“I am honored to serve on a nonprofit board that is focused on helping the public achieve health equity, well-being and access to exceptional nursing care and prevention,” says, DEBORAH FORD, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Ochsner Medical Center — New Orleans, who serves as the Treasurer of the nonprofit NursesEverywhere©
JANA SEMERE, MSHA, BSN, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center and Ochsner St. Anne Hospital, served as the President of the Louisiana Organization of Nurse Leaders (LONL). “Serving as the LONL president gave me the opportunity to network with nurse leaders across Louisiana and build long-lasting relationships. I was able to work closely with other leaders to share best practices, define educational needs of our nurses and build coalitions that will serve each member of the board well in the years to come. Nurses’ voices on boards are key to moving Louisiana forward and building a healthy state,” says JANA
“I presently serve on a state nursing leadership board,” says DONNA MARTIN, MSN, HCSM, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Ochsner Baptist. “Serving on a board allows you to network with nurses from other health systems who share best practices that allow you to work through the issues we all face in healthcare today. Serving on a board outside healthcare allows you to represent the nursing profession to the community. This positions nurses as leaders in creating a healthier environment for our community. It is a win-win all around.”
MARY ANNE TOLEDANO, MSN, BSN, RN, CNOR, Clinical Educator, Perioperative Nursing, System Nursing Professional Development, served as the president of the New Orleans chapter of the Association of perioOperative Registered Nurses (AORN). “I enjoy being involved in the local AORN chapter because AORN creates guidelines for evidence-based practices in the Operating Room and Surgical nursing specialty, and by participating, I stay upto-date with the latest best practices for nursing care,” says Mary Anne. “Serving on the board, I was also able to connect with vendors and invite them to present during chapter meetings to help keep my colleagues up-to-date and informed of the latest evidence.”
CANDACE MELANCON, LPN, Director Clinical Services — Ochsner Health Center — Baton Rouge, serves on the Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners (LSBPNE) and reflects on her involvement: “I have served as a board member of LSBPNE since 2009 and currently serve as Secretary/Treasurer. As an LPN, I have always been an advocate for LPN scope of practice. There are many organizations that do not allow LPNs to work to the top of their license, and along with our executive director of the LSBPNE, I strive to help educate LPNs about their scope of practice. I am grateful for my appointment to the LSBPNE, and I take great pride, because our main role is to protect the public by ensuring we are licensing competent nurses. To know that I play a role in advancing LPN practice and ensuring that patients are being cared for by competent LPN’s brings me great joy. I am excited to see where LPN’s will be in the years to come.”
The National Nurses on Boards Coalition (NOBC) was formed in 2014 in response to the 2010 Institute of Medicine Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health Report. Since that time, NOBC boasts success in achieving the founder’s key strategy of having 10,000 board seats occupied by nurses. According to a study by NOBC published in 2022 (Sundean, et al.), nurses provide expert healthcare knowledge, expertise, and wisdom and the values of caring and collaboration to impact board decisions. The authors share, “Nurses’ perspectives may, in turn, influence governance effectiveness and organizational performance. Nurses promote effective board governance by ensuring that perspectives and needs of all stakeholders are well-represented in board discussions, deliberations and decision-making. Given the high stakes of healthcare, board leaders of health-related organizations cannot afford to miss the opportunity to appoint nurses as decision-making members of governing boards (Sundean, et al., 2022).”
Each state has its own Nurses on Boards Coalition (NOBC). In Louisiana, the NOBC is administered by the Louisiana State Nurses Association in collaboration with the national NOBC. Nurses who are interested in learning more, already serve on a board and would like to be counted, or would like to be considered for board service, can visit https://www. nursesonboardscoalition.org/.
If you are an Ochsner nurse serving on a professional board and would like to be featured in next year’s nursing annual report, let us know! Scan the QR code to complete the form.
Reference: Sundean, L.; O'Lynn, C; Christopher, R.; Cherry, B. (2022). Nurses' Perspectives of Their Impact While Serving on Boards, JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration. 52(2) p. 106-111.
Ochsner’s Nurse Scholars program was established to grow the next generation of BSN, ADN and LPN nurses. The scholarship program is part of Ochsner’s Healthy State Initiative and commitment to improve the overall health of Louisiana. The Healthy State initiative is driven by a comprehensive strategy to enhance healthcare access and improve health equity and health outcomes. Nurses play a vital role in achieving this goal.
