Nurses will have 'a voice in every decision we make' with new AdventHealth initiative

AdventHealth has appointed 40 frontline nurses from hospitals and specialties across Central Florida to a new Professional Governance group that will empower bedside RNs to make their voices heard and help make decisions for the organization.

“Having Professional Governance at AdventHealth is a differentiator for nurses,” said Cathy Stankiewicz, chief nursing officer of AdventHealth’s Orange, Osceola and Seminole county hospitals. “We want to create an environment where nurses feel empowered, they’re able to deliver excellent care to our patients, and they truly feel like they come to a place to work that values their knowledge, their experience and their input.”

Representing the 10,000 nurses working at AdventHealth in Central Florida, the 40 nurses appointed to the Professional Governance group will work closely with hospital executives and nursing leaders, as well as physicians and other team members. They'll make decisions about hospital policies and practice, and leaders will look to them for insight into the issues that are most important to nurses and help identify possible solutions.

The introduction of Professional Governance at the division level builds on the governance councils that are already in place at each hospital campus and within individual units.

“I’ve been fortunate to work alongside great nurses and a lot of them have great ideas, and sometimes I think, ‘Why don’t we try that?’ Sometimes just from a thought comes a whole policy change that makes something so much better,” said Gretchen Martinez, an ICU nurse at AdventHealth Winter Park who was selected. “I think it’s very important that nurses understand that their voices are heard, and I hope it inspires others to see that change really can happen from our voices.”

Beth Biele, who is part of the nursing float pool that works across AdventHealth’s 17 Central Florida hospitals and ERs, said she sees being part of the Professional Governance group as a chance to drive change that improves patient care and keeps passionate caregivers in nursing.

“It’s a huge responsibility to be the voice of our nurses at the bedside. This is year 20 for me going into nursing and I feel like it’s my duty,” Biele said in an interview at the AdventHealth Millenia ER. “Upper leadership is coming directly to us for suggestions and ultimately the answers because they want our opinion and our input.”

Although AdventHealth has made tremendous strides in fortifying its nursing workforce since the COVID-19 pandemic – reducing its vacancy rate below 4% and cutting turnover in half – recruiting and retaining skilled nurses continues to be one of the organization’s top priorities. To meet the growing need for nurses, the health system has invested $100 million in market pay and bonus initiatives, offers all team members tuition assistance, loan repayment programs and 24/7 access to mental health professionals, provides mentorship programs and on-the-job training, and has built out care teams with the addition of thousands of PCTs, LPNs and new nursing positions.

But Stankiewicz, who started as a bedside nurse, added that “ensuring nurses have a voice in every decision we make” is a critical component to making AdventHealth a place where nurses want to grow their careers.

“Our nurses are on the frontlines every day,” Stankiewicz said. “If you think about it, nurses are the largest part of our workforce, they spend the most time with our patients and they interact with every single other provider who cares for our patients.”