Durham Regional Units Named Hallmarks of Healthy Workplaces for Nurses
Durham, NC — Durham Regional Hospital's Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) and Endoscopy Services have each received
the Hallmarks of Healthy Workplaces award from the North Carolina Nurses Association (NCNA) Professional Practice Advisory.
According to the NCNA, the Hallmarks of Healthy Workplaces program is designed to recognize exceptional workplaces for
nurses and to help nurses, healthcare providers and administrators create workplaces in which communication flows freely
and nurses contribute actively to facility governance. Recognizing registered nurses is a way to promote collegiality and
collaboration with physicians, which optimizes patient care.
"We are so pleased that these two Durham Regional nursing units have been recognized as exceptional workplaces," says
Debra Hernandez, MHA, RN, FACHE, chief nursing and patient care services officer. "It is an honor to work with nurses who
exemplify a strong commitment to teamwork and integrity while providing excellent customer service with passion and dedication."
According to surveyors, Endoscopy Services staff "collaborates well with each other as well as with other departments
and is also energetic, team-oriented and supportive of each other." Surveyors said that PACU is "a positive environment
for shared decision making that resolves issues and communicates well."
Hallmarks Recognition is based on three basic criteria: support of nursing professional development, system support for
nurses to provide quality service and integration of nursing into operations and governance.
The ambitious goal of the Hallmarks program is to "blanket the state with Hallmarks recipients" thus creating strong
nursing workplaces in which health care is safer and more consumer-sensitive. "States across the nation are eager to witness
North Carolina's success and are already seeking information for replication in their states," says Wylecia Harris, executive
director of the Center for American Nurses.
The Hallmarks program is a special project of the NCNA and a result of a Duke Endowment grant. It is endorsed by several
organizations including the North Carolina Hospital Association, North Carolina Center for Nursing, North Carolina Association
of Public Health Nurse Administrators, North Carolina Organization of Nurse Leaders, Association for Home & Hospice Care and
the Nurse Consultant Conference Group.
The awards will be presented at a November 30 ceremony featuring guest speaker, Carrie Houser James, president, American
Nurses Association's Center for American Nurses.
With this award, Endoscopy and PACU join Durham Regional's Davis Ambulatory Surgical Center (DASC), which became one of
the first recipients of the Hallmarks award recognition in North Carolina in 2006.
For more information, visit
www.ncnurses.org or
www.durhamregional.org.
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