3 nurses at skills fair

Shared Governance

A fundamental requirement of an organization with Magnet designation is to have an effective shared governance structure.

Shared Governance is a decision-making model focused on empowering the nurses who care for the patients, the frontline of decision making.

The Shared Governance councils are comprised of clinical nurses, clinical nurse educators, clinical mentors and clinical nurse specialists with representation from each nursing unit.

Inova Loudoun Hospital Shared Governance

The Inova Loudoun Hospital (ILH) Shared Governance structure consists of four councils. These councils meet each month and are led by members of our clinical nursing team. The councils are the decision-making bodies in which our clinical nurses participate in determining goals, process improvement and other patient care and professional practice objectives. These initiatives are then brought back and shared with our patient care units through established Unit-Practice Councils (UPCs).

The UPC’s provide an additional decision-making resource at the unit level encouraging all clinical nurses to participate in improving and developing their professional practice.

The four ILH Shared Governance Councils have specific areas of focus:

  • Clinical Effectiveness Council: Analyzes and disseminates quality data and indicators, process and policy feedback and improvement, UPC briefings.
  • Professional Practice Council: Promotes professional growth, education and development of the ILH nurse.
  • Retention and Recognition Council: Recognizes excellence in our nursing practice contributing to the retention of our nursing team, promoting recognition programs and community outreach.
  • Research and Evidence-Based Practice: Support and facilitate the initiatives of our nurses who are undertaking evidence based projects and research.

2018-2019 Shared Government Highlights

Clinical Effectiveness Council

During our Clinical Effectiveness Council meetings, clinical nurses review and evaluate nursing quality data to maintain and improve quality patient outcomes. We continue to strive for excellence by keeping our patients safe during their stay.

  • From 2018 to 2019, we reduced our Cdiff rate by 83%
  • During that same time period, we reduced our MRSA rate by 100%
  • At the end of 2019, we celebrated the accomplishment of having ZERO Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) for the full calendar year
  • The majority of our units exceeded the Magnet mean for falls with injury, Hospital Acquired Pressure Injury (HAPI), Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI) and Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)

Professional Practice Council

Our Professional Practice Council hosted their third annual Innovation in Healthcare Conference. This SG Council continued their sponsorship of the quarterly “Did You Know” nursing newsletter. Members promote professional practice opportunities including certification, advanced degrees and participation in the ADVANCE Clinical Ladder.

  • In 2019, 14 nurses began their journey on the ADVANCE Clinical Ladder as RN3’s, and 28 nurses climbed the ladder to become an RN4. ILH currently has over 130 nurses participating in the ADVANCE program.
  • 55 nurses became newly certified.
  • An additional 23 nurses, 2 DNP’s, 4 MSN’s and 17 BSN’s received advanced degrees. Because reports show that BSN prepared nurses are better equipped to manage the challenges of the ever changing healthcare environment, we began the initiative of 80% of our nursing team receiving a bachelor’s degree in nursing (BSN) by 2020. In 2018, 82% of our nursing team held a BSN. At the end of 2019, 83.48% of our nurses had earned a BSN degree.

Retention & Recognition Council

The Retention and Recognition (R&R) Council continues to promote our clinical excellence recognition programs. ILH is a proud partner with the DAISY Foundation in presenting the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses program. Twelve nurses are recognized throughout the year for delivering exceptional patient care. Winners are selected from hundreds of nominations from patients, families and coworkers. The R&R Council also promotes the PEACH Awards program which originated right here at Inova Loudoun Hospital. Similar to the DAISY program, the PEACH Awards recognizes excellence in a non-nursing employee.

DAISY award winners 2021

2021 DAISY Award Winners

Shown in photo with Ashley Virts, MSN, RN, CNO Inova Loudoun Hospital and VP of Nursing for the Inova Pediatric Service Line are 2021 DAISY Award Winners from left to right: Kainat Shah, RN, Alissa Hedrick, BSN, RN3, C-EFM, Lauren Havard, BSN, RN, and Theresa Shenk, BSN, RN, CWCN.

List of All Winners:

  • Rosemary Pascua, BSN, RN
  • Lisa Smith, BSN, RN
  • Dan Buffington, RN, TCRN
  • Leah Foster, RN
  • Mike Bowen, MSN, RN Gero-BC
  • Julie Costanzo, BSN, RN4, RNC-OB
  • Lauren Havard, BSN, RN
  • Alissa Hedrick, BSN, RN3, C-EFM
  • Karen Miller, BSN, RN
  • Marc-Andre Vendiola, BSN, RN
  • Kainat Shah, RN
  • Theresa Shenk, BSN, RN, CWCN

A Few of Inova Loudoun Hospital's Recent DAISY Award Winners

four nurses smiling
Narcis Moshrefi, Clinical Director PCU; DAISY Winner Krissy Bass, PCU; Marissa Jamarik, Inova Loudoun Hospital Chief Nurse Executive; and Nicole Dlesk, Clinical Director PCU.
four nurses smiling
Marissa Jamarik, Inova Loudoun Hospital Chief Nurse Executive; DAISY Winner Rheya Brown, Peds; Sonya Sterbutzel, Clinical Director, Peds; and Inova Chief Nurse Executive Maureen Sintich.