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Lurie Children’s Home For Healthcare ProfessionalsNursing Nursing Voice

Nursing Voice

Nursing Professional Governance 

Our nurses are driven to be leaders in healthcare delivery, research, education, and advocacy. Through participation in Nursing Professional Governance, nurses own and shape their practice with the decision-making power to advance the profession. This empowering culture ensures an outstanding environment for professional nursing.  

Nursing Professional Governance at Lurie Children's is an organizational structure created to enhance communication, improve patient outcomes, and care and increase productivity and accountability. It provides frontline nurses with a voice and decision-making power regarding their profession, it provides nurses with the opportunity for professional development and empowerment and gives nurses control and accountability over their professional practice. 

At Lurie Children's, the purpose of the Nursing Professional Governance structure is to provide a coordinated decision-making process to plan, coordinate and direct the professional work of nursing. All professional nurses employed are the medical center are governed through this structure. Members of the professional governance structure are comprised of frontline nurses, professional development practitioners, Nursing Informatics practitioners, Advanced Practice Registered Nurses and members of leadership. The key to success of this model is staff representation and participation, any nurse at Lurie Children's has the opportunity to participate and shape nursing practice.

Councils & Committees

Nursing Professional Governance consists of four councils at the unit-based and hospital-wide level. Membership includes nurses across the organization including clinical nurses, Nursing Professional Development Practitioners, Nursing Advanced Practice Nurses, nursing leaders, and more. Involvement in Nursing Professional Governance promotes collaboration with nursing colleagues throughout the organization, builds leadership, improves patient outcomes, and provides a foundation of quality, support, safety, and resources.

The Collaboration, Advocacy, Recognition, and Engagement (CARE) Council is dedicated to developing and sustaining innovative programs that actively foster a culture of appreciation, engagement, and recognition for nurses. The focus of CARE Council is to:

  • Enhance nursing satisfaction
  • Promote professional growth
  • Support well-being of nurses
  • Empower and engage nurses in health policy initiatives

Through these efforts, the CARE Council strives to create an environment where nursing staff feel valued, supported, and empowered. Throughout the year, the CARE Council celebrates and honors the dedication of nurses with programs such as:

  • Nurse Exemplar Awards
  • DAISY Award
  • Lurie Children’s Nurses Week Celebration

Nurse Exemplar Awards

The Nurse Exemplar Awards are presented annually to recognize Nurses, APPs, and Nursing Assistants who exhibit outstanding practice in twelve categories.

DAISY Awards

The DAISY Award is a international recognition program that celebrates and recognizes nurses for their clinical excellence, compassion, and dedication to patients and their families.

The Innovation Council directs the science and art of nursing at Lurie Children's through these key pillars:

  • Ensuring nursing practices, protocols, and procedures are based on the highest quality evidence while focusing on family-centered care
  • Committing to the discovery and promotion of nursing innovation through advancing research
  • Implementing evidence-based teaching protocols and multi-disciplinary plans of care to guide patient care and the delivery of education
  • Empowering nurses to lead and champion practice changes that enhance patient care delivery

The Nursing Quality & Safety Council (NQSC) strives to improve nursing practice and create a culture of zero harm through improvement in healthcare technologies, evidence-based quality improvement, patient and family-centered care, and nursing excellence. Some of the Council’s responsibilities entail:

  • RN HAC Prevalence Day
  • Coordinating Improvement Projects
  • Ensuring meaningful healthcare technology innovations
  • Oversight of Patient & Family Experience Scores
  • Reviewing projects in the Nursing Project Tracker (NPT)
  • Auditing

To achieve our mission, our shared vision includes the work of preceptors, professional development experts, and patient and family education champions. Each of these areas endeavor to achieve this through:

  • Sharpening the education of all Lurie Children’s professionals, patients, and families
  • Modeling a standard for the precepting experience at Lurie Children’s
  • Strengthening the professional development of all Lurie Children’s nurses by supporting opportunities, and assisting in achieving one’s goals through the ASCEND program and other professional development programs.

Click here to read more about the ASCEND Program and to see the most recent ASCEND nurses.

Nursing Professional Practice Model

ANCC defines a professional practice model as an “Overarching conceptual framework for nursing, nursing care, and interprofessional patient care. It is a schematic description of a system, theory, or phenomenon that depicts how nurses practice, collaborate, communicate, and develop professionally to provide the highest-quality care for those served by the organization (patients, families, and communities).”

American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Application Manual: Magnet Recognition Program®. Silver Springs; 2014.

Lurie Children’s Nursing Professional Practice Model is Relationship Based Care®