Lovelace Health Systems
Discovering the Passion for Nursing

Focus of the Appreciative Inquiry: Improve Nursing Retention and Job Satisfaction

Client Organization
A nationally recognized integrated health care organization, Lovelace Health Systems includes a hospital in Albuquerque, NM and a statewide network of physicians, hospital and clinics. Of 3,182 employees, over 500 are nurses. The vision for Lovelace Health Systems is "to be the best place to get care and the best place to give care". Achieving this vision was challenging with nurse turnover ranging from 18-30%. Short staffing, unfilled vacancies, and low morale were among the negative effects.

Client Objectives

The aim is to discover why nurses choose to stay at Lovelace and to gather this insight in such a way that the process, in and of itself contributes positively and minimizes negativity. Specific goals:

• Increase nurse satisfaction and retention at Lovelace.

• Discover why nurses choose to stay at Lovelace Health Systems.

• Generate qualitative findings that articulate the "positive core" the nursing organization.

• Identify tactics to enhance future retention.

What was done
Within the hospital population of over 300 nurses, an inquiry was conducted on four topics that were generated from real stories from interviews. Stories reflect existing positive aspects of work life at Lovelace that nurses wish to amplify. Lovelace topics are - The Privilege of Nursing, Humor: The Other Vital Sign, Appreciation, and The Exceptional Team.

Outcomes
Benefits to Lovelace professional nursing community over 2001 include: reduction in nurse turnover by 13%; nurse vacancy rate reduced by 30%; hospital nurse rating of Lovelace as a place to work increased 16% and; Press Ganey patient satisfaction with nursing measures rose 20 percentile points on the ranking. Qualitative benefits include improved communications between nursing colleagues, rediscovery of the essence of the nursing profession, ability to transfer newly acquired AI skills and techniques to other areas of professional and personal life and new found energy to participate in improving work life at Lovelace. Specific results include a new recruiting brochure featuring "Discovering the Passion for Nursing" at Lovelace, new assessment and orientation programs, a recognition process, a calendar illustrating stories and quotes of nurses at work, a video for Nurses Day, training.

For further information, contact Susan O. Wood, Corporation for Positive Change, 717-964-3069, Susanowood@comcast.net.

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