I’d like to urge each of you to complete the UAMS Employee Engagement Survey between now and Friday, June 17. The survey is open to all employees hired before Feb. 16, your responses are confidential, and this is your chance to let our leadership team know how we can improve your experience as a UAMS employee.
If you haven’t yet completed the survey, look in your email for a message from Gallup, or access the survey through this link. When prompted for a survey code, use your employee ID number. This allows our survey vendor to match your responses to your supervisor. They will receive feedback based on several responses, not your individual comments. No one at UAMS will know who your individual responses came from.
There are extra questions on your survey that only UAMS nurses receive, and these are an important part of our Magnet journey. If you look around, you’ll see that we’ve addressed many, if not all, of these questions. For example, the Nursing Professional Model is an example of how UAMS exemplifies the fundamentals of quality nursing, the Nursing Balanced Score Card outlines the standards for nursing practice, “good catches” and RLDatix reports promote a strong culture of safety, and the wellness retreats demonstrate how leaders advocate for and value the mental health of our nursing staff.
The information provided through these employee surveys is incredibly valuable, and it’s important that you provide honest and thoughtful responses. As an academic medical center, learning and constant improvement are at the core of who we are as an institution. We need your thoughts on how we can make UAMS better.
Following an analysis of each survey, UAMS leadership develops action plans to address the areas of concern. In the last survey, opportunities identified included improving work-life balance, recognition, communication and fairness of pay. We have worked on each of these and announced recently that the minimum wage at UAMS will increase to $15 per hour beginning July 1.
Another example of action based on survey input is the new e-mail format of our Nursing Newsletter as part of our enhanced communication efforts. Throughout the pandemic our communications teams worked to provide timely and accurate information about COVID here at UAMS, in our community and on a national level to help eliminate some of the stress of all the uncertainty you faced in the first months. Additionally, we continue to recognize outstanding nurses throughout the year and during Nurses Week in May. Honored this year were:
• Rosalyn Perkins, Excellence in Advance Practice in Nursing Award
• Holly Jenkins, Advancement of Nursing Practice Award
• Donna Malone, Outstanding Community Service Award
• Brittany Johnson, Excellence in Nursing Education Award
• Deborah Johnson, Betty Cassali Transformational Leadership Award
• Michelle Roberts, Helen May Compassionate Care Award
• E4 ICU Nursing Team, Team Impact Award
• Julie Atkins, Mary Helen Forrest Legacy Award in Nursing
I’d like to thank Susan Erickson for once again chairing our Nurses Rock Committee, along with committee members Cathy Buzbee, Ava Coleman, Tammy Drake, Stephanie Holder, Sou Irani, Chandani Patel, Jean Prince, Becky Sartini, Rebekah Thacker and Melissa Tillman, for their work in planning this year’s celebration. Click here for a video highlighting all the activities from this year’s Nurses Week.
Summer’s here, and I hope you have an opportunity to spend time outdoors with your family and friends. Thank you for all you do.
Trenda