Nursing at the Regional Medical Center
The Regional Medical Center nursing staff participate in Shared Governance, the collaborative process of making decisions about improving nursing practices. Problems, issues, suggestions or recommendations for change are submitted in a formal process and sent through an appropriate council for recommendations. The Coordinating Council is chaired by Julia Yawn, Vice President of Patient Care and Family Services and Chief Nursing Officer.
Councils at the Regional Medical Center:
Coordinating Council: Coordinates, integrates and oversees the activities of all the shared governance councils. The Coordinating Council facilitates communication between councils in a decision-making framework.
Evidence-based & Research: Provides current evidence based research to improve patient care and patient outcomes.
Quality: Focuses on improving the quality of patient care using evidence-based practices (EBP) to monitor how we are doing and how we can improve.
Practice: Sets the standard for nursing care by defining, implementing and maintaining standards of nursing practice.
Management & Operations: Ensures clinical excellence by providing resource through strategic planning, prioritizing, and budget development.
Education & Competency: Educates and maintains competent staff based on assigned patient population(s) for the care, treatment and services provided.
Shared Governance allows everyone to have a voice and influence decisions about nursing practice. As a result of the nursing councils, nursing staff have impacted decisions about visiting hours, dress code, annual education requirements, sedation practices, supplies, and nursing processes.
 Electronic Medical Record: Our hospital-wide Cerner electronic medical record gives us the ability to keep the most up-to-date information available at all times. Having one system throughout our hospital allows us to review health information on prior visits as well as keep accurate record of what has been done during the current hospitalization.
Rx Stations: Our Rx stations for patient medicines are integrated with our Cerner computer system. Nursing staff log into the Rx station to view the electronic medical record and remove medications from the same screen. The Rx Station also shows lab values available for medications that are based on specific lab values.
NDNQI: RMC is a participant in the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators® (NDNQI), the only national, nursing quality measurement program which provides hospitals with unit-specific, nurse-sensitive data from hospitals across the United States. RMC submits quarterly data on falls, restraints, ventilator-associated pneumonia, central line-associated bloodstream infections, nursing care hours, pressure ulcers, and nursing education and certification. These indicators allow RMC access to comparative data of U.S. hospitals on a specific unit type. NDNQI data can be used for process improvements and to track progress of these improvements. NDNQI also conducts an annual RN Survey that covers satisfaction in the work environment and rating the leadership team.
 Nursing Scholarships, Loans and Tuition Reimbursement:
RMC highly values educational opportunities. RMC and the RMC Foundation have awarded numerous nursing and student nursing scholarships. RMC offers employees scholarships to receive the following nursing credentials: LPN to RN, RN to BSN, and BSN to MSN.
 The RMC Foundation’s Virginia B. Johnson Scholarship was established in honor of community leader and volunteer Virginia B. Johnson. Foundation Scholarship grants are awarded annually to selected students from the surrounding area who are accepted into accredited nursing programs leading to RN or higher credentials.
Pathways to Excellence: RMC is currently pursuing the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Pathway to Excellence Program designation. The designation is earned by organizations that demonstrate a commitment to creating a work environment where nurses flourish because they experience job satisfaction, professional growth and development, respect and appreciation.
Nursing Mentor/Mentee Program: Mentors have a major role in helping new graduate RNs transition into their nursing careers. At RMC each new nurse is provided a mentor who serves as a positive role model and helps guide the new nurse through the orientation process. As a group, mentors meet monthly and cover topics that may be of additional education and support to new nurses. To encourage comfort and participation, mentees are involved in the selection of their mentor. Mentors initiate contact with mentees at least two times each month; however, mentees may call on their mentor as needed. Mentees participate in the program for a full year, but the friendships that develop may last forever.
Nursing Excellence: Nurses of excellence are chosen annually from among the nursing staff and are recognized during National Nurses’ Week.
Nurses of the Year & Nightingale Awards of Excellence
RMC nursing awards of excellence honorees include from left, Kartina Harrison, RN, 2011 Nurse of the Year – General Units/Supervisory Care; Barbara Antley, RN, 2011 Nurse of the Year – Specialty Care; and Katrina Coleman, RN, 2011 Nightingale Award.
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DAISY Awards
Each quarter the Regional Medical Center awards outstanding nurses through the national DAISY Foundation awards program. DAISY RNs personify remarkable patient experiences and consistently demonstrate excellence through their clinical expertise and extraordinary compassionate care.
Honorees are selected from nominations from patients, visitors, nurses, physicians and hospital employees.
Daisy Award Winners for Fiscal Year 2010 - 2011:
 2011 Palmetto Gold Award Recipient
Sonya Kay Ehrhardt, Nurse Director of Infection Control, PICC Program, Dialysis and Sterile Processing, received the 2011 Palmetto Gold Award.
Presented by a coalition of South Carolina nursing organizations, this prestigious award honors the best of the best in nursing. The Palmetto Gold Nurse program recognizes registered nurses in South Carolina who exemplify excellence in nursing practice and a commitment to the nursing profession. This is the 10th anniversary of the Palmetto Gold awards, and this annual award honors 100 nurses (out of the 64,000 registered nurses in S.C. for 2011).
2011 People's Choice First Place Award - S.C. Nursing Excellence Conference
 In the era of challenges in healthcare, hospitals must identify opportunities for innovation that will show process improvements while at the same time foster a culture of safety and assist in improving the bottom line.
As a result of its critical care process improvement and surveillance teams' many years of process improvements in the management of ventilated patients and those with central lines, the Regional Medical Center was awarded First Place in the People's Choice category at the 2011 S.C. Nursing Excellence Conference for its poster on reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia and central line-associated bloodstream infections. Of the 46 posters submitted, with many larger hospitals submitting multiple entries, RMC was very pleased that its entry was the People's Choice First Place award.
RMC’s winning poster entry showed how RMC dramatically decreased infections, increased patient safety and fostered a culture change, which led to a total savingsof $1,312,137 and a decrease in excess hospital days of 1,038 since 2004 .
 First in South Carolina to Use New Technology for
PICC Procedures
The Regional Medical Center is the first hospital in South Carolina to implement the Sapiens* Tip Confirmed System (TSC) to locate the placement of a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC). RMC uses a PICC team comprised of three specially trained registered nurses, who place an average of 90 PICC lines per month. The nurses learned about the new device and took the initiative to become the first hospital in S.C. and the 36th hospital in the nation to begin using the technology.
Career Opportunities at the Regional Medical Center
If you would like more information about career opportunities at the Regional Medical Center, click here.
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