PONL 2023 Annual Conference Rapid Roundtable PRESENTATIONS

1. A Collaborative Approach to Engagement of Nursing Support Staff
A multi-level nursing leadership approach to engage and support nursing support staff (NSS) at the hospital and unit level. This session will give insight and provide strategies and tools for nurse leaders to use at the director of nursing, manager of staff education and unit director level.

Presented by: 

Alexis Rucinsky, MSN, MS, BSN, RN
Unit Director, UPMC Community

Jackie Hunt, MSN, BSN, RN, NE-BC, CMSRN
Director of Nursing, UPMC Community

2. An OB Collaborative Approach to Unbiased Interviewing and Onboarding
By optimizing resources paired with partnership amongst inpatient OB Nursing units, this innovative onboarding practice has allowed for a collaborative approach to interviewing and onboarding high volumes of nursing candidates, while quickly closing vacancy gaps. Through this collaborative initiative, paired with peer interviewing of all potential candidates, we were able to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion for all candidates and interviewees while also advocating for quality candidates with a passion for women’s health. Ultimately, this process and partnership helped to successfully increasing RN staffing in a post-pandemic nursing shortage, to care for our high risk obstetrical patients.

Presented by: 

Nicole Stefanic, MSN, RN, CBC
Senior Clinician, UPMC Magee Women's Hospital

Tara Stickley, MSN, MBA, RNC-OB, CBC, C-EFM
Unit Director, UPMC Magee Women's Hospital

3. Discharge Lounge: New Approach to an Old Problem
Today’s healthcare environment is introduced with many new and unexpected challenges every day. In the purview of the Emergency Department (ED), patients boarding in the ED for extended periods of time can be a symptom of a much worse problem. To remedy this cause, efficient discharge planning can positively affect the downstream patient movement.

In this presentation learn how to expand the footprint of the Discharge Lounge to make it readily accessible and be a part of your everyday discharge planning.

Presented by: 

Denise Derolf, BSN, RN, PHRN
Patient Flow Supervisor, Tower Health/Tower Direct

4. Engaging Nurses in Stroke Education: Quick Response Code and Virtual Bulletin Board Technology
During this session, you will learn about a fun new way to engage nurses in providing education! Our latest generation of new nurses are considered “digital natives” having grown up familiar with technology throughout their lives. Using a cell phone based virtual education is evidence-based to enhance learning outcomes. This presentation uses a virtual bulletin board technology to provide stroke education to nurses on a medical surgical neuroscience unit. The technology is applicable to any nursing unit and can be customized and updated regularly.

Presented by: 

Michele Adzema, MSN, RN, CMSRN
Patient Care Specialist, Lehigh Valley Health Network

5. Hungry for Safe Staffing? Well, we've got a BLT for you! 
St. Luke’s Hospital Anderson campus, along with healthcare organizations across the globe, were challenged by the worldwide nursing shortage, struggling to meet the demand for registered nurses (RNs). The goal of this project was to implement a blended team model of care delivery, through the integration of Licensed Practice Nurses (LPNs) and Registered Nurses. The project began in December 2021 to reduce the nursing vacancy of 64% to a staffing complement that would allow the hospital to open West 4’s 36-bed medical-surgical department to its full capacity within six months by hiring and recruiting LPNs. The goal of fully staffing the hospital would allow us to meet the needs of the community, prevent backflow in our emergency department, and sustain high-quality patient care and overall patient experience.

Presented by: 

Darla Frack, MSN, RN, NE-BC
Vice President, Patient Care Services, St. Lukes University Health Network

Patricia Frazier, MSN, RN, NEA-BC
Director, Patient Care Services, St. Lukes University Health Network

6. Leading Change: Effective Stewardship of Remote Telemetry Monitoring Strategies
Clinical data collected by staff RNs identified a need for stewardship of remote telemetry use. Nurse leaders strategized and implemented Lewin's Change Theory of 'Unfreezing, Change, & Refreezing'. Documentation of clinical indication for remote telemetry use, Nurse Driven Protocol orders and captured billing records demonstrate measurements of success.

Presented by: 

Cindy Brockway, MSN, RN, CCRP
Director of Research, Penn Medicine Chester County Hospital

7. Nurse Leader Ethics Fellowship
Frontline nurse leaders are responsible for ethical problem solving in fast-paced clinical settings and for creating ethical environments for nurses, patients and the rest of the care team. However, many do not receive necessary training or education to navigate ethically challenging situations in the clinical space. Nurses experience moral distress and decreased ethical confidence, which can negatively influence patient care and lead to staff disengagement and absenteeism. A one-year Nurse Leader Ethics Fellowship was developed and implemented to bolster nurse leaders' ethical knowledge and confidence and to help them build ethical sensitivity and ethical decision-making skills in their teams. Fellowship activities included monthly seminars and a 4-day conflict mediation intensive. Seminars discussed common ethical issues and included reflective writing, reinforcement of communication techniques learned in the intensive, and use of a tool to navigate and mitigate moral distress. Eleven nurse leaders participated in the inaugural cohort. Fellows' moral distress decreased, ethical confidence increased, and authentic leadership behaviors increased pre/post fellowship. Offering professional development opportunities in the form of a fellowship supports nurse leaders as they navigate ethically challenging, value-laden concerns in their everyday practice. Fellows do not take the place of ethics consultants, rather, they become stronger leaders who can support frontline clinical nurses and others in need of additional ethics expertise and encourage engagement with ethics resources.

Presented by: 

Erin Marturano, MBE, MSN, RN
Ethics Manager, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

8. Nurse Manager Presenteeism: What Can Leaders Do to Help?
What happens when nurse managers are physically at work but not fully engaged or functioning? This is called nurse manager presenteeism. The findings of our study will help nurse leaders implement interventions to prevent and address nurse manager presenteeism.

Presented by: 

Claire Bethel, PhD, RN-BC
Magnet Program Director, UPMC Community Osteopathic Hospital

Caitlin McIntosh, MSN, RN
Magnet Program Director, UPMC West Shore Hospital

9. Utilizing a Kaizen Event to Improve ED Efficiency
A Kaizen event is used to support an "effective, short-term brainstorming session that focuses on a single challenge and improves an existing process". The term is loosely translated from the Japanese to “change for the good”. In the case presented the Kaizen event was applied in the setting of an Emergency Department but could be applied to any area. We will discuss at a high level the process for planning an event, running the event and implemented proposed changes. We will integrate the findings from our event to highlight a real life scenario.

Presented by: 

James Thomas, DNP, RN, CEN
Director of ED, ICU, PCU and SWAT Team, Riddle Hospital, Main Line Health

Jaime Bartholf, BSN, RN
Nurse Manager, Riddle Hospital, Main Line Health