In 2004, St. Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta received its third Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing. Only 1 percent of the nation’s hospitals have received the Magnet Award three times.

“We’ve held a shared governance model since 1980 and St. Joseph’s has had a long history of nursing leadership, but now we have an opportunity to directly address some of the professional challenges and to continue to improve patient outcomes,” said Vickie Moore, MSN, RN, CHE, CNAA, BC, senior vice president for operations and chief nursing officer.

In the past 18 months, Moore and others have established the Kenneth E. Thomas Center for Nursing Excellence at St. Joseph’s. The center owes its start to a generous donation of the family of this former cardiothoracic surgeon who pioneered the hospital’s cardiovascular program, and to an initial grant from the St. Joseph’s Mercy Foundation.

The center will serve as an umbrella organization and unifying framework of activities to focus on nursing research education, advocacy and practice, both nationally and internationally.

For decades, St. Joseph’s has contributed to the work of renowned researchers like Marlene Kraemer and Linda Aiken, whose data has shown the improvements in patient outcomes and nursing satisfaction in Magent vs. non-Magnet hospitals.

“With a research director in place, we’ll continue to study the relationship between the nursing environment and positive patient outcomes, but for the first time we’ll be able to conduct and publish our own findings. That’s exciting,” Moore said.

As advocates for nurses, center staff members will work with national and international nursing organizations to monitor and heighten awareness of key legislative and public policy issues that affect nurses.

“Nurses need to know that they have a strong voice at work for their welfare. We can be a point of communication between organizations and the work force,” Moore said.

A major part of the center’s work will fall under the heading of professional development. As nurses age (68.3 percent of the work force is older than 40), Moore wonders what resources will be needed to keep nurses at the bedside and to attract new talent to the profession.

The center will help support the implementation of a program of rapid response teams this fall. Nurses can call these teams of other nurses, respiratory therapists and other staff to help them assess changes in a patient and intervene before a code is necessary.

“This idea came out of an Institute for Health Improvement Study and it’s been shown to decrease cardiac-arrest calls by 25 percent, save patient lives and millions of dollars in intensive care, emergency and rehab expenses,” Moore said. “At the same time, it supports nurses, thereby increasing job satisfaction and reducing turnover rates.”

The center will coordinate the hospital’s mentoring programs for new graduates, and offer comprehensive leadership and career development training for nurse managers.

“We’re especially concerned about the shortage of nursing faculty and the fact that we’re turning away hundreds of nursing students because of it,” Moore said. “We have a number of master’s and doctoral prepared nurses on staff who can directly support the nursing faculty at area schools by teaching nursing students as they go through their clinical rotations.”

The center is pursuing grants to fund joint clinical/ educator joint appointments in partnership with area nursing schools.

Finally, the center will solidify and expand St. Joseph’s position as an international nursing leader.

“Through our partnership with the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing, nurses from around the world visit St. Joseph’s to learn about the principles of magnetism,” Moore said. “We want to share what we’ve learned through training, consultations and mentoring.”