Professional Practice – Inova Loudoun Hospital

Inova Loudoun Hospital Shared Governance

The Inova Loudoun Hospital (ILH) Shared Governance structure consists of four councils. These councils meet each month and are led by members of our clinical nursing team. The councils are the decision-making bodies in which our clinical nurses participate in determining goals, process improvement and other patient care and professional practice objectives. These initiatives are then brought back and shared with our patient care units through established Unit-Practice Councils (UPCs).

The UPC’s provide an additional decision-making resource at the unit level encouraging all clinical nurses to participate in improving and developing their professional practice.

The four ILH Shared Governance Councils have specific areas of focus:

• Clinical Effectiveness Council: Analyzes and disseminates quality data and indicators, process and policy feedback and improvement, UPC briefings.
• Professional Practice Council: Promotes professional growth, education and development of the ILH nurse.
• Retention and Recognition Council: Recognizes excellence in our nursing practice contributing to the retention of our nursing team, promoting recognition programs and community outreach.
• Research and Evidence-Based Practice: Support and facilitate the initiatives of our nurses who are undertaking evidence based projects and research.

2018-2019 Shared Government Highlights

Clinical Effectiveness Council

During our Clinical Effectiveness Council meetings, clinical nurses review and evaluate nursing quality data to maintain and improve quality patient outcomes. We continue to strive for excellence by keeping our patients safe during their stay.

Professional Practice Council

Our Professional Practice Council hosted their third annual Innovation in Healthcare Conference. This SG Council continued their sponsorship of the quarterly “Did You Know” nursing newsletter. Members promote professional practice opportunities including certification, advanced degrees and participation in the ADVANCE Clinical Ladder.

• In 2019, 14 nurses began their journey on the ADVANCE Clinical Ladder as RN3’s, and 28 nurses climbed the ladder to become an RN4. ILH currently has over 130 nurses participating in the ADVANCE program.
• 55 nurses became newly certified.
• An additional 23 nurses, 2 DNP’s, 4 MSN’s and 17 BSN’s received advanced degrees. Because reports show that BSN prepared nurses are better equipped to manage the challenges of the ever changing healthcare environment, we began the initiative of 80% of our nursing team receiving a bachelor’s degree in nursing (BSN) by 2020. In 2018, 82% of our nursing team held a BSN. At the end of 2019, 83.48% of our nurses had earned a BSN degree.

Retention & Recognition Council

The Retention and Recognition (R&R) Council continues to promote our clinical excellence recognition programs. ILH is a proud partner with the DAISY Foundation in presenting the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses program. Twelve nurses are recognized throughout the year for delivering exceptional patient care. Winners are selected from hundreds of nominations from patients, families and coworkers. The R&R Council also promotes the PEACH Awards program which originated right here at Inova Loudoun Hospital. Similar to the DAISY program, the PEACH Awards recognizes excellence in a non-nursing employee.