National Nurses Week is May 6-12. We adore our nurses, which made it very difficult to narrow the list of things we love about them to only ten.
Here are just a handful of the many reasons these hard-working, skilled and dedicated men and women are so good at what they do.
1. They put patients first. Our nurses consistently put patients at the center of everything that is done here — every patient, every time.
2. They heal. They partner with our community and each other to provide innovative, compassionate and excellent patient-centered care.
3. They learn. Our nurses excel in educational achievement, with 79 percent of nurses holding a bachelor’s or masters’ in nursing and 41.7 percent of nurses earning certification in their specialty practice.
4. They are practitioners. 75% of nursing units are in the top quartile for preventing pressure ulcers and injury from falls.
5. They are community leaders. OHSU nurses are currently leading the work to develop a freestanding, in-patient psychiatric hospital.
6. They value integrity. They hold themselves to the highest ethical standards. Our Chief Nurse, Dana Bjarnason, contributed to the 2015 revised Nursing Code of Ethics.
7. They are scientists. In our fifth year of Nursing Fellowship and Evidence-Based Practice, six groups of nurses are conducting clinical inquiry projects to improve care in their areas.
8. They teach. Last year alone, our nurses precepted 600 nursing students from 18 different schools of nursing.
9. They seize opportunity. Staff nurse champions take the lead to improve glycemic care, pain management, skin care, and infection prevention, demonstrating peer leadership as they effectively change practice.
10. They volunteer. Many of our nurses travel for international medical mission trips across the globe.
Join us in saying thank you to all our nurses who provide excellent patient care every day.
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Dana Bjarnason, PhD, RN, NE-BC
Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, OHSU Healthcare
Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, OHSU School of Nursing
Deborah Eldredge, PhD, RN
Director, Nursing Quality, Research, & Magnet Recognition
Interested in a nursing career here at OHSU? Learn more.
2 responses to “10 things we love about OHSU nurses”
I want to thank Martina Dunbar for being a great GI nurse. I have experienced GI symptoms for years and put off being worked up due to a fear of the idea of things done to me such as occurs with manometry testing. Martina Dunbar is one of our OHSU nurses who does manometry. I would not wish manometry on anyone but if you have to have it done you want Martina to be your nurse. She is very knowledgeable, skilled, and kind at the same time. Thank you Martina for being my nurse:)
Dena
Thank you! Not just to OHSU nurses, but to all nurses everywhere. Doctors tend to get most of the credit for curing and helping people, when really it’s the nurses working behind the scenes and in between operations and treatments that enable the “healthcare machine” to operate as smoothly and efficiently as it does. Without nurses, doctors wouldn’t be able to do what they do! 🙂