Meaningful recognition, a key component of our Professional Practice Model, calls on us to celebrate the amazing practice we witness every day.

This issue of Heart & Science focuses on some of the ways we celebrate our practice. We honor our 2016 Essence of Nursing Award recipient and honorees, who breathe life into our care delivery system, Relationship-based Care, every day. We also celebrate our 2016 Lotus Awards recipients, who bring caring and inclusive intentions to their practice, ensuring that patients, families and all colleagues who enter any of BWH’s many locations feel welcomed and cared for.

It is our collective goal as a community to recognize the expert practice we witness not once a year, but rather every day.

Nursing leaders receive countless letters and emails from grateful patients and families who articulate the lasting impact that their nurses, clinicians and support staff have on advancing their health, healing and well-being. I regularly watch members of the clinical team welcome new members and thank support staff for their contributions, creating a cohesive team environment.

Meaningful recognition reflects Watson’s first Caritas process of loving kindness for self and others, as well as the second process of being authentically present, honoring the subjective inner life world of self and others.

Please remember to celebrate your own contributions, as well. At the end of every day, let us each commit to embracing reflective practice, the hallmark of a professional nursing care. It is important to celebrate the difference we have made that day and embrace the growth from those opportunities that we might manage differently in the future.

To my nurse colleagues, I want to extend sincere appreciation and admiration for all that you do to advance the health and healing of our patients, families and communities and express how honored I am every day to serve as your Chief Nurse.

Happy Nurses Week!

With appreciation,

Jackie Somerville, PhD, RN, FAAN
Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services