Family, friends and colleagues gathered at the Krystal Q in Easton on May 11 to honor the 30 nurses who completed Shore Health System’s Critical Care University (CCU) and Graduate University (GU) advanced nursing training program. The celebration was the centerpiece of many activities that took place during Nurses Week.
CCU and GU have been nationally recognized as an innovative model for attracting and retaining nurses. Since its beginning in 2002, 227 nurses have completed the orientation program.
In his opening remarks to the graduates and their guests, Chris Parker, MSN, RN, senior vice president for patient care services and chief nursing officer, commented on two major goals Shore Health System achieved in the area of nursing practice – achievement of Magnet Recognition® and reaching a zero vacancy rate.
Parker said, “As a Magnet organization, Shore Health System provides each of you an optimum environment in which to practice. And, for the first time in my Shore Health System career, we are fully staffed in all of our nursing units”
CCU is a 10-month program developed to prepare nurses for careers in the emergency department, recovery rooms, and intensive care and telemetry units at MHE and DGH. During the five-month GU program, nurses develop the proficiencies required in medical/surgical nursing and in the specialties of obstetrics, pediatrics, neurology and surgical nursing, and in behavioral health and home health services. Both programs combine intensive classroom work and clinical instruction.
In his remarks, Joseph P. Ross, president and CEO for Shore Health System, said, “Our CCU and GU programs have become a best practice in preparing novice nurses. Every year at these graduation celebrations, we tell our graduates that they are the best class that ever completed the program. When I am out on the nursing units at our hospitals and watch our nurses care for patients, I know we are right to place all of you among the best of the best in the nursing profession.”
Ross acknowledged the Memorial Hospital Foundation for making the initial investment that was needed to underwrite the significant cost of these advanced training programs. The Memorial Hospital and Dorchester General Hospital Auxiliaries also provide funding for the program.
Addressing the nurses, Barbara Bilconish, MSN, RN-BC, director of professional nursing practice and Magnet Program, referred to a national poll that asked people to identify the most trustworthy profession. “Nurses take the top spot every year,” Bilconish said. “As nurses, we have a long legacy of honor to uphold. The public believes they can rely on us and trust us.”
Bilconish thanked CCU/GU faculty members Gail Shorter, MS, RN, CEN, and Mary Horseman, MSN, RN, CRNP, for upholding the highest standards and maintaining the integrity of the training program. She told the graduates, “They push you to your limit, knowing that you can do the work with the guidance of the preceptors assigned to you.”
Shorter and Horseman handed out certificates of appreciation to the nurses who serve as CCU/GU preceptors. Many of them came to Shore Health System through CCU and GU. Today they give back by sharing their expertise with novice nurses.
Speakers representing the Class of 2010 were Jaclyn Sanders, RN, from Critical Care University, and Shari Davis, RN, from Graduate University. Sanders, who lives in Salisbury, is a nurse in the Dorchester General Hospital Emergency Department. Davis, an Easton resident, works on the nursing unit at the Requard Center for Acute Rehabilitation at Memorial Hospital. Both nurses praised the extensive training and support they received through the program.
Diplomas and pins were presented to the graduating nurses by Bilconish, Parker, Ross and Charles Capute, chair of the Memorial Hospital Foundation Board of Directors.