A Nurses Week Message from Joyce Nichols, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer
As Nurses Week 2024 comes to a close I find myself struggling to articulate the gratitude I feel for the nurses who work throughout our organization. These last four years have been nothing short of breathtaking for our profession. Nurses at Baptist Health Care share the experience of serving during a global pandemic with nurses across the world. There is a comradery in that. A knowing. A common understanding of what it was like. I believe this generation of nurses will be venerated for their sacrifices, their dedication and their contributions. Nurses all over the world were the proverbial tip of the spear during this challenging time in history.
Not only did our team provide exemplary care under difficult circumstances during the pandemic, we planned and executed a hospital move at the same time! The way our team performed on move day exceeded everyone’s expectations. Every single patient arrived safely and efficiently to our beautiful new campus.
Now, seven months later, our team continues to excel. We have a renewed focus on constant improvement. We are continually evaluating our processes and leading the way to meaningful change. We have increased efficiencies in throughput. Despite being busier than ever, we continue to provide excellent care. Patient experience scores have never been better.
Baptist Hospital has been named by US News and World Report to its 2023-2034 Best Regional Hospitals as a High Performing facility for several areas of care. Gulf Breeze Hospital has been consistently named as a CMS 5-star Hospital. Jay Hospital has recently expanded services to better serve our community. All of our outlying clinics and physician practices consistently provide exemplary care. We could not have accomplished all these things without wonderful nurses!
You all live our Mission of Helping People Throughout Life’s Journey every day. You live our Values of Ownership, Integrity, Compassion, Excellence and Service. I stand in awe of what our team has accomplished. The future is bright for Baptist Health Care for so many reasons. Our nurses have contributed to organizational success in a mighty way. I want to say thank you to the nurses working across the system. Please accept my sincere and humble gratitude for all you do.