Center for Professional Excellence Nurtures Nurses

Regis Schuler is playing “The Diabetes Game,” and he missed his first question.

“I guess I don’t know as much as I thought I did,” he says.

Nevertheless, Schuler and his wife Laurine take away a small prize and a brochure of diabetes-related information.

“See? We won after all,” he says.

“The Diabetes Game” was a popular part of a recent fair in the Dunn Tower lobby of The Methodist Hospital; the fair was a special event staged to call attention to a unique center for nursing at the hospital, the Center for Professional Excellence.

“The game always attracts attention because it’s a new idea, a good idea, in helping educate patients,” says Marita Carlson, a registered and licensed dietitian and member of Methodist’s diabetes education team. Like the game, the Center for Professional Excellence is a new idea, a comprehensive blend of support structures that increase the array of tools available to nurses at Methodist.

Jan Keller is the Center director and oversees a multidisciplinary staff to accomplish its work.

Nurses have many new avenues of exploration available to them, and programs for nursing such as those at Methodist throw open the threshold for possibilities even wider.

“The Center’s mission is to develop and nurture nurses through education, research, leadership and consultation with an interdisciplinary health care team,” says the Center’s co-director, Gwen Sherwood, Ph.D., and by doing that, we achieve the ultimate goal of excellence in patient care.”

The Center, organized in 2000, offers a number of opportunities for nurses including programs for professional enhancement, educational programs and sources of funding for continuing education, as well as outlets for research and new product development.

Advanced practice nurses working through the Center work with staff in some hospital service lines – particularly cardiovascular, medical and surgical – to advance expert nursing care and keep nurses up-to-date on the latest developments in their fields.

A nursing support system provides staff to help develop and generate operational reports, automated staffing systems, and other tools useful to nursing staff. The Center also promotes special events to honor the work of nurses at Methodist.

A grant from The Methodist Hospital Auxiliary helped build and equip the Center’s Nurse Resource Room, outfitted with computers that nurses can use to access library resources and Internet/intranet services.

“These resources are key to having a good supply of qualified, skilled nurses in years to come. It was a key factor in achieving Magnet designation,” says Keller. “The Center for Professional Excellence is a great example of how committed Methodist is to supporting and advancing professional nursing.”

E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu
URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/05_01_03/page_20.html