Baystate Health names Joanne Miller top nursing executive as Nurses Week 2022 begins

SPRINGFIELD - Joan Miller, a 30-year-old nurse, returned to her roots in New England last July when she was appointed interim head nurse at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.

Later this month, the native of Waterbury, Connecticut, will become a head nurse at Baystate Health, a new position in the Baystate system, and a full-time senior nurse at a medical center.

“This is a common model for small and medium-sized health systems, where the head nurse of the system is also the flagship nurse,” Miller explained. "The advantage here is to indicate and inform the Baystate nurse that the patient will be admitted to any facility anywhere on our campus so that the patient can expect the same level of professional nursing practice."

Miller’s appointment comes after a nationwide search for candidates, and the announcement coincides with National Nurses Week , which began Friday.

Baystate nurses said they are among the best in the country , Miller said, praising their dedication as health systems across the country face a flaw.

“We’ve all read about the big retirement, but there’s also a big start, and it’s nurses who don’t dream of quitting nursing now because they see the impact we’ve had and what we’ve been able to achieve. Pandemic. Said Mueller. "We know we can give much more."

Miller acknowledged that all of the National Nurses Week awards were “far from being part of the culture of an organization that truly respects and honors its nurses”. Baystet said he is “very advanced” in his efforts to help his doctors cope with stress over the past two years, in particular by creating comprehensive self-care support and creating a quiet place for staff.

“We need to develop tactics that will help our employees become more resilient and make sure that we provide them with emotional support so that they can return from very difficult situations,” Miller said. "Our doctors have made great sacrifices in the pandemic, and we, as leaders, must help them regain strength."

Management stressed the importance of maintaining breaks in change with constant “significant” recognition of employees to make them feel valuable and valuable, an atmosphere of courtesy and respect, as well as access to confidential advice, behavioral health benefits and reimbursement. Costs. .

Baystate is reviewing compensation and competitive pay to retain nurses and hire new ones, Miller said. In addition, the health care system continues to develop “recruitment of entry-level nurses” by early hiring nursing students to participate in the curriculum, he said.

Miller considers the training of nurses "critical" to replace the working group, in which the average age of nurses in the country is 52 years.

“We now have many generations of nurses with staff between the ages of 21 and 70,” Miller said. “They want, need and deserve different things. As leaders, we need to have skills between generations and understand and get to know educators at their career level. ”

He found that helping young nurses develop critical thinking skills to achieve the best patient outcomes as well as better self-care is one of the most important factors needed to maintain the employment of all staff.

“Violence in the workplace has intensified since the beginning of the pandemic,” Miller said, referring to the rise in patient abusive behavior. "Hospitals across the country are concerned about doctors and nurses, and managers are responding in the same way. This is a complex situation that requires a multimodal approach."

Several of Baystet’s nurses participated in the nine-month Academy of Arts integrated treatment program at the BirchTree Health Transformation Center in Northampton, where the importance of self-care was emphasized, focusing on compassion for others. how Baystate solves current workplace problems.

"Caused by work stress, emotional fatigue and dissatisfaction with work, this is a dangerous danger of work and is associated with high staff turnover," said Miller. “Fatigue and smoking negatively affect the enjoyment of medical care. The main thing is to create a new generation of nurses who are well acquainted with this phenomenon. "

"My motto is to love our nurses," Miller said.

Miller’s work at Baystate is similar to the temporary positions he held at Jupiter’s Medical Center in Florida. Prior to entering Baystet, she worked as a senior nurse in the Carson Tahoe Health System in Nevada. Her 20 years of experience as a senior nurse also included work at hospitals in Connecticut, Philadelphia and New York City.

“I’m a great thinker, I’m a systems thinker, and I’ve always been,” said Miller, a graduate nurse with a focus on leadership and medical research at Drexel University. “I saw the value of being a senior nurse. I can influence many other nurses, from beginners to experts. ”

Miller cites his stay as a medical member of John Hopkins at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC, where from 2014 to 2018 he served as vice president of patient care and general nursing, which particularly affected his career. .

“The focus on the quality, safety of lasers and patient experience at the Johns Hopkins Memorial Medicine-Sibley has really aroused all my admiration,” Miller said. "The methods of collaboration, collaborative learning and excellence were really inspiring, and I learned the science of security here."

Miller’s early career was a nurse in oncology. One of his first administrative positions was as Director of Oncology and Cardiology at Hartford HealthCare Corp. merida.

Mount St. Newburg, New York. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Mary College and a master’s degree in nursing management from Hartford University.

Growing up in a family of several generations helped him find the job he thought he had found.

"I had very close relatives who were very ill and suffered a lot, and we took care of them at home," Miller said. "That's why I feel like the nurse chose me because I've always helped people heal."

Married for 37 years and a mother of two, Miller loves Baystate, a major center of the medical academy that is “family-friendly” and “feels good” in its commitment to “the people who live here”. ”

“The health teams are very committed to each other, and the organization is very culturally committed to the public universities and the people who live here,” Miller said. "Baystate is deeply committed to the health and well-being of society, and I think that's good."

He calls Baystet’s medical staff “truly privileged to work with some of the best nurses and some of the most dynamic and innovative nurses I have ever had”.

“Baystate nurses are providing quality care,” Miller said. “ The American Certified Nursing Authority has awarded us the status of Magnetic Institution four times . Only 6% of hospitals in the country have this Magnet designation for nurses, and only 1% have changed it for the fourth time.