Nursing in Central Florida

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Nursing in Central Florida
Portrait of Nicole Johnson

Our Leadership

Nicole J. Johnson, DNP, MBA, RN, NE-BC, CPEN 

Senior Vice President, Chief Nursing and Patient Operations Officer, Central Florida

Florida Nursing Program

Overview

Welcome to Nursing and Patient Care Services at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida in Orlando.

Our goal at Nemours Children’s is to provide extraordinary care by extraordinary clinicians to gain extraordinary outcomes. The Nemours Children's Professional Practice Model provides alignment and integration of nursing practice with the mission, vision and values of Nemours. The model assists our nurses to provide the promise of care to treat every child as if they were their own with collaboration, communication and innovation.

Through the enduring commitment to patients, families and each other, our positive impact in the lives of and health of children is limitless.

Please explore our website and gain more insight into the inspiration and excellence of Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida.

Our Programs

Shared Governance

The shared governance structure at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida is designed to keep decision-making at the point closest to where the care is provided. The shared governance structure provides a framework for sustainable shared leadership and shared decision-making. Shared Governance provides a mechanism for staff to manage, frame and communicate decisions aimed at providing excellence in clinical care through research, quality improvement, education, innovation, professional practice and leadership.

The Unit-Based Councils collaborate with The Loop, our forum for coordinating and sharing information to ensure unit goals are in alignment with organizational strategic plans and goals. The Standing Councils include:

Standing Councils:

  • Professional Governance Council 
  • Practice, Quality and Patient Safety Council 
  • Professional Development and Education Council
  • Informatics, Innovation and Technology Council
  • Ambulatory Council 
  • Unit-Based Councils

RN Residency Program

Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida offers an RN Residency program. This one-year program includes education and training designed to transition newly graduated registered nurses from students to safe, competent professionals. A formalized residency program will benefit the patients and families, the professional practice environment, and the entire organization through the focus of quality, safety and the patient experience. The program is also grounded in evidence-based practice and competency validation. The New Graduate RN Residency program is noted to be a Practice Transition Accreditation Program with Distinction through the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Professional Nurse Advancement Program

The Nemours Professional Nurse Advancement Program (PNAP) is designed to recognize clinical nurses for their contributions to our Nursing and Nemours strategic initiatives. The program provides an avenue for promotion and acknowledgement of the nurses’ advanced clinical competency while at the same time keeping nursing expertise close to the patient and family.

Affiliated Schools of Nursing

Affiliated with more than 17 schools of nursing in the Central Florida and beyond, Nemours and its network of primary care and specialty care practices offer clinical training for pre-licensure nursing students and registered nurses seeking advanced education through master’s and doctoral programs. Nursing students at all levels gain exposure to children with a wide variety of health conditions and receive extensive support from experienced nurse preceptors. Students also have access to additional educational content through the Nemours Medical Library and Nemours nursing continuing professional development activities.

Mentor Program

The Mentor Program is a mutually beneficial, adult learning relationship where mentors are matched with mentees based on the professional objective. The program is designed for nurse residents, experienced nurses and those new to pediatric nursing, as well as nurses within the organization advancing into new practice areas or roles. The Mentor Program supports nurses while they acclimate to Nemours Children’s Hospital, Floridanursing practice and focuses on professional development goals, interprofessional team building and continuous quality improvement initiatives. The Inaugural year of the Mentor Program is expected to yield an exceptional experience which will continue to increase nurse job satisfaction at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida.

Awards and Recognition

DAISY Foundation Award for Extraordinary Nurses

The DAISY Award is an international recognition program to say “thank you” to nurses for providing extraordinary compassionate care. Patients, families or colleagues nominate their nurses and the nominations are then blinded before being sent to our DAISY Committee for consideration to choose the most meaningful nomination. Each month, we recognize the chosen Honoree with a surprise celebration on their unit, a beautiful Healer’s Touch sculpture, certificate and Honoree Pin. All nurses that are nominated for The DAISY Award receive their nomination along with a DAISY Nominee pin, as we believe all nominations are worthy of acknowledgement. We honor nurses with The DAISY Award not only as individual nurses, but also as teams and nurse leaders.

The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization

(ELSO) is an international nonprofit consortium of health care institutions who are dedicated to the development and evaluation of novel therapies for support of failing organ systems. Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida received the ELSO Silver Center designation in 2020 marking the journey on the Path to Excellence in ECMO.

Annually One Nurse in Florida is Recognized as the Nemours Nurse of the Year.

This award represents the highest level of professional practice and is selected by the Patient Care Services strategy team.

Recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center

Our program is accredited by the ANCC Practice Transition Accreditation Program® (PTAP), which sets the global standard for residency or fellowship programs that transition registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) into new practice settings.

Nursing at Nemours

Nemours also staffs nurses at Nemours Children's Health, Jacksonville and Pensacola. We provide family-centered care to children that is evidence-based and tailored to the individual needs of each child and family. Our nursing team relies on a shared governance model of organization, which facilitates nursing participation and involvement in clinical decisions that affect patient care.

Awards and Recognition

Virtual Tour of Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida

Learn more about our state-of-the-art hospital in Orlando.