With the Ochsner Scholar’s Program, Ochsner Health is investing in the next generation of nurses who will be committed to putting patients first, working with compassion and upholding the highest standards of the nursing profession. Through this exciting program, Ochsner provides tuition assistance for currently enrolled full-time nursing students attending a Louisiana accredited nursing school who have interest in employment with Ochsner Health upon graduation. This year, we received over one thousand interest forms, interviewed 200 students and selected 136 Ochsner Scholars for the first cohort, 40% of whom are Ochsner employees or dependents of employees. Ochsner will support up to 200 students in the fall 2022 cohort and each year through 2030.
Students will receive tuition assistance plus 1:1 career coaching with an Ochsner Career
Coach who will provide direct support throughout recruitment as they approach graduation. The students are also involved in activities to enrich their exposure and understanding of nursing at Ochsner, such as facility tours, shadowing their allied health peers, crawfish boils and Chief Nursing Officer welcome events.
Louisiana has consistently ranked at or near the bottom of the country for nearly a decade, placing 49th in 2020 by America’s
In the fall of 2020, Ochsner Health launched an initiative to accelerate moving Louisiana’s health ranking significantly higher. That is when Ochsner announced its initial $100 million investment to fund the launch of the Ochsner Xavier Institute for Health Equity and Research (OXIHER), Ochsner Community Health Centers and the Ochsner Scholars program. While our commitment is critical, the systemic social and infrastructure issues that impact health outcomes throughout the Gulf South Region mean that we cannot achieve this level of change alone. The challenges facing our state include a high percentage of children living in poverty, smokers, adult and child obesity, babies with low birth weights, higher rates of cardiovascular death and cancer deaths, as well as the country’s highest rates of chronic conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure and COPD. It is time to educate ourselves, eat better, exercise more and fight relentlessly for our health to end the burden of preventative and chronic disease in our community. Ochsner Health is leading the charge and is committed to building a healthier region to live and thrive in.
Our vision is bold: Louisiana will be ranked in the top 40 by 2030. Scan the QR Code to watch the video about Ochsner’s Healthy State Initiative.
Below is a list of Ochsner nurses whose exceptional performance earned them recognition within Ochsner as well as through local, regional and national organizations. Congratulations!
• Jennifer Reichert, RN – Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medicine Services, St. Bernard Parish Hospital
JENNIFER’S COLLEAGUE: “It is no exaggeration to say that working with Jennifer Reichert is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, primarily because she encompasses every quality needed in the field dedicated to the welfare of others. Her peers see her as a leader, role model, and mentor…”
2021
Health Care Heroes honors healthcare professionals in the New Orleans area and are selected based on industry achievement and community involvement.
• Kiara Dillard, MSN, RN, Manager, Clinic Operations
Congratulations to the Louisiana State Nurses Association’s Nightingale Ochsner Nominees and Valerie Jackson recognized as LSNA Nurse of the Year!
On October 22, 2021, the annual Louisiana Nurses Foundation and Louisiana State Nurses Association Nightingale awards were held virtually. The award program honors nurses from across the state for their outstanding contributions to the nursing profession. Ochsner’s very own Valerie Jackson, RN, Operations Coordinator, Internal Medicine, Ochsner Medical Center — New Orleans, was awarded LSNA Nurse of the Year. The award honors the registered nurse who best exemplifies the ongoing demonstration of excellence in the art and science of nursing practice. VALERIE shared, “I attribute all my success to my Creator first and my mother. My mother told me as a child and throughout my life that I can do anything that I put my mind on. I appreciate the autonomy that is afforded me in the Primary Care and Wellness Site. Being a part of the think tank has enabled me to think more broadly in my approach to addressing issues…”
Congratulations to over 30 Ochsner nursing colleagues who were nominated in this year’s Nightingale awards!
It takes a selfless person to take care of another. Mississippi Heroes is a nonprofit on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that has made it our mission to recognize, acknowledge and celebrate nonprofessional and professional caregivers in Mississippi who choose to serve those in need on a daily, monthly and yearly basis.
