Celebrating Nurse's Week at SLV Health

Nurse's Week at SLV Health Highlights the Culture of Nursing

There is an excellent support system offering a work-life balance in a rural setting at San Luis Valley Health. To watch videos highlighting this, watch either of these to show off the beautiful environment and recruit nurses to our area.

The focus on patient safety and quality is highly rated at SLV Health.  An example of this was when SLV Health invested in new infusion pumps. These modern pumps improve efficiency and quality. Watch a video explaining the pumps here.

The Nurse Residency Program at SLV Health has been extremely successful. 

The 12-month nurse residency program is designed to assist newly graduated nurses transition into practice. The first 12 weeks focus on clinical development and supportive orientation.

Newly graduated nurses do better with great support, and they build confidence in their skills more quickly.

The rest of the residency transitions the new nurse into discovering all they can achieve with their professional role and how to engage in their own professional development.

This enables them to bring best practices to the bedside and provide the highest quality of care.

Change is constant at SLVH in order to keep improving. 

“Recently, one of the changes to nurse recruitment has been to offer the position of the LPN,” explained Chief Nursing Officer, Roberta Bean.

The LPN is limited in scope when working in a hospital setting, so our goal is to recruit nurses who are interested in continuing their education toward their RN while working as an LPN in an adjunct role to the RN team.

It creates a win-win situation because the student-nurse is getting paid while training and working on a team with experienced professionals who mentor and encourage them.”

Looking toward the future, the nurse leadership strategic planning will encompass “professional peer review,” which focuses on the performance of professionals, with a view to improving quality, upholding standards, and providing certification.

During nurses' week, there were educational boards displayed, recognition of over 20 nurses holding special certifications, outreach to other nurses in the community, awards, and a hike at Penitente Canyon with family members.