Patient Care Councils
Patient Care Councils invite Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh's nurses to participate in decision-making that impacts their work environment and patient care. Among the actions the councils take is approving policies and procedures related to each council's area of focus. This is an important way that Children's Hospital empowers nurses and helps them grow professionally.
Education and Research Council
The goals of the Education and Research Council are to:
- Identify or validate short- and long-term educational needs of all professional nurses within the organization
- Ensure that our blended pediatric-specific comprehensive educational program meets the learning needs of experienced and beginner nursing practitioners, resulting in unit-specific competency
- Incorporate new and/or established standards of practice as well as contemporary nursing research findings into comprehensive educational endeavors
- Develop specific and consistent evaluation processes for nursing education in order to quantitatively or qualitatively measure outcomes such as unit-specific competence
- Continue development of a comprehensive patient- and family-centered educational program that addresses knowledge deficits
Practice Council
Practice Council is composed of professional nurses representing inpatient and outpatient departments. The group reviews professional practice in the delivery of patient care and recommends procedure and process changes, monitoring of care delivery and interventions for resolution of issues. Meetings are held on a bimonthly basis.
Service Council
The mission of the Service Council is to provide excellence in customer service by recognizing Children's Hospital customers are not only patients and families, but everyone in the organization that we interact with on a daily basis.
The Service Council is composed of not only professional nurses, patient care technicians, service assistants and health unit coordinators representing inpatient, ambulatory and satellite areas, but many other services directly impacting the care of patients and their families.
The following areas and disciplines are represented on Service Council:
- Radiology
- Respiratory Therapy
- Environmental Services
- Human Resources
- Pharmacy
- IV Team
- Child Life
- Information Services
- Patient Access
Quality Council
Quality Council is an oversight body to evaluate Nursing Division quality reports and data for the purpose of improving patient care and practice. This Council is comprised of professional nurses representing the inpatient departments. The group reviews collected regulatory and practice indicators for trends; provides analysis of data; and recommends action plans for improvements. Quality Council members provide education and follow-up for quality issues in their respective areas of practice as well as serve on ad hoc working groups to address identified issues in a collaborative manner.