The Sinai Center for Nursing Advancement is dedicated to the pursuit of nursing scholarship and professional development for nurses at all levels across the Sinai Hospital organization. Under the leadership of Chief Nursing Officer Diane Johnson, the Center was created to provide ongoing education and development through a variety of processes and partnerships with schools and organizations across the Baltimore-Washington region.
The mission of the Sinai Center for Nursing Advancement is to enhance nursing practice and augment the provision of high quality healthcare by sharing evidence-based knowledge from both the clinical and administrative domains.
The Sinai Hospital Auxiliary Nursing Lectureship provides Sinai nurses with an opportunity to learn from the region's greatest nurse clinicians and researchers. Monthly presentations in the Zamoiski Auditorium provide nurses with cutting edge, evidence-based information that impacts their practice and advances their understanding of both clinical and non-clinical issues of importance to nurses. Nurses in attendance receive a wonderful lunch and continuing education credit. 
The Clinical Practice Lecture Series (CPLS) serves as a forum for both seasoned nurse presenters and novice nurse presenters to share their clinical expertise with their colleagues. The CPLS is offered every other Thursday from 8 AM to 9 AM in the Gann Conference Room at Sinai Hospital. The sessions are held at 8 AM so that nurses working the 7PM - 7AM shift can attend. Contemporary clinical information supported by sound scientific evidence is presented. Participants typically receive continuing education credit for attending the lectures.
The Professional Development Fund (PDF) is a budgeted funding source for direct-care nurses across the organization to support certification, re-certification, and conference attendance. Nurses are able to apply for up to $350 per year in professional development funding. Applicant nurses must demonstrate, through a "point system" that they have made sufficient independent efforts to enhance their professional development though unit-based, hospital-wide, or community programs. Once nurses reach 50 points (various activities are allotted weighted points), they may submit the PDF application to receive funding for specific professional development opportunities.
Sinai Hospital supports professional advancement through the Clinical Ladder program. Nurses are able to progress up the ladder at their own pace, assuming greater responsibility at each level. The Clinical Leader role, the pinnacle of the ladder, affords nurses the opportunity to gain administrative or educator experience while still maintaining their clinical skills as a direct care provider.
- Conducts and documents initial and ongoing assessment and gathers data relevant to the patient's/family's needs.
- Collaborates with other nurses and interdisciplinary colleagues to develop the patient's plan of care using the nursing process.
- Identifies discharge planning needs.
- Implements, documents, and provides care and education based on plan of care.
- Contributes to unit education initiatives by identifying needs, planning programs and evaluating effectiveness of learning.
- Serves as advisor, resource, and leader for other team members. May serve as charge nurse.
- Demonstrates advanced proficiency and skill with all components of RN I role
- Serves as advisor, resource, preceptor, and leader for other team members.
- Leads in-services, unit/hospital committees, and meetings.
- Coordinator of care for the interdisciplinary team using expert knowledge and critical thinking
- Initiates and participates in performance improvement and research activities.
- Demonstrates advanced proficiency and skill with all components of RN II role.
- Demonstrates clinical expertise using the nursing process.
- Assists in providing overall direction and coordination of shift operations.
- Facilitates change.
- Manages human and material resources effectively.
- Plans and coordinates educational and professional development for staff.
The Nursing Research Internship is one of the many ways nurses at Sinai expand their knowledge and expertise related to research and evidence-based practice. The purpose of the Nursing Research Internship is to provide a comprehensive research-intensive experience for nurses who demonstrate a desire to advance their understanding of the research process. The internship is competitive and interested applicants must meet certain criteria to be eligible for selection.
There are two nursing internships per year, one in February and one in September. The nurses selected to participate in the Internships are granted 12 - 16 hours of time per week (out of staffing) to work in collaboration with the Director of Professional Nursing Practice, Dr. Kenneth Rempher, on a nursing research project that has practice implications 
for the organization. Ideally, the research nurse intern has chosen to study phenomena specific to his or her area of specialty.
During the course of the Internship, and under the mentorship and guidance of Dr. Rempher, the research nurse intern conducts a sound scientific study from development of the research question through publication of findings. Interns also gain the experience of submitting an IRB application and are required to complete an 8 hour "human subject's protection" training program online through the University of Miami.
The Healthcare Manager's Leadership Institute (HMLI), provided through the Maryland Hospital Association is aimed at assuring competencies considered essential in today's healthcare environment. To date, almost 700 participants from 40 hospitals have completed the course and have given it outstanding evaluations. The HMLI takes place over six days and consists of 3 two-day sessions spread over three months.
