July 15, 2023 / By mobanmarket
BEVERLY HILLS, CA — In an ever-strained health care field, nurses are a critical backbone. There’s over 4 million of them in the U.S., but a tough work environment means many nurses are exiting the profession as early as their first year — raising concerns about the younger generation’s ability to replace the expertise of nurses who are retiring, nurse economist Shawna Butler told Patch.
In an effort to broaden the public’s understanding and appreciation of the essential — and varied — roles nurses play in health care settings, and catalyze action to help reverse this trend of nurse departures, Butler built the Simms/Mann Family Foundation’s Off the Chart: Rewarding Nursing Greatness campaign.
The Beverly Hills-based nonprofit recently recognized 30 nurses from Southland health systems — City of Hope, UCLA Health and Keck Medicine of USC — with a $10,000 unrestricted financial gift.
For the nurses, the gift is a no-strings-attached “thank you” and recognition of extraordinary work. But for the recipients’ colleagues and the public at large, Butler says she hopes the program will help boost understanding of just how crucial and specialized nurses’ work can be.
“For health systems to run and for the public to have really good care, it takes nurses — a lot of them — with a broad range of experience. We have to protect them, we have to support them, and we have to invest in them for their career advancement,” Butler said.
Click Here: Erling Haaland jersey sale
Among the recipients is Iris Mayoral, 30, who’s worked for seven years at UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Westwood. Butler said Mayoral’s action-oriented mindset and drive to innovate embodies the kind of person Off the Chart seeks to recognize.
As part of a UCLA leadership program, Mayoral sought to address an issue affecting some of the geriatric patients she worked with: falls. So she dove into the literature, seeking out evidence-based approaches shown to prevent falls, she said.
Her solution was to implement a procedure of staff taking patients to the bathroom every three hours, rather than just waiting for patients to request it. After a previous track record of several patient falls per month, Mayoral said her unit — which specializes in treating patients with dementia and other psychiatric needs — saw zero patient falls for three consecutive months.
As it turns out, the solution wasn’t an expensive or overly complex one, but it required organization, team-building and creating a system that required training of doctors, therapists and others who worked in Mayoral’s unit.
“Working in one nursing unit I’ve been able to make change there,” she said. “I think as I continue with my education — I’m in a doctorate of nursing practice program — I’ll be able to gain more skills and work on a systemic level. I think nurses have that ability to contribute positive change because they work so closely with patients and understand their needs.”
You can read more about Off the Charts on the Simms/Mann website.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
Categories: