Nurses Report 2022

nurses Report 2022

A LETTER FROM THE CHIEF NURSING OFFICER

Dear Colleagues,

When I look back on 2022, one common thread comes to mind – when we work together, we make great things happen.

We got creative to maneuver different staffing scenarios by forming a retention group. The work this group did resulted in a huge improvement in our turnover rate, reducing it by 7%. While we worked to improve that number, you all pulled together to deliver excellent care, leading to year-over-year improvements on our quality scores.

Our Intensive Care Unit received a Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses for the second time. Our ICU is the only Beacon-designated ICU in Southern Arizona.

We had a visit by Arizona Perinatal Trust, a nonprofit that is dedicated to improving the health of Arizona’s mothers and babies. They said visiting TMC was the best visit they had ever experienced. While we are on the topic of moms and babies –TMC was once again recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a best hospital to have a baby and as Tucson’s best hospital, period.

We took a stand for women’s health and launched a campaign encouraging staff and the community to “Vote for the health of it!”

We took steps to being a more inclusive and safe space for our LGBTQ community by installing seven genderinclusive restrooms throughout the hospital and have begun work to implement changes in the way we identify patients and the way we chart with the SOGI (sexual orientation, gender identity) project.

These accomplishments are all thanks to your hard work and dedication.

Coming out of COVID-19, we realized the need to focus on the mental well-being of our staff. To start, we switched out our Employee Assistance Program providers to give staff better access to mental health support; we created space for staff to relax and regroup; and we emphasize the importance of work/ life balance. Mental wellness continues to be a key focus area for 2023, making TMC a place of healing, not only for patients, but for staff as well.

I am so proud of everything we accomplished in 2022. I know that together we will accomplish even more great things in 2023. Thank you so much for all that you do and for your continued dedication and commitment to caring for the people of Southern Arizona.

With gratitude,

Joy Upshaw Chief Nursing Officer

Nurse Managers

Our

nurse managers play a vital role in patient care!

Messages From the Nurse Directors

Looking back at 2022, the thing that stands out about my staff is how resilient they were – they got through COVID, the need to supplement staffing with travelers, and fellow staff members coming and going to pursue other careers. Through all of that, they continued to persevere. Some highlights include:

In the ICU:

 Hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) reduced by 26% from the previous year.

 Catheter-acquired urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) reduced from 14 the previous year to five.

 Central line-acquired blood stream infections (CLABSIs) reduced from seven the previous year to four.

Peter Garcia Director of Critical Care and Respiratory Services

The cardiac unit now has the ability to take some patients who have had a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). My goals for this year are to increase the number of core staff to take care of our patients, to continue to work on making our hospital a center for caring and compassion, and to increase the independence of our respiratory team to maximize their ability to care for our patients.

Janet Heckman Director of Adult Inpatient Services

In 2022, we worked hard on quality metrics and it showed in our end-ofthe-year results. I am very proud of our nursing team and all they do for our patients.

I am so very grateful that my manager team has remained intact and whole during COVID and into our recovery. Consistency is so important.

I would love to focus on mental and physical well-being. It is imperative that health care workers feel heard and seen, and that it is “OK to not be OK.”

Heather Jankowski Director of Specialty Nursing

Messages From the Nurse Directors

I am thankful to be a member of the dynamic nursing team at TMC. I am surrounded by many smart, empathetic, detail-oriented and kind-hearted nurses in my daily work. The atmosphere created by the team is one of camaraderie and compassion.

As we move out of the COVID public health emergency and lean in to normalcy, we need to change our focus to the impactful trends of health care, both nationwide and within our community. One of the leading health care trends is the movement from inpatient care to outpatient care. In 2030, outpatient encounters are expected to top more than 3.2 billion nationwide at a lower cost than acute care services. The outpatient service teams offer support and resources to special populations to manage overall care cost and enhance quality.

As members of the TMC team, outpatient services can reduce unnecessary hospitalizations for procedures such as blood transfusions, hydration services and administering antibiotics, or reduce length of stay by providing wound care services and coordinating wound care home health.

ZACHARIAS KINICKERBOCKER Director of Hospice and Geropsych

Our nursing teams have experienced a lot of changes this past year. I am impressed with their resiliency, ability to adapt and never wavering commitment to provide high quality patient care. This past year we have experienced an increase in mental health issues in the community. As TMC expands and improves services to help meet the behavioral health needs of our patients, I am confident that our nursing staff will continue to treat patients with dignity by showing respect and compassion.

