We’re saving lives. That’s what you’re doing – you’re saving people, UT Southwestern’s Chief Nurse Executive Susan Hernandez told those gathered for her fourth annual State of Nursing address. You’re doing fantastic work. You should remember that all the time.

Ms. Hernandez, MBA, B.S.N., RN, delivered these inspiring words during her presentation at the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital Lecture Hall on May 6 – the first day of National Nurses Week, the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) annual week honoring nurses.

Ms. Hernandez was clearly proud of UT Southwestern’s team of 2,500 nurses – part of America’s cadre of 4 million registered nurses. UTSW nurses care for patients at Clements University Hospital and Zale Lipshy University Hospital, as well as at 58 clinics around North Texas.

In her presentation, Ms. Hernandez highlighted several achievements in patient care and performance, emphasizing how all of these fit in with UT Southwestern’s values: Excellence, Teamwork, Compassion, and Innovation.

Those values are the foundation of how the team delivers care within the Health System, Ms. Hernandez said. “They are intended to serve as a compass to guide decision-making and interactions with patients, visitors, and co-workers – as well as provide a safe, fair, and supportive work environment that promotes optimal care for our patients.”

UT Southwestern’s nurses do this work in an environment that values nursing, she said, adding that they’re also doing this during a time of growth:

• The number of hospital patients at the two facilities grew 30 percent between fiscal years 2014 and 2018, increasing to more than 35,000.
• Ambulatory patient visits at UT Southwestern increased almost 50 percent over the same period.
• The expansion of Clements University Hospital, complete with a third tower dedicated to neurocentric care, is set to open next year – several years ahead of projected growth.

Amid all that growth, the work of UTSW nurses helped lengthen UT Southwestern’s impressive list of achievements, Ms. Hernandez added. For instance:

• University Hospitals are ranked in the 97th percentile in terms of patient ratings for overall care and whether they would recommend the hospitals to others, according to surveys from the health care firm Press Ganey Associates.
• Patient mortality rates are better here than the Texas average, and a recent campaign against sepsis, the body’s extreme response to infection, has helped reduce death rates.
• Last summer, U.S. News & World Report ranked UT Southwestern the No. 1 Best Hospital in Dallas-Fort Worth and the No. 2 Best Hospital in Texas for the second consecutive year.

The address by Ms. Hernandez was also livestreamed for nurses who were not able to attend in person. It was part of a larger Nurses Week celebration, featuring special workshops and lectures, panel discussions, and other activities.

Nurses make up the largest group of health care professionals in the U.S., according to the American Nurses Association. They also consistently rank first in the public’s perception for honesty and ethical standards — just ahead of medical doctors, according to Gallup polls.

As the 200^th anniversary of nurse Florence Nightingale’s birth approaches next year, the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) voted to designate 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, a matter to be presented to its World Health Assembly this month.

The UT Southwestern Nurses Week event ended with a quote from the famed 19^th century founder of modern nursing: Nursing is an art: … it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation as any painter’s or sculptor’s work.