Ochsner Medical Center — Hancock celebrated two nurses honored by Mississippi Heroes, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate everyday caregivers as heroes. Bethany Russell, RN, OC Emergency Department, and Regina Monica, RN, Administrative Coordinator, both received recognition from Mississippi Heroes for their dedication to their patients and their community.
Every year, we are proud to celebrate the excellence of Ochsner nurses for their incredible contributions to the profession.Left – Bethany Russell, RN and Right – Regina Monica, RN
The DAISY award was birthed out of tragedy when 33-year-old Patrick Barnes died prematurely from an autoimmune disease — ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura). Despite this devastation, Patrick’s family was overwhelmed by the kindness and compassionate care shown by countless nurses during their two months in the hospital. To fill the hole in their hearts, The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses was created. DAISY stands for Disease Against the Immune System. The DAISY Award is celebrated across the United States, and now even into 33 other countries and territories (www.daisyfoundation.org).
At Ochsner, hospital campuses promote, gather, review and recognize hundreds of nurses nominated each year. The DAISY award was presented to 30+ nurses last year alone. Storytelling is POWERFUL! A story about nursing care that is remembered, recalled and recorded by a patient, family member, friend or peer is a meaningful moment. A story recognized with a DAISY award is a professional and personal achievement. Congratulations to Ochsner’s outstanding DAISY nurses who walk our halls, exemplify our core values and champion the profession of nursing!
“The vital role of nurses in shaping and delivering healthcare through the centuries has been remarkable. But more than ever before, nurses have the opportunity to play a central role in transforming future healthcare delivery. These nursing executives work every day to share their experience, insight and skill to transform nursing. I’m so proud and inspired by all of the nurses across Ochsner Health for their contributions in caring for our patients and each other. But I’m especially proud of our nursing leaders for their role in shaping the profession and leading us forward.”
“We regularly had crucial conversations and called them “synergy huddles.” We need to create synergy when communication and teamwork have the highest potential for decompensation. Doing this allows us to problem solve, support each other, and manage the load as a team. Being open minded and honest about the situation has helped my team’s resilience and my own. We know we’ve got each other because we talk about it.”
- CAROLINE MARCEAUX MSN, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Ochsner Acadia General Hospital
“Building synergy when staffing challenges are draining the energy”
- LILLIAN RICHARD, RN, Manager Med-Surg Nursing Unit, Ochsner Acadia General Hospital, Crowley, Louisiana
“Nurses have an insatiable need and calling to care for others, which is our greatest strength. We have gained new knowledge in nursing. By working together as a team, we have found solutions to provide great quality care to our patients.”
- RACHELLE OWENS, LPN, Med-Surg Unit, Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport- Monroe
“The way we have persevered through the experiences of the past couple of years proves that we have learned so much. One of the most important lessons learned was the strength in teamwork. It’s what every nursing unit needs to succeed. Over the course of the last year, teamwork has been engrained into our nurses as team-based patient care has been a top priority for our patients. Streamlining the nursing processes and creating new workflows meant relying more on one another as an entire team. This includes our PCTs, RNs, and administrative staff. In doing so, we found that we worked smarter to achieve positive patient experience with personalized care. We also enjoyed a lot of laughter and recognized how that strengthened our resiliency! Although times may call for new measures of care provision, it is important to enjoy the time you spend at work with your patients and your coworkers.”
- JACKIE JOHNSTON, RN Labor and Delivery, Ochsner LSU Shreveport- Monroe
“This team has crossed and transitioned to a new level of performance, teamwork, courage, and commitment,”
- MELISSA MOLLERE, RN, Emergency Department Clinical Coordinator, OMC- Kenner
“It is in the face of difficulty, fear, and even personal tragedy, that this team has discovered an inner strength and character to overcome the unexpected. This new sense of confidence offers the ‘grounding’ necessary to see the task at hand for what it is, shift focus from shortcomings or limiting factors, and move from fear to a place of courage and “can do” motivation.”
- RUTH SAGASTUME, MSN, RN, CPHQ, Chief Nursing Officer, OMC- Kenner
“We can do anything together.”
