In Dawn’s Words…

I’m excited to introduce you to Dawn Osterling, a Director at Hanover Hospital. I received a big envelope with a real typed letter from Dawn recently (I love the old school touch!). I was blown away by what she shared and that she had taken the time to write. I think you will appreciate the letter as well and learn some good ideas when you read it. Don’t worry if you don’t work in healthcare – the ideas are transferable to any business. I can’t wait to hear what you think. Thanks Dawn!!

In Dawn’s Words…

I had the pleasure of participating in Hanover Hospital’s nursing symposium last fall and I was so inspired by your message that I decided to start a Chief Paradise Officer (CPO) program on my unit. During one staff meeting I had the nurses decide what would need to be present on our unit to make our environment a paradise and we came up with the criteria. I created a commitment statement that they signed and we hung a copy in our locker room as a reminder (Thanks to Dawn…this is attached). My leadership group decides each month which staff member exhibits CPO characteristics based on their commitment to our unit. We want people to be owner-minded, accountable, problem solvers, respectful and team builders.

To date we have celebrated 8 staff members consisting of nurses and OB scrub techs. The leadership team sends very specific attributes that they feel are present in each person and we promote these things in the celebration. The winner receives a flower lei, a CPO button, a certificate and a few little prizes. It is so much fun! It is the most exciting thing that I do with the staff and it has become a wonderful time of anticipation during our staff meeting. After the winner is announced, other staff members clap, cheer and celebrate that person. We take their picture in front of a beach mural that I had put up in our lounge and we post it on our unit. I have enclosed a picture for you to enjoy.

Another very special change that I made after your symposium was changing our lounge into paradise. I had the lounge painted a beautiful blue and had a beach window mural put on the wall. We took down all the flyers and stressful clutter to create a nice tranquil place that the staff could escape to. I hung signs of paradise and peace and put a sound machine in there to simulate waves. It is so great to hear people say that they are going to eat lunch in paradise.

I just want to thank you for the inspiration and helping me see how to turn my “POWS” into “WOWS.” Nursing can be exhausting and leadership can be downright draining so it is so important to have resources such as yours to remind us of how to keep positive and motivated.

Continually moving forward positively,

Dawn Osterling MSN, RNC-OB, C-EFM
Director, Maternal/ Child Health, IV therapy and Outpatient Infusion Services, Hanover Hospital