The course is highly interactive and provides opportunities for networking. Participants in the course receive intensive education with a focus on leadership issues as well as potential solutions to the challenges facing today's healthcare managers. Since excellence in leadership is a critical factor in retention of nurses, Patient Care Services at Sinai requires that each healthcare leader attend this course.
The course is considered an integral part of the competency training necessary to meet essential team building and leadership development challenges.
Each semester, Sinai places multiple individual senior nursing students in clinical areas of their choice for a first-hand clinical experience. Each student works closely with a BSN-prepared registered nurse (RN) preceptor over the course of a semester to gain knowledge, practice, and invaluable insights into the role of the RN. As part of our exciting partnership agreement with the University of Maryland's School of Nursing, students designated as "scholars" are offered tuition support from Sinai in return for a commitment to join the organization upon graduation.
"Scholars" are high-achieving, well-rounded senior students who are chosen with care and placed in areas in which they are interested in pursuing a career. These students not only finish their final semester learning from and working with Sinai's best, they also gain tangible experience and a true comfort level on a unit where they will begin orientation after graduation and successful completion of their N-CLEX licensure exam.
Life-long learning is an expectation at Sinai Hospital. Sinai Hospital provides a variety of formal and informal programs to augment or continue nursing education. For those nurses interested in pursuing a BSN, we offer an on-site RN-BSN program. Through a long-standing partnership with Villa Julie College's nursing program and faculty, we provide monthly on-site information sessions, individual advisement, and even classes on site!
School has truly "come to work" for many nurses wishing to complete their baccalaureate nursing degree in a convenient, supportive, familiar environment. Nurses can attend classes three ways, either on-site at the hospital when the topic and interest allow, online in the comfort of their own homes, or on Villa Julie's campus for those who prefer the tried-and-true feel of a traditional classroom setting. The college provides a warm, individualized approach for busy professionals, and Sinai's nurses (and patients) have benefited from this wonderful opportunity to continue their education and complete their degree.
Leadership at both campuses supports the partnership through flexible scheduling, generous tuition reimbursement, and recognition of staff's efforts and accomplishments.
Several Sinai nurses are taking advantage of a wonderful opportunity to complete their master's degree with our academic partner, the University of Maryland School of Nursing. The School's Health Services Leadership and Management (HSLM) program is offered entirely on line, a convenient option for our direct-care nurses and nurse managers who are balancing many work and life responsibilities.
The program is designed around core graduate courses; including organizational and systems theory, financial management, research, and computer applications. Students then choose a focus area and complete several electives in Executive Practice, Education, Oncology, Case Management, or Informatics. University faculty and representatives provide both open information sessions and individual advisement appointments at the hospital to help nurses navigate the admission and registration process, and to offer guidance and recommendations. Sinai's generous tuition reimbursement allowance and dedicated Employee Services tuition expert help students work through the financial aspects of continuing their education.
For additional support, Sinai's HSLM students are invited to a lively monthly meeting to share their experience in a particular class, gain support from their peers, obtain needed resources for projects or papers, and to "touch base" with each other face to face. The nurses are enjoying the challenge, flexibility and online approach of this exciting program.
Professional growth opportunities exist for nurses at levels at Sinai Hospital. Sinai's ongoing engagement with the Advisory Board Company's Nursing Executive Center (NEC) provides the CNO, Patient Care Directors and the Nurse Mangers with opportunities for professional development. The Nursing Executive Center is a teaching and research enterprise of the Advisory Board Company Inc. As a
member of the NEC, Sinai is entitled to two on-site 4-hour executive education sessions per year.
These sessions are usually attended by the CNO, Patient Care Directors, and Nurse Managers. All attendees earn 3 - 4 continuing education credits. In 2007, faculty from the NEC presented two programs: "Enhancing Nursing Business Performance" and "Engaging the Nurse Workforce".
The Center for Frontline Nursing Leadership is a joint endeavor of the Advisory Board Academies and Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. The Center for Frontline Nursing Leadership is a comprehensive two-year program tailored for nurses on the front lines of patient care. The objective is to help Sinai's direct care nurses fully realize their potential as leaders at the bedside.
Sinai Hospital participated in the Center for Frontline Leadership program during 2006 - 2007. The program included two full-day classroom sessions led by specially trained faculty from the Advisory Board Company. Each session was composed of a mix of didactic lectures along with games, exercises, role plays and simulations. Following the first three classroom sessions, participants participated in a practicum - a 12-week program to transfer theory learned in the classroom to practice in the real world.