Kara Snyder

2022 was a year of revitalization and achievement in Women’s and Children’s Services. In the children’s areas, we reopened our play spaces, providing children a place for play and time away from their rooms just to be kids while in the hospital. We welcomed back our volunteers, pet therapy teams and community events. We opened an operating room just for newborns. During the winter surge of respiratory illness, we opened an incident command center to address staffing needs, messaging for the community and throughput. It was amazing to see how we all came together to meet the needs of our community.

In Women’s Services, we continued to deliver exceptional care with great outcomes. We were recognized for excellence by Arizona Perinatal Trust, U.S. News & World Report, Money Magazine/Leapfrog and the Arizona Daily Star Readers’ Choice Award. I am so grateful to work with such an amazing staff that is dedicated and committed to our patients and their families.

Our goals for 2023 include enhancing the safety and comfort of our patients by implementing a new maternal-fetal safety system and a new process for labor inductions. We also hope to reduce C-section surgical site infections. In pediatrics, we will implement new education programs and begin Pediatric Days of Safety with our new high-fidelity manikin, Lucia.

Christina Suarez Director of Perioperative Services

I am overwhelmingly impressed and proud of Perioperative Services. In the past year, we have expanded and grown our PeriOp 101 training to produce stellar staff to support our amazing surgical services. We are breaking down barriers with other departments, including our own, so that we are one family-centered team that supports each other.

In light of the challenges throughout the past year, perioperative services has overcome staffing logistics and increased acuity changes to reflect best practice. The nursing team has worked together to focus on quality and patient safety.

Cohesiveness of the new leadership team is reflective in our quality metrics and patient satisfaction scores. We have made so many strides in connecting with our patients and surgical teams.

The willingness, flexibility and compassion of the staff is the backbone of providing exceptional care for our patients. The staff’s ability to shift gears at a moment’s notice to intervene on behalf of our patients in emergent situations is what makes us so strong together.

I am so proud of this team and look forward to our future together to see what other greatness we can achieve

Director of Women’s and Children’s Services

Kathryn Teyechea Director of Support Services

Messages From the Nurse Directors

I am so proud of the work Bed Control and house supervisors have made to support our Tucson and Southern Arizona communities when it comes to facilitating the highest number of direct admissions we have ever processed. I can’t imagine seeking medical treatment in my local hospital only to discover I can’t receive the care that I need. I’m proud that TMC makes the investment and effort to provide as many services as we can so that our patients can receive high-quality and competent care.

I am also extremely proud of the work being done by TMC leaders for the LGBTQIA+ community. Making this population feel respected and safe to seek care and to seek work is a vital part of being a community hospital.

Looking to the future, I will continue to seek feedback from staff so I can understand how to continue making TMC the best place to work. Even on hard days, I absolutely love my job. It’s the people I work with and the mission I believe in and love that make me excited to come to work every day. I want everyone to have that feeling.

JOHN WORDEN Director of Cardiac and Imaging Services

Looking back over the past year, there is one common theme I think we all recognize, and that is growth. You would be hard-pressed to find a clinical area within TMC that hasn’t faced this reality, which naturally transcends into most, if not all support services. However, as we grow, we also learn, and I think most would agree that we have learned a lot. Finding ways to accommodate this growth without compromising quality and safety is always front and center, and TMC has embraced this mindset throughout all the challenges we have faced in recent times.

As we move into the future, we have much to look forward to and much more to learn. The nurses and staff at TMC are the backbone of our organization, so managing our growth as a team, with careful thought and execution, will be the marker of our success.

AVERAGE AGE BY GENDER

TOTAL NURSES: 1,412

QUALITY at a glance

Nursing Scholarships

TMC invests in its future by investing in staff education

TMC has a long history of offering tuition reimbursement to staff pursuing nursing or other clinical degrees. In 2022, the TMC Foundation launched the TMC Health Scholarship program to support nurse and clinical education for employees. All TMC Health employees are eligible to apply for scholarships.

As part of its work to help staff pursuing degrees, TMC has built partnerships with high caliber universities such as the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Grand Canyon University. Through the University of Arizona Global Campus, TMC employees can earn their degree with no new student loan debt.

Heather Jankowski, TMC’s Director of Specialty Nursing, has utilized some of these programs throughout her career, even to earn a second master’s degree.

She began her career in 1989 as a patient care technician (PCT), taking one or two classes here and there at Pima Community College because she didn’t have parents who were able to put her through college.

