By Mary Fischer
The first-ever City of Hope Staff Nurse Satisfaction Survey set a high bar for participation, with 99 percent of eligible nurses responding.
In all, 384 staff nurses voiced their opinions about their practice environment, job enjoyment and other aspects of their workplace environment since the survey opened in early April. Nurses from inpatient units at Helford Clinical Research Hospital at City of Hope and clinics at the Geri and Richard Brawerman Center for Ambulatory Care were eligible for the survey, which was conducted online through the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) Web site.
City of Hope’s Nursing Department submits data on designated indicators for inpatient units to NDNQI so that the data can be compared nationally with similar hospitals over time. This is one of the requirements for the Magnet Recognition Program, which was developed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center to recognize health-care organizations that provide nursing excellence. The Nursing Department aims to obtain Magnet status, among other goals.
“We are extremely pleased with the outstanding response rate of our nurses to the survey, said Larry Kidd, R.N., vice president of patient care services and chief nurse executive. “This will provide a solid baseline for us to determine those areas of most importance to our nurses, thereby allowing us to focus on our recruitment and retention efforts.”
At least 97 percent of nurses participated in each of the 14 City of Hope reporting areas, and 12 areas achieved 100 percent participation.
Nursing leaders said the impressive response rate was due in large part to Clinical Nurse Practice Council (CNPC) representatives, who encouraged survey participation. The CNPC was the first nursing council created under City of Hope’s shared governance system, which gives nurses a voice in practice issues and policy.
“I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed by the staff response, both on my unit and throughout the hospital,” said Richard Banda, R.N., who represents Unit A in the council. “What was initially viewed as a chore quickly took on a healthy air of competition among the units.”
That competition unified nurses, according to Lulu Rosales, R.N., who represents Helford Hospital’s sixth floor on the CNPC. “It was a demonstration of all of nursing coming together,” she said. “After the first week, nurses were coming to me asking what our participation percentages were. It became a train of motivation.”
Nursing leaders intend to participate in the survey annually. While only bedside nurses in units and clinics were eligible this year, future survey participation will be broadened to include nurse practitioners and registered nurses in other departments.
In addition to individual and unit participation incentives, each nurse on a unit that achieved
100 percent participation is eligible for a raffle to be held during Nurse’s Week, with the winner receiving free tuition to a pain resource nurse training course to be held at City of Hope in September.
