Mickey L. Parsons

Health promoting organizations: a systems model for advanced practice.

Nursing and other health care providers are challenged to create the future of health care. Health is synonymous with well-being framed holistically, mind, body, and spirit. Disparities are growing in health status for vulnerable population groups and the percentage of people who are uninsured is rising. New approaches to health care are needed in the current age of uncertainty. A comprehensive health promoting organization (HPO) model within an ecological systems framework is described. An operational example is delineated, Welcome Home Ministries HPO.

Sustaining the pivotal organizational outcome: magnet recognition

parsons m.l. & cornett p.a. (2011) Journal of Nursing Management19, 277–286 Sustaining the pivotal organizational outcome: magnet recognition Aim  To identify the facilitators and barriers for health-care organizations to sustain Magnet Recognition, the exemplar of a professional practice environment and quality care. Background  Recognition as a Magnet Hospital is the gold standard for acknowledging excellence in nursing. However, limited evidence exists to inform nursing management practices for sustainability. Method  This qualitative study was conducted using a national convenience sample of 15 Chief Nursing Officers of Magnet Recognized hospitals in the USA. Results  Key macrosystem facilitators included executive management and leadership themes about quality, people, education, and the nurse executive’s commitment and intent. Barriers were executive management turnover and financial challenges. Infrastructure supports and resources for empowerment and quality and unit leadership practices were found to be essential for quality outcomes. The key theme at the microsystem level was moving nursing practice to managing outcomes from tasks; barriers were challenges with unit management turnover and development. Conclusions  Multiple factors at system levels were found to contribute to sustainability. Further research is needed on the concept of sustainability. Implications for nursing management  The findings contribute to executives’ armamentarium to inform management practice for the design of evidenced based organizational systems and programs for nursing excellence.

Formerly incarcerated women create healthy lives through participatory action research.

The specific purpose of the participatory action research study was to facilitate formerly incarcerated women who participate in Welcome Home Ministries (WHM) to develop their own plans and specific strategies, and to take action to build their own healthy futures. The research had a duel purpose of joint generation of knowledge and intervention relative to womens capacity building. The research intervention was the creation, implementation, and follow-up of a future search conference. The outcomes, conclusions, and implications for practice are discussed.

Team behavioral norms: a shared vision for a healthy patient care workplace.

Leaders are bombarded with healthy workplace articles and advice. This article outlines a strategy for laying the foundation for healthy patient care workplaces at the pivotal unit level. This process facilitates the nursing unit staff to create and implement a shared vision for staff working relationships. Fourteen acute care hospital units, all participants in a healthy workplace intervention, were selected for this analysis because they chose team behavioral norms as a top priority to begin to implement their vision for a desired future for their units, a healthy workplace. These units developed specific team behavioral norms for their expectations of each other. The findings revealed 3 major norm themes and attributes: norms for effective communication, positive attitude, and accountability. Attributes of each norm are described to assist nurses to positively influence their core unit work culture.

Creating and sustaining academic-practice partnerships: lessons learned.

This article outlines how one communitys academic-practice partnership evolved over time as it sought to address the communitys needs for a qualified competent nursing workforce. Both organization and system changes were essential in the establishment of formal structures to address nursing workforce shortage needs. Both practice and education leaders were actively engaged in setting the strategic priorities at multiple system levels in the creation of these formal structures. We anticipate that the formation of these new formal structures will advance and sustain our academic-practice partnerships. Five key lessons were learned: (a) change is inevitable, (b) leadership matters at all levels, (c) succession planning is essential, (d) persistence toward established goals is necessary, and (e) relationships are the glue to sustain forward movement.

Pragmatic action research with 2 vulnerable populations: Mexican American elders and formerly incarcerated women.

Eliminating health disparities involving minority groups is a major national priority. Action research, a response to this national priority, may be derived from different theoretical models. The purposes of action research are to involve key community stakeholders in developing knowledge and taking pragmatic action to solve problems. In this article, the authors examine how the model was put into action for 2 distinct programs of research, comparing and contrasting final results, one report primarily focusing on recruitment and retention of participants and the other focusing on a community faith-based action research with formerly incarcerated women.