“I got into nursing school at the University of Arizona in 1995 and I utilized the tuition reimbursement program to get my undergraduate degree,” she said. “It helped me go to school without having student loans. It made a huge difference.”

She continued to earn her first master’s degree using tuition reimbursement and her second through TMC’s ASU scholarship program.

“TMC has a lot of resources available to help make your college career successful while taking some of the financial pressure off of you,” she said. “I think TMC is setting its employees up for success no matter which degree they are choosing. I really appreciate what TMC has given to me as an employee and what we give to the community.”

2022 TMC HEALTH SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS:

9

Associate’s degree in nursing

1 1 Masters of Public Heath

Bachelor of Science in Healthcare administration

3

Masters of Science in Nursing

12

Bachelors of Science in Nursing

3 Doctor of Nursing Practitioner

29 Total Scholarship Awards: $193,397.00

Retention Group

TMC retention group reduces turnover rate by 7%

Health care systems across the nation faced many challenges coming out of the throes of COVID-19, staffing being one of them.

Not an organization to shy away from challenge, Tucson Medical Center met them head-on in order to meet the needs of our community.

We launched recruitment campaigns with competitive compensation and benefits packages, and created a retention focus group that met and continues to meet regularly to create attractive incentives to build up our core staff. The campaign has been a huge success, reducing the turnover rate from an all-time high of 24% to 17%.

Some of the incentives created by this group include a drawing for cruise tickets, a Pay-to-Stay program, which paid a percentage of what travel nurses earned, and retention bonuses that will be paid out in 2024.

With 2023 underway, we continue to seek opportunities to reduce turnover even more. This year, that work will be around the results of the Employee Engagement Survey, with key focus on work-life balance, mental wellness and workload.

“I am so proud of the work this group has done to build up our core staff,” said Joy Upshaw, TMC vice president and chief nursing officer. “We are continuously looking for new ideas and ways to uplift and support our staff, resulting in happy employees that feel seen, heard and ready to care for our patients.”

Leading practice excellence through shared governance

Nurses at Tucson Medical Center lead practice excellence through shared governance, a structure that allows frontline staff to create processes to benefit both the patient and staff.

“It’s about ownership, accountability, empowerment, innovation and solution-finding for things that make caring for patients safer and better, and make it easier to be a nurse,” said Kara Snyder, director of Women’s and Children’s Services.

TMC’S SHARED GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE INVOLVES SEVEN DIFFERENT TEAMS:

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL:

 This is an interdisciplinary, collaborative team that supports the professional development of nurses and recognizes the achievements and successes of their colleagues.

PRACTICE COUNCIL:

 This interdisciplinary forum of bedside clinicians and leadership work to define, implement and maintain standards of professional practice at TMC. With a focus on staying consistent with national and community standards, the group stays up to date on evidence-based standards to provide a framework for all professional interdisciplinary clinical work. The Practice Council reviews and provides guidance and leadership regarding professional issues and communicates best practices to achieve excellent patient outcomes.

Shared Governance

NURSING PEER REVIEW COUNCIL:

 This council is comprised of nurses identified by their managers as having a high level of experience, knowledge and demonstrated quality outcomes. Peer review is a non-punitive evaluation of an individual nurse’s performance for the purpose of identifying opportunities to improve care.

WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT COUNCIL:

 This group works to create sustainable scheduling practices across inpatient units for RNs and PCTs. The council is comprised of frontline staff who can speak to the practical, day-to-day staffing needs and develop scheduling practices that elevate the workforce.

MEDICATION MANAGEMENT COUNCIL:

 This multidisciplinary group has members from Pharmacy, Nursing, Information Services, Clinical Engineering and nurse educators. They work to provide high-level oversight of the administration and documentation of medication. Outcomes and progress is measured through patient quality and safety measures and staff engagement.

WORKPLACE VIOLENCE COUNCIL:

 This council works to roll out measures to improve staff safety. It looks at trends and issues in the environment such as how to manage combative patients and how to provide support when something gets out of hand. This team leads training for de-escalation and has helped develop a new behavioral health emergency response team (BERT).

FALLS COMMITTEE:

 This group assesses for risk of falling and determines best practices to prevent falls. It recently refreshed the falls risk assessment and has taken actions to remove mats to reduce fall risk.

TMC Pride

Making Tucson Medical Center more inclusive to the LGBTQ community is at the heart of TMC’s Pride Committee.

As the committee’s chairperson for the past year-and-ahalf, Kathryn Teyechea has been the driving force behind policy change, education, and staff and community events that earned TMC the “Foundational Policies” designation for the 2022 Healthcare Equality Index.

