Everyone knows nurses dispense medica­tion, monitor vital signs and bring overall comfort to patients in a medical setting. What people may not know is that nurses across Johns Hopkins are agents of change who lead committees to improve patient care and the workplace through a collabora­tive decision-making process called shared governance.

Claudette Ortega, a nurse in the Sheikh Zayed emergency department, says Johns Hopkins nurses are encouraged to join com­mittees that interest them or that could have the biggest impact. “When we take on more responsibility to improve our profession and the quality of care we provide to our patients, it increases our morale and nurses are more engaged,” she says.

Among the many improvements at Johns Hopkins attributed to nurses through shared governance are safer procedures in chemo­therapy through training to help reduce spills, adding an admission nurse in the Department of Medicine from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. to support bedside nurses with greater than average patient volumes, and a new tool for oncology infusion that adjusts for a patient’s acuity and needs.

PATIENT EXPERIENCE

Julie Sussan, a nurse in the Pediatric Oncol­ogy Outpatient Clinic, wanted to focus on enhancing the experience for their young patients when they come to Johns Hopkins for treatment. When patients requiring procedures under anesthesia are transferred from the clinic to preop to the operating room, then to the post-anesthesia care unit, they encounter several environments with different care providers. Sussan and her team members knew there had to be a safer and more efficient way—one that would use fewer resources while improving patient safety and satisfaction.

Sussan and her colleagues researched best practices and developed a pilot program that brought remote anesthesia machines and staff members to the patients in the pediat­ric oncology clinic instead of moving their patients to the operating room. Now, just a year later, the Pediatric Oncology Outpatient Clinic has an anesthesia machine of its own, and has seen significant improvements in the efficiency of care thanks to this streamlined approach.

“It’s been great for the kids,” explains Sus­san. “It’s much less scary for them. They get to stay in a familiar space with team members they are used to working with throughout the entire process.”

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

On the cardiovascular progressive care unit (CVPCU), nurses are making their unit more environmentally friendly. Several CVPCU nurses with a passion for recy­cling were concerned about the amount of environmental waste produced. They formed a committee called the Green Team, and worked together with nursing leadership and environmental care staff members to obtain additional recycling cans for the unit and began educating their colleagues on recycling best practices.

Clinical nurse specialist Tim Madeira says, “Our nurse manager encourages us to get involved if we have a passion for something. For us, it was making sure we were using our resources efficiently and reducing waste.”

As a bedside nurse on Meyer 8, Angie Har­tig believes shared governance allows nurses to share their expertise in areas such as clinical standards, quality improvement, professional development and patient care. “Their hard work is benefiting patients and nurses be­yond a unit level, effecting change within the department and in the overall hospital,” she says. “The more we learn and grow, the better quality of care we can provide to our patients. That’s the Johns Hopkins way.”