- TANYA GROS, RN, Director of Perioperative Services, OMC- Northshore
“When asked to lead an emergency use authorization monoclonal antibody infusion clinic at my beloved hospital, Ochsner Medical Center - Hancock, it was an honor and it outlined my part in the battle against the pandemic. In every nursing career, you hope to contribute to the best of your ability and do something that truly makes a difference. I feel my leaders and Ochsner Hancock gave me an opportunity to make a difference, to be a part of forging a trail, and to provide a new type of healing to people who have felt very sick.”
- DAWN PENNING, RN Ambulatory Practice Coordinator, Ochsner Medical Center- Hancock
“I believe that loyalty and support from our team has allowed forward movement together during unprecedented times. Our team exemplifies a strong and diverse support system during difficult times that help give the team inner strength and character.”
- TRISHA SCALES, RN, Patient Flow Center
“The keys to success during the last year have been teamwork, flexibility, and a positive attitude. Working in the Emergency Department can be so unpredictable normally, then add a pandemic, Hurricane Ida, and transitioning from LPN to RN – what a year! Surrounding myself with a resilient and positive team has made all of the difference!”
- BETSY CHESTER, RN, L. J. Chabert Medical Center
“We learned more about one another and forged bonds that are rooted in our shared experience while opening our hearts to support and comfort each other,”
- RENATA SCHEXNAYDRE, MHA, BSN, RN, AVP CNO Nursing, Ochsner. St. Anne Hospital
“We confronted 2021 with courage and resiliency, and we overcame. As a new leader, I have been inspired by the teamwork I have witnessed over the last few months. Everyone, regardless of their title, has gone above and beyond to ensure that our patients remain our top priority in all that we do. I have quickly learned the importance of leading by example and building trusting relationships with my team. I look forward to the new challenges and opportunities that the next year will bring and am proud to be a member of the Ochsner team.”
- LACEY PERCLE, BSN, RN, L. J. Chabert Medical Center
Every year, nurses across Ochsner Health advance the nursing profession through scholarly activities. We celebrate nurses who shared new knowledge and innovations through professional presentations and publications this year!
Coscarat, L. Authored 8 chapters — Allergic Rhinitis, Common Cold, Epiglottis, Epistaxis, Hearing Loss, Mastoiditis, Pharyngitis-Tonsilitis, and Sinusitis. In A. Hollier (Ed.) Clinical Guidelines in Primary Care (4th ed.), Lafayette, LA: APEA.
Doubleday, E. Advanced Practice Providers Signing Chemotherapy/Immunotherapy and Hormonal Therapy Treatment Plans (Abstract) Journal of Advanced Practitioner in Oncology, 12(8), 876-877.
Gregory, S., Kelley, M., and Lalani, T. Novel Therapies in Oncology: An Individualized Approach. AACN Advanced Critical Care, 32(3), 315-323. Doi: 10.4037/aacnacc2021102.
Matrana, M., Pierce, E., and Doubleday, E. Practice Changing Results in RCC come from ASCO 2021. Kidney Cancer Journal, 19(2), 67-71. Doi: 10.52733/KCJ19n2-s1-a12.
Norman, L., Wells, B., and Edwards, A. P. From Policy to Practice: A DNP Student Perspective. Nursing Forum, 56(3), 630-634. Doi: 10.1111/nuf.12582.
Pierce, E., Stott, and Larned. Ochsner Health System’s Chemotherapy Care Companion: Technology for Monitoring Outpatient Oncology Patients at Home (abstract). Journal of Advanced Practice Oncology, 12(8), 884.
Winterbottom, F. The Role of Tele-Critical Care in Rescue and Resuscitation. Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America, 33, 357-368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. cnc.2021.05.010.
Winterbottom, F. and Webre, H. Rapid Response System Restructure: Focus on Prevention and Early Intervention. Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, 44(4), 424-430. Doi: 10.1097/ CNQ.0000000000000379.
Cooley, R., Aguilera, V., Venkatachalam, A. M., and Stutzman, S. (April 2021). Nurses Experiences with Opioid
Administration for Pain Management in the NSICU
During the Opioid Epidemic. American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) Annual Educational Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
Cooley, R., Aguilera, V., Venkatachalam, A. M., Olson, D., and Stutzman, S. (May 2021). Has the Current Opiod Epidemic Resulted in a Change in Distress for Nurses Administering Opiods? American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) NTI, New Orleans, LA.
