Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders
NICHE Level Exemplar
Transformational Leadership
Magnet Recognized:
We Work Tirelessly to Represent Excellence in Nursing
Nurses are paving the way to elevate clinical excellence within our organization and beyond. Every day, our nursing teams begin with excellence and consistently aim even higher to fulfill our mission of patient-centric care. Nurses bring vision, compassion, clinical knowledge, and expertise while influencing change throughout our world-class organization. By transforming our culture, nurses have cultivated an environment supportive of patients, families, loved ones, and staff. These values and beliefs radiate throughout UTSW as we deliver the very best in comprehensive, quality care. UT Southwestern recognizes the leadership capacity of every nurse. Leaders exist at all levels of the organization and are vital to creating and sustaining a transformed culture that supports nursing excellence. As health care continues its path of rapid change, nursing has developed a solid leadership structure that supports the professional practice of nursing in all settings of the organization. Our nurses lead at every level through direct patient care and beyond, knowing that “excellence is our starting point, not our finish line.”
Accreditations Achieved
The accreditations reflect the professional expertise and facilities validation of UT Southwestern nurses in providing the highest-level care and treatment for patients.
William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital continues to rank in the 98th percentile in overall hospital patient experience (Vizient). It also was ranked as the No. 1 hospital in Dallas-Fort Worth by U.S. News & World Report for the sixth consecutive year and is home to nine nationally ranked specialties.
National Association of Epilepsy Centers
Level 4
American Heart Association
Stroke Gold Plus
Texas Department of State Health Services
William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital
Level IV Trauma Facility
Advancing Nurse Leadership
In 2022, Associate Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Ambulatory Services Christopher McLarty, D.N.P., APRN, ACNP-BC, graduated from The Academy GE Fellows Program. He was selected to participate in the prestigious and rigorous two-year program, which is designed to enhance health care knowledge, leadership skills, and business acumen. Dr. McLarty has proven leadership abilities and a passion for learning all things about health care and nursing. Dr. McLarty is committed to UT Southwestern Medical Center and the fellowship prepared him for continued leadership within our great organization. Dr. McLarty guides the nursing practice of 809 nurses, including both hospital-based and nonhospital-based clinics, and more than 900 advanced practice providers in 90+ ambulatory clinics.
“Dr. Christopher McLarty embodies the true meaning of a compassionate nursing leader. He is transformational in proven leadership, approach, and philosophy to care for our patients. He ensures that everyone on the nursing team does the same. He is an advocate for our nurses and ensures there is an understanding for decisions made on their behalf. He has led and grown nursing through tough times and has made nursing more resilient. I personally appreciate his leadership and look forward to where he will continue to take nursing at UTSW.”
Toni Eby, RN, FACHE, NEA-BC
Associate Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, Ambulatory Services
2022 Podium Presentations
Our great organization invests in nursing leadership at all levels, including having our nurse leaders present at national conferences:
American Nurses Association National Nurses Month Celebration
Story Telling: Advanced Practice Nurse
Bradley Goettl, D.N.P., APRN, FNP-C, AGACNP-BC, ENP-C
ANCC National Magnet Conference
"TED" time: Is it time?
Emily Pickett, B.B.A., B.S.N., RN
Katie McInnes, B.S.N., RN
American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing
Partnering for Success: Development of a Medical Assistant Residency Program
Alicia Bosse, B.S.N., RN, CMS-RN
Mari Ann Lewis, B.S.N., RN, AMB-BC, NPD-BC
Calli Wood, M.S.N.-Ed, RN, NPD-BC
Association of periOperative Registered Nurses
Is There Really a Nursing Shortage?
Ruth P. Shumaker, B.S.N., RN, CNOR
David Wyatt, Ph.D., RN, CNOR
National Drug Diversion Conference
Enhancing Your Drug Diversion Program
Sharron Coffie, M.S.N., RN, CNS
Sigma Tau Theta Convention
New Graduate Nurse Transition to Practice During COVID-19: A Directed Content Analysis
Ramona Baucham, Ph.D., M.S.N., RN, MSORD,
Southern Nursing Research Society Annual Meeting
Leveling the Playing Field: Developing Dissemination Strategies for Nursing Research
Kinley Speir, B.S.N., RN
Veronica Aguilera, B.S.N., RN
DaiWai Olson, Ph.D., RN, CCRN, FNCS
Leadership That Transforms
Adjusting Fall Risk Screening to Fit the Ambulatory Clinical Setting
Falls are one of the leading causes of injuries among adults age 65 and older. Hospital operational plans always include outlines and set goals to decrease patient falls. In the ambulatory clinical setting, plans to reduce falls are likewise included in the operational plans; however, not all screening recommendations fit the needs of the ambulatory clinic in the same way they’re developed for inpatient settings. UT Southwestern Ambulatory’s leadership saw the need to create a more comprehensive approach to the fall policy and prevention interventions.
The Ambulatory Fall Risk Prevention Committee assessed the gaps in existing fall risk screens. Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries (STEADI) resources and modified fall prevention interventions, a new fall risk screening tool and intervention plan was created to better meet the ambulatory setting. The newly revised documentation tools were available to clinic staff, and users already have reported an increased preference for the new fall risk screening tool compared to the previous one. The new tool continues to be promoted and socialized to non-hospital-based clinics through clinic in-services and presentations in ambulatory practice committees. Meanwhile, UTSW’s electronic medical record is developing a report to capture the new screening tools to include hospital-based clinics.
Reducing Harm Events and Improving HCAHPS Nurse Communication and Staff Responsiveness by Using the Bedside Shift Report
Improving patient safety is often the responsibility of those providing direct care, including the bedside nurses who assess risks for CLABSI, CAUTI, and HAPI. This assessment happens at least twice daily during the Bedside Shift Report (BSR), when nurses who are ending their shift hand off information to the nurses coming on duty and engage the patient in the discussion. Literature supports the BSR as a best practice for shift handoff. The BSR has been shown to increase patient satisfaction, specifically in nursing communication, while also decreasing patient falls and adverse skin events.
Hourly rounding is another evidence-based practice built into the BSR process. Nurses inform the patient of what to expect during hourly rounding and reinforce this commitment during every handoff. These steps have resulted in quantitative improvement in HCAHPS responsiveness of staff scores.
Housewide education for BSR was done via simulation followed by competency checkoff at the bedside. BSR influencers are nurse champions for reinforcing the expectation of the BSR with every patient, every time. Engineering analysts developed a BSR dashboard to collect and audit the information, helping leadership to know which parts of the BSR were going well.
