As part of Sibley’s ongoing efforts to elevate nursing practice across the hospital, it became clear that a professional practice model (PPM) would create a clear visual of the nursing values and spirit that underpins the care that nurses at Sibley provide. However, a PPM is only as effective as the process to design it. To build a solid foundation for Sibley’s PPM, brainstorming started at staff meetings and team huddles, reaching nurses where they work.

“Since this is Sibley's first PPM, we wanted to make sure that it really represented what it means to be a nurse at Sibley,” says Darleen Dagey, a nursing professional development specialist at Sibley who helped lead the process.

Nurses viewed examples from nearby hospitals, including Suburban Hospital, to help connect the dots between their own nursing practice, the PPM and the Magnet® journey. Seeing how each organizations’ unique PPMs spoke to and for its nurses inspired Sibley’s nurses to take an active role in creating their own.

Nurses used sticky notes to write down more than 400 words that they felt exemplified Sibley’s nursing practice. From this exercise surfaced common key words: teamwork, compassion, and patient- and family-centered care.

Images for the PPM were a bit more challenging to narrow down, but staff preferences drove the process. The top three themes—Washington, D.C./the National Mall, cherry blossoms, and Sibley and/or Johns Hopkins Medicine—were featured on a rounding cart during Nurses Week. Nursing directors took shifts manning the cart at every Nurses Week event, asking team members to vote on the themes.

A graphic designer used the winning theme and the top 10 key words to bring the image to life. The entire hospital celebrated the birth of the hospital’s first PPM with Cherry Blossom Festival-themed events for both the day and night shifts.

“As a nurse, the process of going to the front-line nurses on their unit, where they work, and hearing their unique reflections on their practice was a very rewarding experience and validated my own choice to be a nurse at Sibley,” says Dagey. "This ‘from-the-ground-up’ model resulted in a very special PPM because it truly represents what it means to be a nurse at Sibley, using nursing's voice.”

Developing the model and rolling it out are only the start for the PPM. Just as important is what comes next: helping every nurse embrace it as part of their daily practice. That includes making the PPM front and center for every nurse at every career stage—as a part of new nurse orientation; through visible daily reminders on meeting agendas, fliers and badge clips; and as a new set of awards that will recognize nurses who embody the model’s key attributes.