The HEI, a project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, is in its 15th year and is the LGBTQ benchmarking tool that evaluates health care facilities’ policies and practices related to the equity and inclusion of their LGBTQ patients, visitors and employees. The Foundational Policies designation is the first of three tiers in the HEI project. TMC’s goal is to get to the top tier.

“It’s really important to me to take care of people who don’t feel seen,” Teyechea said. “The committee does work to support patients, family, visitors and staff who identify within the LGBTQIA+ community. I feel like the work we are doing is critical to make sure patients and our staff feel respected and that we’re a safe place to seek care and to work.”

Some of the work that earned the Foundational Policies designation include implementing seven gender neutral bathrooms in the hospital, updating visitor policies to be more inclusive and engaging staff in putting on events such as movie night at the Loft and participating in the Tucson Pride parade.

Teyechea is now in charge of the operations side of TMC’s SOGI (sexual orientation, gender identity) project, which requires equity training for all staff before the project goes live in the Epic medical record in July 2023.

“We are working on rolling out education, figuring out what it will look like in Epic, collecting data, learning

what questions to ask and how to ask,” she said. “As a community hospital, it’s really important that we take care of our community, but we don’t really know who the people are unless we ask. So, asking patients their legal sex, preferred name and preferred pronouns are going to help us treat patients the way they want to be treated. It will also help us collect data so we can provide resources. These are people in the community who are at a higher risk for health issues, and yet they are more scared to come to the hospital to seek medical care because of past experiences of being judged and treated unequally.”

Her work at TMC earned her the 2022 UAHS LGBTQIA+ Ally Award from the University of Arizona Health Sciences at its annual pride awards ceremony. At the event, UA staff, faculty, students and community joined together to recognize those who have contributed to our community’s LGBTQIA+ health equity. Out of 22 nominations, nine awards were given.

Teyechea says the committee is always looking for more members. Anyone interested in joining can email pride@tmcaz.com

Why I Stay

Angel Mason

It’s the people

Angel Mason didn’t always want to be a nurse, but when her grandmother received excellent care at a Michigan hospital, she had a change of heart.

“I didn’t originally want to be a nurse,” she said. “My mom, aunt and sister-in-law are all nurses, but it wasn’t my dream. It wasn’t until my grandmother was in the ICU and the care she received was so amazing. The nurses were so gentle. We had a lot of family in there and they were so patient with us and took time to explain everything they were doing. I went home and told my husband ‘I think I want to go to nursing school.’”

After completing nursing school and working in Michigan for a few years, Mason and her family moved to Tucson where she got a job as a registered nurse at TMC on the Adult Medical/Surgical unit. That was eight years ago. Now, she serves as nurse manager of the same unit. She found her calling and loves helping patients and their families have the same experience she did with her grandmother all those years ago.

“It truly became a love and a passion,” she said. “I think it really was always a part of me.”

Moving away from the close-knit, family-oriented hospital she started at in Michigan was intimidating at first.

“I was worried about being the new girl,” she recalled. “But when I came to TMC, it was no different. I felt so comfortable and welcomed, and I quickly developed relationships in the unit. I think that’s what has kept me here. It’s the people.”

Mason loves the fact that she has always had good relationships with her managers and with the executive team.

“I feel that being able to have a working relationship with your executive team and your directors and even having your nursing staff on text is hugely important. And, I don’t think a lot of other systems have that,” she said. “The culture of family is evident in all of our interactions – with staff and our higher-ups. I think that is the prominent feel at TMC.”

I love what I do

Gene Knepper has always felt a connection with Tucson Medical Center. He was born here. His daughter was born here. His mom works here. More than that though, he loves how close-knit TMC is – with each other, with patients and with the community.

This feeling of connection led him to a career at TMC – starting as a transporter about five years ago. From there he worked his way up to become a patient care technician and then a registered nurse, just in time for COVID-19.

“I started in the Emergency Department and only got about three weeks of regular nursing before going into pandemic mode,” he said. “It’s been nonstop.”

Starting a nursing career right at the start of a global pandemic had its challenges, but Knepper found his passion and his specialty while working in the ED. He discovered that he was highly skilled at placing IVs and central lines and that he loved these particular procedures.

“I loved it,” he said. “It is my favorite skill to use. I wanted to utilize these skills more so I started looking at working in the Cath Lab or the OR and discovered the VAT team.”

Now he works on the small but mighty Vascular Access Team as a vascular-access specialist nurse.

