I recently had a community member say to me, “it’s a shame you are no longer a nurse” implying that in my role as Director of Acute Care at Centra Southside Community Hospital, I no longer care for patients. I quickly explained to her that in my position, the number of patients I touch has only multiplied. I frequently describe my purpose as “caring for the staff so they can care for our patients”. In serving my staff, I get to fulfill Centra’s mission of “improving the health and quality of life for the communities we serve.”
All healthcare leaders have heard if you increase your employee engagement, your patient engagement will follow. My Caregivers have consistently been very engaged. Therefore, it was painful to see our engagement scores plummet last year. Like many in healthcare, increased ratios and extra shifts during COVID had taken their toll. One of the hardest metrics to stomach was the fact my staff felt under-recognized. Although I would sing their praises behind closed doors, I realized in my own personal burnout, I had not done enough to recognize their sacrifices. I knew I must make a meaningful and significant impact, but how does one person refill the cups of 80+ Caregivers?
In brainstorming with key Caregivers on the unit, I quickly realized that it would need to be a team effort to revitalize our work family. In January, our team began a new initiative called the “Kindness Kampaign.” This team meets monthly to plan personal ways to thank and appreciate one another. For instance, in February, we provided valentine cards for staff to write notes of appreciation to each other and place in our individual gift bags hung throughout the unit. This created excitement on the floor much like what you might remember from your grade school valentine exchange. One can truly feel the difference when he or she walks on the unit. There is more teamwork, more spoken words of thanks and more smiles.
These acts of kindness amongst my staff have multiplied and now are blessing our patients. I see this care reflected in our patient satisfaction scores. The top box score for nurse communication last year was 78.0. In 2023, the YTD average is 85.2. This is not entirely due to our culture of kindness, as we are being vigilant with bedside shift report, care board completion and leader rounding as well. However, I believe all these factors are working together to “improve the health and quality of life for the communities we serve.” Our “Kindness Kampaign” may seem elementary to some, but it has created a palpable difference with our work family. Peer recognition and gratitude is not a replacement for leader recognition such as birthday cards, shout outs, rounding and personal notes. It is an adjunct to expedite the refilling of our Caregivers’ cups. As the ultimate caregiver, Mother Teresa, said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless”.