Developing Peer Leaders and Reducing Recidivism Through Long-Term Participation in a Faith-Based Program: The Story of Welcome Home Ministries

Welcome Home Ministries is a faith-based community reentry organization serving women being released from jail and/or prison. Welcome Homes mission is to create a faith-based support system for women from incarceration to productive citizenship. Welcome Homes goal is to reduce recidivism of women ex-offenders who suffer from substance abuse and mental health issues by creating a healthy life focus. Founded by Warner-Robbins in 1996, Welcome Home (WHM) has provided service to more than 300 women per year who have been released from jail or prison into San Diego County communities. The women served usually have few resources and need support to address the lifestyle values and changes that must be confronted to make a successful transition back into the community. The combination of recovery programs, peer services, and early intervention have proven to be effective in assisting the women through the change process. To date, more than 80% of the women we have served have been able to sustain their recovery and avoid additional offenses requiring a return to jail or prison. Welcome Home has helped women go to college, embark on careers in drug and alcohol counseling or nursing, and reunite with their families. Welcome Home provides a healthy supportive environment, within which women who had never made healthy choices for themselves, now assist other women getting out of jail or prison in making healthier decisions for their lives.

Foreword. Healthy workplaces in acute care hospitals.

This entire issue of Critical Care Nursing Quarterly focuses on healthy workplaces in acute care hospitals. A social-ecological framework guides the choice of articles for the issue. An ecological framework recognizes the interplay between human beings and the socioenvironment in producing health and quality of life. Therefore, a comprehensive perspective requires that we look beyond the currently accepted definitions and policy statements for the creation of healthy work environments. Shirey shares her research findings on authentic leadership, culture, and healthy workplaces, and Cornett and O’Rourke describe the essentiality of professional nursing practice in a healthy workplace. Ethics guides leaders and facilitators in working with groups to create the kind of workplace in which nurses want to work and an innovative framework for ethics in participatory action research is fully depicted. A surgical trauma ICU healthy workplace case study is described and improvements for quality of care and unit operations are discussed. Nurse behaviors for healthy infection control practices are incorporated into the healthy workplace rubric and are critical for nurse and patient health and well-being. Teamwork’s role in patient safety and healthy workplaces is described in detail by Clark. Furthermore, facility design, a key component of a healthy workplace, a place that promotes quality of care and a positive engaged staff, is promulgated by Stichler. As issue editors, it is our hope that you, the reader, will find these articles stimulating and informative as you in your nursing role strive to promote healthy workplaces for all.

Impacting patient safety through the healthy workplace journey

The increasing demand and hectic pace of emergency departments across the nation requires the development of safe patient care provision and healthy workplaces. Both of these developments can be achieved when staff is actively engaged in decision making for quality patient care and department operations. This article reviews how teamwork can be used to address both safer patient care provision and healthy workplace creation. A case study follows that describes one emergency departments journey to develop and continuously improve the quality and safety of patient care as the continuing follow-through from full participation in the Parsons Healthy Workplace Intervention. It describes their unit-based committees, their strategies, how they work as a team, and early outcomes to enhance the emergency departments quality and safety of patient care.

Sustaining the pivotal organizational outcome

parsons m.l. & cornett p.a. (2011) Journal of Nursing Management19, 277–286 Sustaining the pivotal organizational outcome: magnet recognition Aim  To identify the facilitators and barriers for health-care organizations to sustain Magnet Recognition, the exemplar of a professional practice environment and quality care. Background  Recognition as a Magnet Hospital is the gold standard for acknowledging excellence in nursing. However, limited evidence exists to inform nursing management practices for sustainability. Method  This qualitative study was conducted using a national convenience sample of 15 Chief Nursing Officers of Magnet Recognized hospitals in the USA. Results  Key macrosystem facilitators included executive management and leadership themes about quality, people, education, and the nurse executive’s commitment and intent. Barriers were executive management turnover and financial challenges. Infrastructure supports and resources for empowerment and quality and unit leadership practices were found to be essential for quality outcomes. The key theme at the microsystem level was moving nursing practice to managing outcomes from tasks; barriers were challenges with unit management turnover and development. Conclusions  Multiple factors at system levels were found to contribute to sustainability. Further research is needed on the concept of sustainability. Implications for nursing management  The findings contribute to executives’ armamentarium to inform management practice for the design of evidenced based organizational systems and programs for nursing excellence.