The Year in Review
By Karen A. Grimley
PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, FAAN
Chief Nursing Executive, UCLA Health
Assistant Dean, UCLA School of Nursing
As I write this letter, I am thinking about how far we’ve come in the past few years. It has been a difficult time, during which we have set ourselves, and UCLA Health, apart. We’ve achieved some wonderful milestones during this trying period, and now it is time to take a deep breath, reassess and move forward with intention, focused on our patients and the nurses who care for them. This will not be a recess or a rest period. It will be a time of rebuilding and revitalizing nursing at UCLA Health.
With this renewed focus, I am moving through the year with a heightened awareness and appreciation for where everyone is so that we can meaningfully assess the actions we need to take to be patient-centered and staff-centered in all we do. We need to turn our attention to detail, recognition and the exemplary work that our staff does every day, focusing on the positive and the change we can create. Ultimately, we want to wow our patients with an exceptional experience and the outstanding care that sets us apart.
That being said, maintaining high standards in everyday care delivery can be challenging. Ensuring every team member consistently excels in fundamental aspects of care, such as patient communication and meticulous care practices, is crucial. While exceptional nursing care is our expectation, achieving it demands relentless coordination and a sustained effort from everyone involved.
Key priorities include hardwiring high-reliability efforts and safety programs that ensure zero harm to patients and staff. This work is already taking place in many areas. For example, our nurse-led Re-admissions Reduction Task Force has made great strides to assess our metrics against the social vulnerability index and social determinants of health to ensure that important care factors are not overlooked.
Additionally, our Unity in Diversity Council has been engaged in translating our policies, procedures and practices into unbiased, equitable language. This effort enhances our ability to meet the diverse needs of our community and support each other more effectively. Our commitment to excellence is also reflected in our participation with local and national nursing associations, where many of our nurses have provided podium and poster presentations showcasing the fine work being done here. Not only are we helping ourselves, but we’re also sharing these evidence-based best-practices across the country to further enhance care delivery and nursing practice.
We have also invested a great deal of time honoring relationships — both in how we deliver care to our patients and how we care for one another. By providing and encouraging participation in wellness resources such as our Reigniting the Spirit of Caring workshops, we’re helping our nursing staff rejuvenate themselves, returning stronger and more engaged. It is this renewed energy that will continue to propel us forward.
This will be a philosophical year, but it will lay the foundation to help people realign themselves, become re-engaged and get ready to understand what’s out there to help enhance what we do.
As we embrace this journey, we are also focusing on the role of technology in advancing our practices. From that perspective, we are exploring how virtual reality can be used for three-dimensional learning and competency-based training. Additionally, we are considering how AI can enhance our practices and how we can involve patients in these advancements.
Beyond technology, we are also committed to promoting nursing practices that alleviate suffering and expedite patient recovery. We aim to educate our community partners in skilled nursing, long-term care, and home-health facilities to better understand the patients we deliver to them for continued care. Furthermore, we are working on establishing a program that recognizes the remarkable contributions our staff make every day, not only to UCLA Health but also to our patients and the community at large.
An example of promoting nursing practice and engaging our colleagues and the community is The Daisy Foundation, through which nurses are recognized for the extraordinary things they do in the course of an ordinary day. And one of our community partners has built a philanthropic effort to recognize nurses for excelling in nursing greatness. The benefit of that is that this friend of nursing is trying to find ways to promote the value of nursing to the community at large. To provide the answers and discoveries that will drive our nursing practice forward, we must remember that what we do here is cutting-edge. And while we may take this for granted, people travel from all around the world for an opportunity to receive our care. So, let’s take that deep breath, let’s focus on the basics and shore up our foundation for the delivery of care in such a way that anything we do builds on it in a positive way and results in premier outcomes, whether it’s quality, clinical or experience for everyone.
Achieving this will require the collective efforts of every member of UCLA Health and UCLA Health Nursing. We each have team responsibilities and personal commitments, and we all share ownership of our mission. Our focus will be on rekindling our collaboration and putting into action what patient advocacy and coordination-of-care efforts should look like. If we do that successfully and consistently, the rest will come.
A heartfelt thank you to all of you for your contributions and sacrifices this year. Your compassion and commitment to our patients and to each other never fail to inspire me. Thank you for all you do.