At Swedish Covenant Hospital, you're not just a chart or a number. You're an individual, and your health care needs are unique. And when your health is our focus, you are benefiting from the care of nurses who are exceptionally well-prepared to exercise independent judgment, and to assess and provide your nursing care on an individual basis.
Our environment encourages independent judgment from nurses because it results in responsive, effective, patient-centered care. Our ability to act autonomously is based on professional expertise, knowledge, and competence accrued from years of collective experience, as well as the the confidence our hospital has in our abilities. While we all have the same base of knowledge, and are supported by always-available nurse leaders, we constantly reach out through our models of care to find the best custom solutions for your care.
From our earliest days as nursing students we learn universal policies and procedures which also guide us in our independent decision-making. Every nurse who works at Swedish Covenant graduated from a nationally accredited university and passed state boards before their arrival, and all of us are further prepared to care for you by exceptional training, continuing education, and guidance from nursing policies that are frequently reviewed and updated.
Nurses are also encouraged to exercise thoughtful judgment in special and sensitive cases, such as situations involving cultural or religious considerations. Some religions forbid certain types of medical treatment, and patients from various cultures might be hesitant about some elements of their care. Or, as another kind of example, imagine a child patient who is a little nervous about her hospital experience. One of our nurses knew her pediatric patient was apprehensive about her frequent IV site changes, so that nurse consulted with the child's physician to reduce the IV site changes and increase the child's comfort.
And of course we are backed by the resources to plan, provide, and evaluate your care. That means everything from easily accessible databases, to physical materials, to the fortifying presence of our peers and managers. Our peer review process is a professional standard by which we hold each other and ourselves accountable, and it continually happens on a small and large scale. We are always assessing basic safety and shift-to-shift reporting by tracking every measurable standard of care and conducting performance reviews.
All of our nurses, from bedside nurses to Advanced Practice Nurses, exemplify professional autonomy, because we all adhere to national professional nursing standards, and we're all driven by a desire to heal. Every discipline embodies this element of autonomy and peer review, and we all accept accountability and responsibility because that's what results in the excellent health care that you deserve.
To learn more about our Journey to Magnet Excellence, click here. For more information about Nursing at Swedish Covenant Hospital, please call the Nursing Administration office at (773) 878-8200, Ext. 5600.
