Summer 2016 Kentucky Alumni Magazine

Page 11

Children at the UK Early Childhood Lab test their new bench.

Effort by UK Dining leads to 100 percent recycled bench Throughout February and March, UK students and UK Dining collected plastic lids and caps in a friendly competition between on-campus dining units. Every dining unit across campus participated and contributed to the reduction of UK Dining’s waste stream. Then, Green Tree Plastics (GTP) transformed the recycled plastic into a recycled bench. The bench was presented to the UK Early Childhood Lab in April. According to UK Sustainability Coordinator Elizabeth Ferguson, UK has redirected more than 400 pounds of waste to be repurposed into durable product by GTP since 2015. UK Dining hopes to encourage more student participation with continuous contests and events dedicated to reducing the university’s waste reduction rates through 2016. UK Dining has plans to continue its partnership with GTP to create more benches for campus.

UK HealthCare has achieved Magnet Status, the highest institutional honor awarded for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program. Out of nearly 6,000 health care organizations in the United States, less than 7 percent have achieved Magnet designation. “Magnet recognition is a mindset and an approach in patient-centered care,” said UK HealthCare Chief Nursing UK HealthCare employs patient- and Executive Colleen Swartz. “Our team family-centered care. has been extremely dedicated, focused and committed in achieving this goal, and it shows in every interaction we have with patients and their families.” UK HealthCare has 4,473 nursing services employees including 2,006 full-time registered nurses. Achieving Magnet Status is a process that culminates in a rigorous review to demonstrate the hospital’s commitment to sustaining nursing excellence and improving professional practice. The status represents a solid commitment to continuing education and nursing specialty certification, a cultural transformation of the work environment involving a shared governance model and laser focus on patient safety. In 2001, UK HealthCare became just the 38th Magnet-recognized organization. The hospital maintained its designation until it was up for renewal in 2009, when the ANCC restructured the Magnet Recognition Program criteria. The fundamental shift from a process-structured infrastructure to an outcomes-based infrastructure led to UK HealthCare needing to make changes to regain its status. From 2010 to 2013, UK HealthCare began an improvement process that signified a cultural change toward patient- and family-centered care. That process included evaluating the nursing strategic plan, identifying areas in need of quality improvement and developing strategies for improvement, measurement and accountability. “While Magnet recognition is awarded by a nursing organization, it is truly an honor resulting from the leadership of our nurses to demonstrate that it is all of our caregivers who focus on meeting the needs of our patients, their families, and one another each and every day in our hospitals and clinics,” said Bo Cofield, UK HealthCare vice president and chief clinical operations officer.

Photo: UK Public Relations & Marketing

Photo: UK Dining

UK HealthCare regains Magnet Status for excellence in patient care

Record number on UK Dean’s List For the first time, more than 7,000 students have made the UK Dean’s List for the fall 2015 semester. A record high 7,189 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance. That’s an increase of more than 800 since fall 2014 and over 1,000 more than spring 2015. To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a GPA of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes. Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List. The full Dean’s List can be accessed by visiting www.uky.edu/PR/News/DeansList/.

www.ukalumni.net

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