Greetings,

My name is Mary Jane Adams, and I have been with the organization for 22 years. As the Chief Nursing Officer, I am privileged to work with an outstanding group of dedicated nurses who are engaged in providing the region’s most advanced patient care. This has been a very meaningful part of my career.

My clinical background is in critical care. However, I have always been interested in complex environments and learning how systems can adapt and respond to be more effective.

My goal has always been to obtain Magnet™ designation in order for us to be recognized as a premier nursing department and hospital. Over the past four years, everything that we have implemented has focused on achieving this recognition.

The primary purpose of the Magnet™ journey is to highlight excellence in patient care and achieve exceptional outcomes for our patients. The journey to Magnet™ begins with the vision for the nursing department to become a leader in patient care, education and research.

We are on our way toward achieving that goal. I am very proud of what our nurses have been able to achieve in such a relatively short period of time and am truly inspired by the energy and momentum I see as we continue to face new challenges.

Unit-based excellence beginning at the bedside is the foundation for our success in obtaining recognition as a quality organization. Our unit-based councils are beginning to show the impact that they have on improving patient outcomes. We now have data to benchmark ourselves with other successful academic medical centers. While this initiative is challenging, it is obtainable. In many areas we have surpassed our expectations.

Our goal is to continue to challenge our nursing practice to find new and better ways to provide care that meets the needs of our complex and diverse patient population.

Creating a continual learning environment has allowed us to elevate the educational level of our nurses by increasing the number of nurses with bachelor’s and advanced degrees. The percentage of our nurses with certification in their specialties continues to rise. This year we have almost doubled that number from 2009.

Each year we are seeing more nurses who are participating in research – either through poster presentations or publications. Many of our nurses are presenting their research or evidence-based practice initiatives at local and national conferences. In this way, we are making a vital contribution to the base of knowledge that both guides and drives our profession.

It’s a good time to be a nurse here at University Hospital and the Brown Cancer Center.  As UofL Health Care nurses, we have much to celebrate. I am extremely proud of our nursing team and the many accomplishments that we are highlighting on this website.

We truly are defining nursing excellence within our organization, throughout our community and beyond.

Sincerely,

Mary Jane Adams, MSN
Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President