“I love what I do,” he said. “With my job, I not only help patients, but other staff. We play a huge role in preventing infections so patients can receive a high level of care while reducing the risk involved. And we provide a level of IV access that nursing staff can lean on when they are struggling. It’s so important because so much of what we do relies on IV access. You need it to distribute antibiotics, pain medication, fluids.”

Another perk for Knepper is he gets to work in all areas of the hospital, helping a variety of patients and working alongside staff from all units.

Knepper’s department is constantly on the go. In 2022, the Vascular Access Team worked with about 5,500 patients. He enjoys what he does and where he does it. In fact, he said he never even considered working at another hospital.

“I’ve seen things at other hospitals,” he said. “I’ve always felt TMC is more personal. It’s more connected, and I’ve had tons of patients tell me they’ve been to all of the other hospitals and will always come back to TMC. That means something to me. Also, I see my manager and my director every day, and I know I can reach out to them and they are here. I like that. I just like how close-knit the staff is with each other and among the community.”

Gene

why I stay

Knepper

This place was enough to pull me from the travel game

When Macy Jackson started working as a travel nurse in the Intensive Care Unit during the height of COVID-19, she thought she was only going to be here for 8 weeks.

“I started to do travel nursing during COVID. I went to Boston and Denver,” she said. “My cousin lives here and was getting married, so I thought I’d come here for eight weeks and work and go to the wedding, but there was no way I was going to stay for a Tucson summer. My plan was to leave in April.”

That was in January 2021. Now, two years later, Jackson is a full-time clinical educator in the adult ICU.

“I was going to leave, but on my last shift here, the manager at the time said to me ‘wait it’s your last shift? Do you want to just work here forever?’” Jackson recalled. “And I was like ‘yeah.’ It was such an easy decision and it felt so good that she wanted me to stay.”

She may have thought she was only staying for eight weeks, but in her heart she knew she had found a new work family on her very first day here. It was a day of devastating loss in the ICU. Five patients had succumbed to COVID-19, but somehow, she still felt like she had a good day.

“After that first day, I just kind of knew,” she said. “The amount of support that I felt during the most difficult time in my career really spoke volumes, and from people who didn’t know me. There’s this amazing teamwork and family culture in the ICU. It’s high stress and high emotion, but you work so closely and spend so much time with each other that they really do become your second family.”

Jackson spent about a year working as a bedside nurse in the ICU and then became a clinical educator in October 2022. Having been a preceptor for new grads, teaching felt like a natural next step.

“It’s hard to be away from the bedside, but I just finished the first cycle of the Critical Care Fellowship and it was a huge success. I think nurses are so powerful, and I believe that knowledge is power,” she said. “The more you know and the more you can understand, especially in critical care, the more empowered you are as a nurse.”

Jackson first became a nurse in 2016 and stays in the field because she wants to help people.

Why I Stay

“It has not been an easy job, especially the last couple years, but I’ve always worked in critical care and that’s never been easy. I do it because of the patients and their families,” she said. “If they make it to see me in critical care, it is one of the worst times of their lives. And, if I can make it better in any way, it’s a really meaningful way to give back.”

Aside from the close-knit team in the ICU, Jackson stays at TMC because she enjoys working for a community hospital.

“This place was enough to pull me from the travel game,” she said. “It’s so important that we are a community hospital. Our numbers, quality and patient outcomes are good. We do great work because we truly do care about our community. We’re not lost in a giant system.”

Macy Jackson

A beacon of excellence in intensive care

Tucson Medical Center’s Intensive Care Unit received a Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. The ICU has been recognized twice now – once in 2019 and again in 2022 – and is the only Beacon-designated ICU in Southern Arizona. The current recognition goes through 2025.

This award recognizes caregivers in excellent units whose consistent approach to evidence-based care improves patient outcomes. These units serve as role models and set the standard for excellence in patient care.

A Beacon Award signifies a positive and supportive work environment with g reater collaboration between colleagues and leaders, higher morale and lower turnover.

“This designation is important because it is an international recognition by the AACN,” said Angie Muzzy, clinical nurse specialist in Adult Critical Care. “One that signifies a journey of excellence in all things critical care.”

 Leadership Structures and Systems

 Appropriate Staffing and Staff Engagement

 Effective Communication, Knowledge Management and Learning Development

 Evidence-Based Practice and Processes

 Outcome Measurements

TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THIS RECOGNITION, A UNIT MUST MEET A DEFINED CRITERIA IN THESE FIVE CATEGORIES:

A legacy of caring

TMC Legacy Nurses have been in our organization for 15 years or longer. TMC has 244 Legacy Nurses—a true testament to TMC’s family culture.