Flattery, M., Soltani, Z., Krim, S., Gregory, T., and Tchoukina, I. (April 2021). Interpretation Of Allomap® In Clinically Stable Combined Heart-Kidney Transplant Recipients. International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) 41st Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions, New Orleans, LA.
Gaspard, S., Stipe, L., Doubleday, A., McNeely, T., Bennett, J., Holden, C., Hart, S., Viteri, X., and Thibodeaux, A. (April 2021). Operating Room/ Procedural Area Holds. American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses National Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Lalani, T. (April 2021). An Onboarding Reference Guide for New Bone Marrow Transplant Advanced Practice Providers. Annual Oncology Nursing Society Congress, New Orleans, LA.
Lalani, T., Fincher, B., and Doubleday, E. (April 2021). Discharge Teaching for Autologous and Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant Patients. Annual Oncology Nursing Society Congress, New Orleans, LA.
Peterson, J., Nix, M., and Hancock, D. (February 2021). Nurses’ Experiences of Working During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Southern Nursing Research Society Annual Conference.
Pierce, E., Johnson, D., et al. (April 2021). Implementation and oncology nursing implications of no-cost, universal next generation sequencing for patients with advanced solid tumors and lymphomas: The Ochsner Experience. Annual Oncology Nursing Society Congress, New Orleans, LA.
Sierra, D., Brousse, T., and Vallon, L. (May 2021). Borescope Inspection Implementation: A New Process and Its Impact on Endoscope Maintenance and Repair. Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA) 48th Annual Course (National Conference), New Orleans, LA.
Ray, E. and Winterbottom, F. (March 2021). Rapid Response and COVID-19: The CNS Influencer. National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists Online Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Story, C. M., Zepeda, E., and Kleposki, R. (October 2021). Pediatric Orthopedics Hands on Exam and Splinting for the Primary Care Provider. National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), New Orleans, LA.
Story, C. M. (December 2021). Empowering the APP for Success: A review of examination techniques and clinical pearls in patient assessment: Shouldering the Burden of the Exam. International Pediatric Orthopaedic Symposium, New Orleans, LA.
Story, C. M. (December 2022). Orthopedic Implications of Obesity to Overuse: When the Physis Gets Sick: Blounts. International Pediatric Orthopaedic Symposium, New Orleans, LA.
Story, C. M. and Lomax, M. (December 2023). Orthopedic Escape Room: Osteomyelitis vs. Occult Fracture. International Pediatric Orthopaedic Symposium, New Orleans, LA.
Bradley, K. (May 2021). Psychological Safety During COVID-19. Ochsner Health Research Day, West Bank, LA.
Champagne, B. E. (May 2021). Decreasing Risk of Contracting or Experiencing Complications of Skin Breakdown or Abnormalities from Prolonged Use of Particulate Respirators. Ochsner Health Research Day, Lafayette, LA.
McCloskey, M. (May 2021) Implementation of a Protocol to Provide Structured Education Sheets to Improve Adherence and Increase Function in Adults with Lower Back Pain: A Quality Improvement Project. Ochsner Health Research Day, New Orleans, LA.
Miele, J. and Nix, M. (May 2021). Using a Remote Nurse Consult Program to Support Redeployed Nurses During COVID-19. Ochsner Health Research Day.
Pirrone, A., Dalili, O., and Odinet, J. (May 2021). Implementation of a Pharmacy/Pediatric Medication Error Review Collaboration at Ochsner Medical Center — Jefferson Highway. Ochsner Health Research Day, New Orleans, LA.
Rooney, E., Clesi, T., and LeBlanc, S. (May 2021). Perceptions Of Effectiveness In Preventing Adverse Skin Reactions Of Healthcare Workers With Prolonged Exposure To Personal Protective Equipment. Ochsner Health Research Day, New Orleans, LA.
Sierra, D. and Brousse, T. (May 2021). The Hand Hygiene Not-So-Secret Shopper Initiative. Ochsner Health Research Day, New Orleans, LA.
Westley, J., Cook, B., and Peterson, J. (May 2021). Drowsy Driving Among Nurses and Potential Mitigation Strategies. Ochsner Health Research Day.
Winterbottom, F. (May 2021). Investing in Clinical Leadership at the Point of Care. Ochsner Health Research Day, New Orleans, LA.
