Annual Report 2023-2024

staff meetings, teams are staying connected across the system. “It’s important that we be intentional about communication,” said Bokovitz, who enjoys communicating through video messages and is also a champion of the new internal communications newsletter, Pulse Points . Future goals include developing a regular newsletter for nursing and patient care services. Another way Shriners Children's is looking to engage its nursing staff is through a strong presence during Nurses Week, which is in May. “This is one way we connect corporate with the locations and support the locations,” said Bokovitz. In 2023, a contest invited nurses to write essays about what makes a “Shriners nurse.” Winners received an expense paid trip to a professional conference. In 2024, the nursing department hosted a special presentation by an international nurse expert in evidence-based practice, Bernadette Melnyk, Ph.D., APRN-CNP, EBP-C, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN: Generating and Translating Evidence into Clinical Practice: Key Tactics to Improve the Quality, Safety, and Cost of Care . Hosting Dr. Melnyk was the start of an important journey for our healthcare system, with her presentation marking the beginning of our systemwide nursing research and evidence-based practice program for nursing and PCS. “Evidence-based practice is fundamental to what Shriners Children's nurses do," Bokovitz said. Young Adult Transition in Care program: A significant new push this year has been the development of the Young Adult Transition in Care program, championed by Shriners International First Lady JoLynn Dickins and Imperial Potentate Ed Stolze. Many locations have had official or unofficial transition programs to assist patients as they age out of our pediatric system and enter the world of adult healthcare. The Shriners Children's Young Adult Transition in Care program centralizes and standardizes our efforts in this sphere. Turning 18 is a milestone for every teen. It means officially becoming an adult, and with it come the privileges and responsibilities of adulthood. For

Epic front lines: Our patient care services teams are front and center as our adoption of Epic for our electronic health records system transitions from phase 1 to phase 2. To support the successful launch in our outpatient settings, leaders and team members went the extra mile. Now they are in the trenches for phase 2, Bokovitz said, as pharmacy, labs, care management, rehabilitation services, radiology, nursing and more are preparing for the April 2025 go-live date. Patient care services staff members are part of key work groups that are creating policies, procedures and workflows to ensure a smooth transition that maintains and elevates the high quality care our patients receive. Communication: A priority for nursing and patient care services continues to be to level up in the area of communication. Communication across a variety of channels informs and engages the workforce. From nurse videos to virtual

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