Nursing in North Florida

CONTACT US
Nursing in North Florida
Portrait of Tara Spruill

North Florida – Our Leadership

Tara Spruill, MSN, RN, CPN, NE-BC

Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer, North Florida

North Florida Nursing Program

ON THIS PAGE:

Overview

Welcome to Nursing at Nemours Children’s in North Florida. At our Nemours specialty care locations in Jacksonville and Pensacola, our goal is to provide exceptional care by skilled professionals for positive 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.


Programs

Shared Governance

The Department of Nursing uses a system that recognizes the shared accountability and responsibility of all nurses in the decision-making process. Our Nursing Shared Governance Model illustrates the components of the shared leadership structure that nurses use to communicate, address issues, make decisions and share best practices.

Professional Nurse Advancement Program and Nurse Practitioner Clinical Ladder

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.

Evidence-Based Practice Fellowship

The Evidence-Based Practice Fellowship is offered to nurses and interprofessional colleagues and includes a didactic component and a collaborative process of learning to facilitate the completion of a quality improvement, research or evidence-based practice project. Support of co-participants and mentoring by the Director of Nursing Research, Dr. Catherine Haut, are additional methods that assist an individual or a team complete a project within the timeline of 1–2 years after attending the workshop. There is an application process which includes manager endorsement for the participant and clinical nurse specialist or educator involvement to improve the opportunities for the project to change and improve patient and nursing care practices.

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 nursing practice at Nemours and focuses on professional development goals, interprofessional team building and continuous quality improvement initiatives.

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.

Nursing at Nemours

Nemours 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

Nemours Children's Health

Nemours Nurse of the Year

Bee Award Be Extraordinary Everyday

The BEE Award