At the hospitals of Morton Plant Mease, the patient comes first in all we do. Every member of the health care team believes that caring for the individual patient and his or her family is at the heart of our mission and values. This is why it’s so important to invest in our nurses who are on the front lines of patient care and critical to patient outcomes.

Philanthropy helps our hospitals attract, reward, recognize and retain talented nurses, provide them the tools to enhance their learning, offer professional development programs, certification courses, research projects, and helps to distinguish our nurses as leaders.

Simulation technology has dramatically influenced the way nurses learn and care for patients.

• Create a simulation lab or program to enhance nursing knowledge, skills and abilities to provide safe, quality care.
• Recruit a Simulation Education Coordinator dedicated to building curriculum on facilitating intraprofessional simulation experiences on the patient care units.
• Upgrade existing simulation equipment to state-of-the-art technology to sharpen our nurses’ critical thinking skills.

Many nursing students struggle to transition from the classroom to the acute care setting.

• Full-time registered nurse position with a one-year orientation program will assist nurses in transitioning from a new graduate to a fully competent, professional nurse at the hospitals of Morton Plant Mease.

Our students have full-time study with extensive clinical courses. Help us to bring bright candidates into the nursing profession that have a passion for nursing, but may not have the resources to achieve their educational aspirations.

• Nursing scholarships and awards go a long way towards enhancing the recognition, education, retention and recruitment initiatives for our 2,000 nurses.
• Philanthropy is needed to grow programs such as the Dr. George Morris Earn As You Learn, Lois Odence Planters Endowment, DAISY Awards, Joan Clow Seminar Fund, Katherine T. Smith Scholarship, Nursing Assistant Program, Dale and Carole Christensen Nursing Scholarship, and the WOW! Nursing and Team Member Excellence Awards.

Our nurses need the flexibility to pursue opportunities to engage in learning outside of their regular clinical responsibilities in order to develop innovative best practices.

• Create an environment that motivates advanced practice nurses to remain at the bedside.
• Provide an opportunity for nurses to be temporarily relieved from patient care to pursue innovative ideas.
• Provide time away from the unit to pursue best practice ideas and incorporate them into clinical practice.

In response to a critical shortage of faculty across nursing schools, which is leading to many qualified nursing applicants being turned away, philanthropy is needed to support faculty recruitment and retention.

• Recruit critical care nursing instructors who are dedicated to onboarding new nurses.
• Double the number of faculty with doctoral preparation in nursing education.