Nursing

Professional Nursing

Professional Practice

The nursing division at TMC is committed to creating a culture of excellence that supports our mission, vision, values and nursing strategic plan.  We embrace shared decision making and empower TMC nurses to practice with autonomy and accountability through our shared governance structure.  Professional practice encompasses life long professional development, evidence based practice, diverse learning opportunities, working with interdisciplinary teams, and a well-rounded stimulating work environment. 

Our nurses work in collaboration with the healthcare team to drive practice changes, develop policies and procedures, and quality improvements. Truman nurses have a voice at the table. Our professional nursing environment is positive and we offer competitive pay, excellent benefits, flexible scheduling, tuition reimbursement, and a wealth of educational programs.     

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE MODEL

The TMC Nursing Professional Practice Model (PPM) is a visual representation of the conceptual framework for TMC professional nursing practice.  The model describes how nurses practice, collaborate, develop professionally, and provide high quality patient centered relationship based care.  The PPM connects all nurses through a shared mission, vision, values, and trans-cultural caring behaviors.

TMC Nursing Philosophy and Belief Statements

The patient and their support system is the center of our professional practice model.

Our approach to patient centered care is grounded in relationship-based care (Koloroutis, 2004).

The work of Mary Koloroutis (2004), Patricia Benner (1984), Madeleine Leininger (1994) and Hoffart & Woods (1996) serve as the theoretical framework of our professional practice model.

Caring is the heart of our professional nursing practice and nursing incorporates the 10 universal caring behaviors (Leininger, 1994) into the care delivery system:

• Respect     
• Concern    
• Helping  
• Attention to Detail  
• Presence/Being There
• Connection 
• Protecting  
• Touch     
• Comfort Measures 
• Adjusting The Environment

The provision of patient centered care encompasses the interdisciplinary team.

The RN accepts the responsibility, authority and accountability for his/her competent professional practice.

Transformational leaders and shared governance support our professional nursing practice and promote autonomy.

We value and support the quest for knowledge; the practice of lifelong learning and continual professional development (Benner, 1984).

We provide high quality, evidence based and outcomes driven care to the patient while recognizing the inherent worth, dignity, and uniqueness of each individual.

Journey to Nursing Excellence

Truman Medical Center is a Magnet-aspiring organization.  We are two years into our five year planned journey to recognition for nursing excellence.  The Magnet Recognition Program®, administered through the American Nursing Credentialing Center (ANCC), was established in 1990 and since has become known as the ''Nobel Prize of Nursing.''  

Magnet designation means a hospital or health care setting that employs registered nurses has met stringent requirements both organizationally and within nursing services. The new Magnet model developed in 2008 is our guide for our continued journey in the months and years ahead.  The model provides a framework for nursing practice and research which drives exemplary professional practice, new knowledge, innovations, and quality outcomes. TMC shares a training affiliation with the University of Missouri-Kansas City nursing programs.  TMC serves as the school's primary adult clinical setting.  Whether students are pursuing a BSN or MSN, TMC offers a stimulating learning experience.

Nursing Orientation and
Nursing Residency Program

Nursing Orientation: Nursing orientation is a structured process that is individualized to assist both experienced nurses and new graduates to successfully integrate into the work setting.  Working in concert with nursing leadership, the unit based educators assist with unit-specific competency based education.  The unit educator partners with the new hires to ensure a successful transition into independent practice.

Nurse Residency Programs: Truman Medical Centers' nurse residency programs provide a structured 3 to 6 month clinical and classroom program that provides the new graduate nurse or inexperienced RN with the opportunity to increase knowledge, education, technical skills and professional behaviors. Built on Benner's model from ''Novice to Expert'' the clinical nurse resident will be able to demonstrate competency in direct patient care through a formulated and supervised clinical experience.  Residency programs are available in Med-Surg, Perinatal, Critical Care, Emergency Nursing, and Behavioral Health.   

Clinical Affiliations:  As an academic medical center, TMC partners with strong nursing programs across the greater Kansas City area. We share training affiliations with several schools including the University of Missouri-Kansas City, William Jewell School of Nursing, Penn Valley Community College, and University of Central Missouri.  Whether students are pursuing an ADN, BSN or MSN, Truman Medical Centers offers a stimulating learning experience. 

Professional Development 

Continuing Education: Nursing Workforce Development Department supports many continuing education programs, including Basic Cardiac Life Support, ACLS, Neonatal Resuscitation, and Intermediate Fetal Monitoring. Most classes are free or offered at a nominal charge to employees.  Ongoing educational opportunities are based on the results from the Annual Educational Assessment.  Most of the offerings include nursing continuing education credit.        

Tuition Reimbursement and Scholarships: Tuition reimbursement and nursing scholarships are available to full-time employees enrolled in accredited nursing programs.  To support ongoing professional growth and lifelong learning opportunities, the Corporate Academy offers a variety of onsite education and training experiences.  

Nursing Career Development: We believe in providing our nursing team with innovative ways to obtain a higher education. Truman Medical Centers has both onsite and on-line educational opportunities for the LPN wishing to obtain an Associate Degree in Nursing.  Additionally, registered nurses wishing to obtain an MSN/MBA degree may pursue their education onsite through our partnership with the University of Mary, while continuing employment at TMC.  

Clinical Ladder

The Clinical Ladder program recognizes and rewards our expert clinical nurses with the opportunity for career development and advancement while maintaining a clinical focus. Promotion occurs as the nurses advances up the clinical ladder from ''Clinical Nurse'' through sequential progression to Clinical Nurse II, III, and IV. Each step on the ladder represents increased accountability and competency, along with a promotion in increase of base pay.  There is a two-year requirement of maintenance of the promotion during each step of advancement or maintenance of the Clinical Ladder.

Relationship-Based Care 

TMC places high value on people and relationships. This is evidenced by the adoption of the Relationship Based Care (RBC) model which places the patient and family in the center of the TMC environment.  RBC is a culture shift to welcoming, appreciating, valuing, and empathizing and demonstrating these behaviors to the patients, family, and our colleagues.  Nurses are called to model these behaviors in our everyday interactions.   Patient and nursing satisfaction is a one of the goals of RBC. Truman Medical Center partners with Press Ganey to provide our patients with a voice. We want to be the hospital of choice for Kansas City, and patient satisfaction is the key to achieving this goal. Through the active use of caring behaviors by TMC nurses we are confident patient and nursing satisfaction scores will continue to rise.