Nursing

Every nurse is concerned foremost with the quality and effectiveness of the care delivered to patients each day. Evidence-based practice anchors the nursing care we provide today and influences the delivery of health care into the future. Our governance structure represents a significant opportunity for professional nurses to improve the practice of nursing at MedStar Health and beyond.

MedStar Health nursing follows a collaborative governance model, with seven professional councils that bring focus to various nursing roles across the organization—clinical nurses, nurse educators, informatics specialists, nurse leaders, and researchers.

Our governance structure offers an unprecedented opportunity for collaboration among nursing colleagues. It’s an environment where lively discussion and critical thinking lead to fresh ideas and innovative solutions to address the organization’s most pressing clinical issues.

MedStar Health nurses are encouraged to participate on a council that best reflects their roles and responsibilities. By pooling the expertise and talent of our nurses through councils and unit efforts, we are elevating the level of nursing practice across MedStar Health.

Our seven nursing councils include:

MedStar Health has entered into an academic-practice partnership with The George Washington University School of Nursing, Washington, D.C., a collaborative relationship formalized at the senior leadership level with shared goals, knowledge, and vision. Academic-practice partnerships between a nursing education program and a care setting are a mechanism for advancing nursing practice to improve the health of the public.

This partnership gives nurses the opportunity to envision their own academic progression, such as earning a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in nursing. In turn, faculty keep us apprised of scholarly endeavors, invite us to mentor students, as well as collaborate in nursing research.

Our goal at MedStar is to provide excellent patient care, supported by scientific and practice evidence. Electronic tools available for practice are designed and evaluated to support clinical decision-making and safe and coordinated care delivery. Having expert knowledge and information available at the point of care is a primary goal. Nursing involvement is encouraged at every level in the organization for development, implementation, use, and continuous improvement of the electronic health record and other clinical technologies and devices. 

MedStar nurses have played a key role in the design, development and implementation of MedStar’s electronic health records (EHRs). For example, MedConnect design and implementation involved several hundred clinicians, many of whom continue to recommend ongoing changes and improvements. The EHR allows clinicians to access both summary and detailed views of the patient’s condition and treatment status with instant access to medical history, risks, test results, plans for care, and clinical and educational progress toward outcomes. Additional technology safety enhancements supporting practice include: 

MedStar Health offers a robust, system-wide nursing research consortium focused on advancing and applying evidence-based practice to improve patient safety and healthcare outcomes. Through the implementation of research initiatives led by professional nurse researchers and practicing registered nurses, the goals of nursing research at MedStar include building resources to support evidence-based practice, creating an education and mentoring program to foster evidence-based practice research activities, and expanding multisite IRB-approved nursing research studies.

MedStar nurses are afforded many opportunities to continue learning and growing throughout their career. Each year, distinguished members of the nursing profession are invited to present their latest research findings or speak on innovations and advancements in nursing practice. 

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are granted through Georgetown University, our affiliated university for advanced medical and clinical education. 

The National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare is the largest U.S. human factors engineering program situated within a healthcare system. We are a collaboration between the MedStar Institute for Innovation and the MedStar Health Research Institute. The center brings together human factors engineers, systems safety engineers, health services researchers, and clinicians to conduct basic safety science and applied research in medicine to improve quality, efficiency, reliability, and safety. 

Our mission is to improve patient safety, identify and test ways to better protect patients, and create ultra-safe healthcare environments at MedStar Health and beyond. 

How Does Human Factors Apply to Health Care?  

MedStar SiTEL is the education technology group of MedStar Health, with two laboratories in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Our mission is to transform educational approaches in health care by developing 21st century training technologies with state-of-the-art educational approaches that are user friendly and easily accessible. Services include: 

SiTEL works closely with its academic partners, including the MedStar Health Research Institute, the National Center for Human Factors Engineering in Healthcare, the Georgetown University School of Medicine and School of Nursing and Health Studies, and the MedStar Health Office of Graduate Medical Education.