Nursing Strategic Roadmap

Nursing Strategic Roadmap

The Nursing Strategic Roadmap for Northwestern Memorial Hospital reflects our vision for advancing nursing excellence in alignment with the mission, vision and values of Northwestern Medicine. Our mission is to put our patients first in all that we do. We exist to make people better by making medicine better.

• We are all caregivers or someone who supports a caregiver.
• We are here to improve the health of our community.
• We have an essential relationship with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
• We integrate education and research to continually improve excellence in clinical practice.
• We serve a broad community and bring the best in medicine closer to where patients live and work.

Whether directly providing patient care or supporting those who do, every Northwestern Medicine employee has an impact on the quality of the patient experience and the level of excellence we collectively achieve. This knowledge, expressed in our shared commitment to a single, patient-focused mission, unites us. We aspire to be a destination for world-class care and talent, globally recognized for the advancement of health care from discovery to delivery.

The roadmap for advancing nursing excellence at Northwestern Memorial Hospital focuses on the following core goals and objectives.

Care Delivery: Interprofessional Collaborative Practice and Quality and Safety Outcomes

Embody an interprofessional relationship-based care model that exemplifies collaborative practice leading to top decile performance in patient experience, safety and clinical quality. Advance a high-reliability care environment supporting the Northwestern Medicine Quality Plan by ensuring that nurses are integral to the development, dissemination and application of the plan.

Care Innovation: Interprofessional Innovation and Research

Advance a rich culture of inquiry that cultivates innovation resulting in the creation, implementation and dissemination of new knowledge. Innovate care delivery models by identifying innovative technologies that improve nurse efficiency, improve interprofessional communication and decrease non–direct care administrative work.

Cultivate nursing science through professional advancement, evidence-based practice, quality improvement and translational research. Enhance the Lead, Excel and Develop (LEAD) Program to promote the creation of project ideas and interprofessional partnerships and increase visibility for all scholarly activities.

Care Profession: Caring and Healthy Environment

Exemplify an environment that demonstrates nursing excellence, one that welcomes diversity in thought, practice and culture through collaborative interprofessional practice, and one that promotes career development, encourages lifelong learning and nurtures well-being and safety. Embed and advance system work surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion by creating additional nursing career pathways at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, as well as using champion networks and RN ambassadors to build a culture that supports inclusivity and a sense of belonging.

Enculturate resiliency, respite and work life balance by developing programs to provide flexibility with work-life balance and amplify psychological/physical safety of the nursing workforce.