University Hospitals Receives American Organization for Nursing Leadership Prism Award

CLEVELAND – University Hospitals has been honored with the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) Prism Award, sponsored by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. UH was recognized for demonstrating exceptional commitment to recruiting, retaining and developing nursing talent within the health system and in the community.

“I am incredibly proud of our nursing and human resources leadership team for this recognition. Their comprehensive initiatives and team effort resulted in decreased RN turnover year-over-year, increased recruitment in hard-to-recruit areas, and a 50% reduction in contract labor,” said Michelle D. Hereford, MSHA, RN, FACHE, Chief Nursing Executive, University Hospitals, and Ethel Morikis Endowed Chair in Nursing Leadership. “In collaboration with local nursing schools, the team also designed Earn-and-Learn programs to create promotional career pathways for nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, medical assistants and other caregivers. These pathways help ensure we have a long-term pipeline of caregivers to provide high-quality healthcare for our patients.”

The AONL announced the recipients of its 2025 awards--which highlight AONL members, a state affiliate, an honorary member and a hospital demonstrating exemplary leadership practices--during its recent, annual conference in Boston.

“UH believes in the importance of creating a culture of belonging and creating a workforce that mirrors the communities we serve,” explained Celina Cunanan, MSN, APRN-CNM, Chief Health Impact Officer, University Hospitals. “Our health system is passionate about ensuring that we retain our current talent so that caregivers of all backgrounds can pursue their dreams of becoming a nurse.”

Kim Shelnick, Vice President, Talent Acquisition and Workforce Development, University Hospitals, said “Recognizing the importance of supporting our current entry level caregivers through workforce development opportunities, UH collaborates with community organizations to enhance employees’ career potential and earning capacity, and eliminate barriers to career development and advancement.”

UH is committed to advancing the nursing profession through innovation, introducing novel care team delivery models that improve efficiencies and advance the patient experience. Some ways the health system continues to accomplish this, include:

• Care Team of Tomorrow: This patient care model, led by Ashley Carlucci, DNP, MHA, RN, CEN, CENP, UH Market Chief Nursing Officer and UH Conneaut Medical Center CNO, was recently extended to all med-surg units across UH. This model allows the patient care team to thrive by delivering care to the full extent of their training, license and experience. By helping to resolve existing bottlenecks that impact efficiency, this model has been shown to benefit the patients and the care team.
  
  
• Intelligent Hospital Room: Through the Veale Initiative for Health Care Innovation and led by Jennifer Carpenter, DNP, RN, CENP, UH Chief Nursing Informatics Officer and Vice President & CNO, UH MacDonald Women’s & Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospitals, UH launched the Intelligent Hospital Room project, which includes a hybrid in-person and remote nursing model. Nurses work shifts both in-person and from a remote command center. The primary objective of this pilot is to establish a virtual care delivery model that leverages the most advanced technology. Other benefits achieved through this program include increased patient access to care and enhanced work-life balance for caregivers.
  
  
• UH Future Nurse Academy: To promote career readiness and economic opportunity for Northeast Ohio high school students who are interested in nursing careers, we created the UH Future Nurse Academy, led by Holly Ma, DNP MS RN NPD-BC, Marian Shaughnessy Endowed, Vice President UH Nursing Professional Development, Practice, and Research. The two-week, hands-on learning program includes visits to nursing schools and learning skills such as taking vital signs, drawing blood (on simulated arms) and performing CPR. In addition to learning nursing skills, one of the modules focused on social determinants of health and a field trip to a healthcare facility in a traditionally underserved community and a poverty immersion presented by area food banks. The program's success is evident in its rapid expansion and has grown from 25 students the first year to 78 students in 2024 where students hailed from 43 different high schools and live in 45 different cities representing ten different counties. The Academy will offer 78 students the same opportunity in the summer of 2025. Several graduates from the inaugural class are now starting nursing school. New this year, UH offered the Future Nurse Academy to 26 students at the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine. These students chose to spend spring break leaning about nursing.

Pictured from Left to Right -- UH Nursing Leaders and AONL Board Members: Claire Zangerle, Rachel Culpepper, Khaliah Fisher-Grace, Holly Ma, Melissa Hunt, Michelle Hereford, Ashley Carlucci, Jennifer Carpenter, Joel Moore and Deb Zimmerman.