March 2, 2021

The countdown clock is ticking. Texas Children’s Chief Nursing Officer Jackie Ward, DNP, RN, NE-BC, will host her first nursing town hall since assuming her new leadership role. Don’t miss out – the town hall will be hosted virtually via Microsoft Teams Live from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 3.

During Jackie’s presentation, she will highlight her vision for nursing including her strategic plan that will build upon our nursing team’s past successes in advancing patient care, quality and safety outcomes through nursing excellence. The town hall will also include time for responses to pre-submitted questions. Any unanswered questions will be responded to via individual email or the “Ask the CNO” feature on the Voice of Nursing blog.

As always, patient care is our first priority, and we know not all nurses will be able to watch the livestream of the town hall. However, nurses can still participate by viewing the town hall on-demand. The link to the town hall recording will be available on Voice of Nursing after the event.

For more details and instructions on how to access the livestream, click here to view the flyer.

October 6, 2020

Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre shares highlights from last week’s virtual Nursing Town Hall, which included presentations on the organization’s COVID-19 response, nursing quality outcomes, and system updates. The event also included a spotlight on our Adult Congenital Heart Program and nursing recognitions. Read more

September 4, 2019

Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre hosted her sixth virtual town hall that spotlighted our recent nursing accomplishments, system updates and our exciting partnership with Employee Health and Wellness that is engaging our nurses around helpful resources to enhance their own health and well-being. Read more

January 29, 2019

The countdown clock is ticking. In less than 24 hours, Texas Children’s Nursing will host its sixth virtual town hall from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. this Wednesday, January 30, at the Pavilion for Women Conference Center.

Nursing has partnered with the Corporate Communications team to organize this event to engage our team of more than 3,000 dedicated nurses that make up Texas Children’s largest employee population.

Hosted by Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre’, the town hall will include an overview of the nursing strategic plan, facility updates, as well as time for Q&A.

“By leveraging new technology at our town halls, we are able to engage with more of our nursing team members – near and far,” Andre’ said. “As our team continues to grow, it will be increasingly important for us to leverage technology and continue to identify innovative ways to enhance communication.”

For nurses who cannot attend the live event, there will be several gathering locations to view the live stream:

  • Wallace Tower – D.1200.31
  • West Campus – WC.150.20
  • Health Centers – Sugar Land, Cy-Fair, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Clear Lake, Bellaire
  • The Centers for Women and Children – Greenspoint, Southwest
  • The Woodlands Hospital – Conference Room A

Click here for instructions on how to access the livestream.

Forming your own huddles? Please submit sign-in sheet to jcchilds@texaschildrens.org.

February 27, 2018

On February 23, Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre hosted her fourth virtual town hall at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women Conference Center. Approximately 300 attendees participated in the live audience and close to 300 more registrants watched the Nursing town hall via live stream, remote gathering locations, unit-based huddles or via the on-demand video recording of the event.

Nursing partnered with the Corporate Communications team to organize this event and engage our team of more than 3,000 nurses that comprise Texas Children’s largest employee population.

The town hall included a spotlight on FY17 nursing accomplishments, system updates and a review of last month’s successful Magnet® site visit, a crucial step in the hospital’s journey toward Magnet® re-designation. Magnet® designation is considered the gold standard for nursing excellence.

Andre, along with Texas Children’s Assistant Vice President of Nursing Gail Parazynski and Nursing Director Shannon Holland, delivered insightful presentations on the remarkable progress that has been made on various strategic projects that directly correlates to several of our nursing priorities:

  • Strategic Priorities: Success related to retention (our FY17 goal of turnover rate ≤ 10 percent was met), patient satisfaction and RN engagement were reviewed – all of which were reflected in our successful Magnet site visit.
  • Magnet re-designation: One appraiser described the site visit as “life changing” while another commented that “two words for the visit were love and joy.” Among other things, our nursing team was recognized for leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration and steadfast focus on family-centered care.
  • System Updates: The town hall included timely updates on Legacy Tower – which is set to open on May 22 – and Mission Control, our new state-of-the-art communications hub to ensure the safe and efficient transfer of patients to our hospital.

The town hall concluded with a Q and A session. Participants in our live audience as well as nurses in our remote locations could submit their questions during the town hall thanks to our use of virtual technology.

For those of you who were unable to attend the Nursing town hall event last week, click here to view it on-demand at your convenience.