Divinity, S. (November 2021). Decreasing Pre-analytical Specimen Labeling Errors in an Ambulatory Clinic Setting. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference.
Gaudet, K. and Winterbottom, F. (November 2021). Debriefing: Mitigating Patient Safety Breaches and Moral Distress. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Glaspell, J. (November 2021). A Literature Review of Compliance With Restraint Documentation for Inpatient Units. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, Houma, LA.
Kendrick, M. (November 2021). Proactive Rapid Response Pilot. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, West Bank, LA.
Leger, N. (November 2021). Implementing a User-Friendly Program to Ensure Employee Safety Against Hazardous Medications. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference.
Melton, J. (November 2021). A Call to Action: How One Healthcare System is Improving Birth Outcomes. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference.
Owens, S. (November 2021). Improving Learner Engagement Through Escape Rooms. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Peterson, J., Nix, M., and Hancock, D. (November 2021). Nurses’ Experiences of Working During the COVID-19 Pandemic. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference.
Rooney, E. and Hamilton, J. (November 2021). Fostering Healthy Work Environments: Monthly Virtual Leadership Development Sessions During a Pandemic as a Therapeutic Action. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference.
Sierra, D. and Brousse, T. (November 2021). The Hand Hygiene Not-So-Secret Shopper Initiative. 13th Annual EBP/ Nursing Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Silvey, A., Ryder, C., and Winterbottom, F. (November 2021). Advancing Nurse Practice Through Nursing Grand Rounds. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Stretzinger, M. (November 2021). Enhancing Family Communication and Decision-Making Through Innovative Electronic Multimedia Solutions. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Stretzinger, M., Gaudet, K., and Duck, J. (November 2021). Metrics that Matter: Get with the Guidelines Resuscitation. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Thibodeaux, A., Toledano, M. A., Cook, N., Cleasi, T., Overman, S., and Leger, N. (November 2021). Preventing Perioperative Pressure Injuries: Using a System Approach to Implement Preventative Measures. 13th Annual EBP/ Nursing Research Conference.
Winterbottom, F. (November 2021). Virtual Surveillance: Screening for Clinical Deterioration and Sepsis Using Decision Support Tools. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference. New Orleans, LA.
Winterbottom, F. (November 2021). Lights, Camera, Action: Cardio-Pulmonary Arrest Training. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Banks, N. (November 2021). SNF Specific Sepsis Protocol: Can the SNF Prevent Sepsis Readmissions? 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, New Orleans, West Campus, LA.
Bertucci, J. (November 2021). Ultrasound Guided Peripheral IVs by Radiology Technologists. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Harrison, A. and Cameron, A. (November 2021). Transitioning from Intermediate to Critical Care: A Needs Assessment. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, LSU Shreveport, LA.
Owens, S. (November 2021). Preventing Inadvertent Drug Loss of Small Volume Infusions. 13th Annual EBP/Nursing Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Cooley, R., Aguilera, V., Venkatachalam, A. M., and Stutzman, S. (April 2021). Nurses’ Experiences with Opioid Administration for Pain Management in the NSICU
During the Opioid Epidemic. American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) Annual Educational Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
Cooley, R., Aguilera, V., Venkatachalam, A. M., Olson, D., and Stutzman, S. (May 2021). Has the Current Opioid Epidemic Resulted in a Change in Distress for Nurses Administering Opioids? American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) NTI, New Orleans, LA.
Flattery, M., Soltani, Z., Krim, S., Gregory, T., and Tchoukina, I. (April 2021). Interpretation Of Allomap® In Clinically Stable Combined Heart-Kidney Transplant Recipients. International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) 41st Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions, New Orleans, LA.
Gaspard, S., Stipe, L., Doubleday, A., McNeely, T., Bennett, J., Holden, C., Hart, S., Viteri, X., and Thibodeaux, A. (April 2021). Operating Room/Procedural Area Holds. American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses National Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Lalani, T. (April 2021). An Onboarding Reference Guide for New Bone Marrow Transplant Advanced Practice Providers. Annual Oncology Nursing Society Congress, New Orleans, LA.
