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Shared leadership to help achieve goals In order to achieve Magnet status, MUSC registered nurses must take control and ownership of nursing issues, assure an autonomous nursing staff that changes current practice and function to benefit patients, and promote strong relationships among interdisciplinary partners and nursing staff.  The purpose of the MUSC Nurse Alliance is to provide a shared leadership structure to help achieve these goals.  The Nurse Alliance membership includes all MUSC registered nurses and College of Nursing faculty and consists of the Nurse Executive Committee and four councils:  Practice Education Research & Performance Improvement Leadership and Organizational Climate The MUSC nursing staff recently elected a Nurse Alliance chair and chair-elect for 2005-2006. Cynthia Hough, R.N., 6E, will serve as the chair of the MUSC Nurse Alliance and has been a member of the MUSC family since 1996.  Cynthia Hough “I have worked as a bedside nurse providing direct patient care, as well as leading our unit in the charge position for the last five years,” she said. “I know the issues that bedside nurses face and have a broad perspective of the day-to-day challenges of providing care to a highly specialized and acutely ill patient population. I am proactive and try to identify problems before they become issues.”  Elected by her nursing peers, Hough’s qualifications for the position include reliability, accountability, adaptability, and professional respect of her peers. Viewed as a resource on her unit, Hough assists co-workers with nursing care and staffing needs and is accountable at all times. She’s also known “to work any shift, whether it be as a staff nurse, charge nurse, CA, unit secretary, or whatever and make it work!” The Magnet Champion representative for 6E, Hough plays an enormous role in encouraging others to continue their nursing education and strives to continue her own involvement with numerous activities that she regularly develops and implements.  Pamela B. Smith, R.N., Pediatric Emergency Services, was chosen as the chair-elect via peer voting earlier this month.  Pamela Smith With 12 years at MUSC, Smith displayed her adaptability when she changed fields from adult to pediatric nursing through a variety of leadership positions she’s held throughout her career. Currently working on her master’s in nursing degree, Smith said the experience widened her view of the role of nursing in the hospital setting and served to further develop finance and management knowledge which allows her to see a bigger picture of the impact of current issues in health care.  At the bedside for all but one of her 17 years as a nurse, Smith understands the needs of the staff nurse. “In 1999, I was asked to consider assisting with the development of a new area within emergency services specializing in pediatrics. I was instrumental in the development of what is now known as the Children’s Emergency Department and have watched it grow from a small four bed unit without wall suction to a beautiful nine bed fully-equipped department. I established the initial policies and orientation plans for the department in addition to staffing 40 hours a week when we first opened. It was a challenge beginning a completely new area, but it was well worth the effort,” she said.  All MUSC nurses are members of the Nurse Alliance by virtue of their employment at MUSC and their role as a registered or advanced practice nurse. Everyone is encouraged to bring professional and clinical issues to the Nurse Alliance and councils for discussion.  If you would like to be added to the Nurse Alliance e-mail group receiving information about meetings and issues that are important to MUSC nurses, contact Karen Thal at thalkt@musc.edu. For more information, visit http://www.musc.edu/medcenter/nursing/pronursing.htm. Cynthia Hough’s top three nursing issues and recommendations: Three top issues for nursing: professional recognition; lack of resources and/or support; and lack of control over nursing practice. There are many different educational levels in nursing; those with higher degrees should be recognized and compensated more. There should be more incentives for experienced nurses like better scheduling, salaries, and bonuses for experience and loyalty. Nursing professionals’ salaries do not increase over time as with other professions. Bedside nurses need more support and resources; we could provide easier access to professional resources and clinical experts. Nurses need more involvement in the decision-making processes. Bedside nurses should be consulted before decisions are made concerning matters of their practice, equipment, and the physical work environment. Pamela Smith’s top three nursing issues and recommendations:  One of the top issues involves the aging of the nursing workforce. We need to find creative ways to embrace the experience of the older nurse, yet provide for the needs of departments. We may have to look at creative scheduling or job sharing as an example, but we need to find ways to keep these nurses in the job force. Secondly, we have a noted increase in safety issues from both physical injury and exposure to infectious diseases. With the aging population, we need to consider ways to decrease back and other musculoskeletal problems. The third issue revolves around the increasing dependence on informatics in health care. Nurses need to become computer literate through ongoing education so that the change to computerized charting is much easier.  Friday, March 4, 2005 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.