Nursing at Baptist Health Homestead Hospital

Advocating for Patients

• A nursing-led team worked, and was successful, in decreasing length of patient stay for observation patients.
• Leaders supported a program for Nurse Practitioner (NP) coverage in ICU 24 hours.
• Achieved GOLD Safe Sleep Certification. Through the efforts of a nurse-led interprofessional Safe Sleep Task Force, the Mother-Baby Unit began distributing sleep sacks and safe sleep education materials to new parents to decrease sleep-related deaths in the community.
• The Mother-Baby unit celebrated and was featured on the intranet during World Breast Feeding Week 2023-2024.
• The Inpatient Rehabilitation department’s discharge home rate is above the national average.

Mentorship and Collaboration

• Collaboration in healthcare has been shown to improve patient care and outcomes. The Clinical Nurse Educators championed the mentoring process and recruited 26 mentoring pairs, 22 of which were clinical nurses, to cultivate a supportive culture across the organization.

Professional Development

• Homestead Hospital’s overall RN certification rate is 51 percent. The overall BSN and higher degree rate is 77 percent. Nurses with advanced education are better prepared to care for patients in an increasingly complex healthcare delivery system.

Teaching and Role Development

• Nurses coordinated an educational intervention that improved the care of stroke patients, resulting in decreased disability.

Community Involvement

• Homestead Hospital provided 343 nursing hours of community service. Outreach activities included appearances on Baptist Health social media platforms, podcasts and participation in various health fairs, first aid stations, mentoring activities, and health/chronic disease education seminars in schools, senior living residences and local businesses.
• Homestead Hospital nurses partnered with community, non-profit organizations and local government officials in putting together eight Annual Toy and Thanksgiving Food Drives.
• Homestead Hospital nurses participated in a Medical and Humanitarian Mission to Jamaica.
• Nurses led a hospital-wide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee that organized 27 events including activities for International Women’s Day, Juneteenth and Autism Acceptance Month.

Nursing Recognition

• Nurses at all levels are frequently recognized internally through the DAISY, Nurse-of-the Year, Gail Gordon, and Golden Pineapple Awards, as well as externally by various organizations including Kiwanis of Homestead-South Dade, City of Homestead, South Dade Chamber of Commerce and the Family Christian Association of America’s Black Achievers of Excellence Program.

Professional Practice

• Homestead Hospital achieved 76 percent participation in the 2022 National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) RN Survey. These survey results and the annual RN and direct care RN engagement survey denoted high engagement and work environment satisfaction among nurses. Engaged and satisfied nurses can lead to quality improvements and better patient care.
• Achieved significant reduction in nursing turnover, vacancies and use of traveling nurses. Having a stable nursing workforce contributes to better patient outcomes.

Care Delivery

• Infection Control Nurses spearheaded an interprofessional initiative and achieved a 74 percent hospital-wide reduction in hospital-acquired infections. This contributed to Homestead Hospital’s Leapfrog A rating for reaching high hospital safety, quality and efficiency scores.
• The nursing team implemented a virtual RN and virtual patient sitter program to enhance delivery of care and patient safety.
• In the Short Stay Unit, nurses worked together to decrease the average amount of time patients were assigned a bed to occupying their bed by 18 minutes.
• Through space redesign and re-education, the Emergency Department decreased the cancellation of STEMI (a type of heart attack) alerts at receiving facilities by 11 percentage points.

Interprofessional Care

• Through various performance improvement initiatives, Homestead Hospital’s overall observation length-of-stay average decreased, which directly benefits patients.
• The Emergency Department collaborated with physicians and interprofessional team members to decrease the amount of time it took for a physician to see a patient when presenting to the ED by 30 minutes.

Nurse Autonomy

• Homestead Hospital’s nurse practitioners (NP) worked with physicians and leaders to improve end-of-life care for patients and their families by being able to pronounce deaths. This supports NPs to practice to the fullest extent of their license.

Safety Culture

• Nurses spearheaded the implementation of Ecolab, an electronic hand hygiene compliance system, that records handwashing events by the healthcare team to further enhance infection prevention efforts.

Research

• The Evidence-Based Practice and Research Council initiated four, and completed two, research projects. They presented one publication, 37 posters and 16 podium presentations at internal, local and regional conferences. Conducting and advancing nursing research are important for delivering the most effective nursing care.

Evidence-based Practice

• Obstetric nurses advocated and collaborated with physicians in implementing a best practice where mothers with uncomplicated labor are allowed clear liquids to promote hydration.

Innovation

• Homestead Hospital received the HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence in 2020 for demonstrating globally innovative, thoughtful applications of information and technology to drive and redefine best practices.
• The nursing staff leveraged technology by implementing telemedicine, allowing specialists to see patients faster and resulting in shorter hospital stays.
• ICU nurses implemented the Wellsense technology to decrease the unit’s hospital-acquired pressure injuries.

• Through interprofessional collaboration, the Transition-of-Care Nurse Practitioner (NP) reduced the 30-day readmission rate of patients treated for heart failure, chronic obstructive lung disease and pneumonia.
• The NP-led hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI) team achieved a 37 percent reduction in HAPI in Fiscal Year 2023. These positive results reflect the outcome of professional nursing care.