The generosity of donors creates incredible opportunities for nurses not available through other sources and inspires innovation in education, career development, and wellness. Below are a few programs that supported Nurses across Ochsner Health in 2021, made possible through donations.
The Nursing Education Grant Fund provided support for projects that allow frontline nurses, who are uniquely positioned to identify and operationalize change at the bedside, to do research into such improvements. One project, Investing in Nurse Creativity, addresses this directly. The purpose of this study was to create a nurse leadership program to address frontline clinical problems. They used a structured curriculum to train nurses in leadership topics, communication, change concepts, quality improvement methods, project management, and data management and analysis. Each nurse was supported to commit to 96 hours of nonclinical time to identify a specific clinical problem and solve the issue with a team.
Ten teams participated in the program from nine ICUs and one medical/surgical unit. Four of the ICUs chose to look at emergency response, four teams at implemented interdisciplinary rounds, one chose to tackle burnout, and one looked at noise reduction. Each team was able to demonstrate positive patient, nurse, and fiscal outcomes at the end of the one-year program. The total fiscal impact is estimated to be over $1 million. This program demonstrates that staff nurses can make substantial contributions to their organizations in clinical and fiscal outcomes when provided with nonclinical time.
The Patty Hanson Nursing Excellence Fund was created in 2015 to launch nursing education, research, and development programs that leave an immediate and broad impact on nurses at Ochsner. In 2018, when Ochsner formed an educational alliance with Chamberlain University, the Patty Hanson Nursing Excellence Fund was dedicated as a scholarship for Chamberlain nursing students. The Patty Hanson Nursing Scholarship was established by her husband, John Hanson, in her loving memory. Patty was an Ochsner nurse and a dedicated advocate for nursing education during her career. She created programs, authored medical publications, delivered addresses, and taught new nurses nationally. The Patty Hanson Scholarship continues to be awarded to an Ochsner employee who has demonstrated a passion for the nursing profession and commitment to higher learning. Recent recipients of the award include:
• Spring 2022, Samantha Oestriecher
• Fall 2021, Christian Wilson
• Spring 2021, Tegan Moersfelder
• Fall 2020, Ovena Darius
• Summer 2020, Sonja Schuster
• Spring 2020, Kaitlynn Moran
• Fall 2019, Michelle Theriot
• Summer 2019, Jada Davis and Princess Jones
The Baptist Nursing Education Fund supports nurses who attend educational conferences and seminars or are working toward achieving specialty certifications or recertifications. In 2021, the Nursing Innovation Fund supported a refurbishing of the "serenity room" for staff, which encourages one moment of mindfulness when team members find themselves in need. None of this is possible without the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support a nursing fund at Ochsner Health, please visit www.ochsner.org/NursingFunds.
“I am proud to be the son of an incredibly selfless nurse, and as a child was fortunate to observe and absorb the compassion my mom showed to every patient and family member. Today, I see this same spirit in our Ochsner nurses. There are countless stories of lives saved and changed thanks to these skilled professionals, and I’m so grateful that you have chosen this path, which is far from easy, and I thank you for all you do for Ochsner and our patients.”
- PETE NOVEMBER, Chief Executive Officer, Ochsner Health“In my career as a practicing internist and pediatrician, I experienced firsthand the impact nurses have within care delivery. That’s why today, I start nearly every day rounding on nurses at Ochsner Medical Center - New Orleans. I do this to share our team’s gratitude for their work.”
- DR. ROBERT HART, Chief Physician Executive and President, Ochsner Clinic“Our nurses are a true testament to the strength of Ochsner. You are the reason we continue to stand resilient at every turn. Together, we’ve seen healthcare advance, our practice change and our teams adapt. We’ve been through the ups and downs but we have much to look forward to. Your work matters to every patient and family that you care for, and I’m proud to know that your mentorship and commitment to patient care will help propel us forward.”
- MICHAEL HULEFELD, President and Chief Operating Officer, Ochsner Health“We know that without every nurse at Ochsner, we wouldn’t be where we are today. You are the reason our patients are cared for, the reason loved ones are comforted and the reason we are inspired to move forward. All of us know nurses who have had a positive impact in our lives, whether it’s a family member in the profession or simply a nurse who went the extra mile to help a loved one receive the care and compassion they needed.”
- WARNER THOMAS, Former President & CEO, Ochsner Health