UF Health Unifies Nursing Practice Under New Clinical Excellence Framework
UF Health is developing its first System Nursing Clinical Excellence Framework, an initiative led by SVP and Chief Nursing Officer Janice Walker, who was appointed to the newly created role in January. The framework aims to unify nursing practice and professional development across the health system's hospitals, clinics, and other facilities.
Following a 90-day assessment, Walker and other nursing leaders drafted the framework, organizing priorities into "must, should, and could" timelines. The effort focuses on standardizing professional practice models, shared governance, and recruitment and retention.
A key area for standardization is the nurse residency program. UF Health plans to consolidate its varied programs into a single, system-wide residency accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The system will use Vizient as a database partner to track new graduate nurses.
UF Health also intends to develop roadmaps for all of its acute care hospitals to achieve either Magnet or Pathways to Excellence accreditation as part of the clinical excellence initiative.