“Overall, legacy nurses play a critical role in health care and are highly valued for their clinical expertise, decision-making skills, leadership abilities, communication skills and professionalism,” said TMC Chief Nursing Officer Joy Upshaw. “They are an important asset to health care organizations and contribute significantly to the delivery of high-quality patient care.”

Meet two of our Legacy Nurses.

R.N., BSN, CNL, Adult Critical Care, Nightshift, 25 Years

I think the most meaningful part of being a nurse at TMC are the moments when you really feel like you are making a difference in a patient’s or family’s life even when it’s something little. We save lives every day, but those are usually overwhelming times for patients and their families. It’s the little moments that they often really appreciate.

I feel like TMC supports our work in promoting use of evidence-based practice and emphasis on quality so that we provide the best care we can every day for our patients in the ICU.

R.N., Float Pool, 47 Years

Nursing lets me help patients feel better, get better and adjust to what their health is doing to their lives. I like helping them understand what is happening, what feelings are normal and that it can take time to heal. I truly enjoy helping them when they are in our care.

TMC is home. I was born here, my children were born here and my family has used TMC since they came to Arizona in 1948.

Many years ago when the workweek was five 8-hour shifts, TMC decided all part-time nurses would be in the float pool. This was great for me since I had two small children and was able to work just three hours a week. I’ve stayed because I like the variety. I get to know a little about a lot of things—as they say “A jack of all, master of none.” I am not afraid to ask questions if I’m not sure of something.

Ruth Ann Kopf

Carolyn Graham

Cardiac Care

People are the heart of cardiac care

Caring for a person’s heart is more than a procedure or the latest technology. It is caring for a person, giving them a better quality and longer life to enjoy with loved ones.

Thomas Day is one of those people. He is a father, grandfather and friend – a person with dreams and hopes for the future.

When his heart rate reached 189 beats per minute, he knew he needed to get help. Living in Safford, he drove himself to the nearest hospital. It turned out that he needed escalated care and was airlifted to Tucson Medical Center.

At TMC, Day’s medical team determined he needed a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) to address aortic stenosis. That wasn’t in the cards for him though. Further testing revealed Day was in heart and kidney failure and had other serious problems, meaning he would be better served with open heart surgery.

It was a success, without complications.

“Rates of complications after surgery are really high for someone like this,” said Rhoda Tanio, R.N., cardiothoracic surgery coordinator at TMC. “We were so relieved to see Mr. Day pull through without experiencing any complications. He did not need any dialysis, even for a short period of time, even with just one kidney that was starting to fail.”

Now, Day feels better than he has in years. Since leaving the hospital, he has taken up walking, rowing and weightlifting. “I even feel like doing yardwork,” Day joked.

The care Day received during his stay at TMC gave him more than a healed heart. It gave him hope and a renewed excitement for the future.

He says he looks forward to seeing his grandchildren graduate, get married and have children. He is also planning an Alaskan vacation.

“There’s hope for people like me because of people like you,” Day said at a reunion with his medical providers. “I appreciate all you do and thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

The heart & Face of TMC

The faces of TMC

Nurses and core staff are not only the heart of Tucson Medical Center, but also the face.

When it came time to launch our digital front door and our new ad campaign, we got to work recruiting staff to represent our hospital. Involving staff in this way is one of our legacies, and one more thing that sets us apart from other health care systems.

At TMC, it really is about putting you first – whoever “you” are, from staff to visitors to patients.

Celebrating TMC Nurses

TMC makes it a priority to acknowledge and celebrate its nurses. Its Professional Development Council creates ongoing recognition through quarterly and annual awards, celebrations, events such as Nurses Week and annual education opportunities.

NURSES WEEK

Celebrating the strength of nurses was the theme of Nurses Week 2022. To kick off the week, the Southern Arizona Nurses Guard led a ceremony to honor nurses lost over the past few years. The honor guard performed the Nightingale Tribute, which is similar to a military tribute for nurses, officially releasing them from nursing duty.

Celebrations continued through the rest of that week and included coffee, gifts, food trucks, live music, a wellness fair and raffles.

AWARDS

Quarterly awards include the Daisy Award, Nurse of the Quarter Award and Care Partner of the Quarter Award. Annual recognition include the Nurse Excellence Award and the Tucson Nurses Week Foundation Fabulous 50.