The team was created and developed—and is staffed—by Registered Nurses. Even the name identifies who we are: a team of nurses. We started our life together as a group when PICC lines were in their genesis stage, and we have grown with the national standards for central lines. We exemplify a good nursing team because we work together, choreographing our patient interactions as if the steps of care were a fine dance.

We were challenged at first by the newness of the idea, but over time we have grown into being comfortable and verbal at national conferences. The RN PICC Team strategizes about problems, concerns and a myriad of patient issues, and is frequently validated through research literature and conferences that are dealing with the same issues. We have been on the forefront of PICCs and feel privileged to continue this journey as an all-nurse team.

As a small group that serves our region’s tertiary teaching university, we see and do things every day that challenge us, but we remain a team. The focus of our team has been and will continue to be what is best for our patients. Everything we do revolves around how we can produce better outcomes for them.

Having the same goals makes it easier to work as a team, as our foundations are the same. We don’t need to verbalize our thoughts and concerns because we’re looking at things through the same eyes. At the end of our day, as we reflect on what could have been different, we pave the way for a better future.

Top 5 Reasons to Love Your Nurse Team:

1. In this current day of healthcare challenges, we believe that working in the supportive environment of a healthy team makes all the difference in job satisfaction.
2. When the job before us seems complex, impossible or consuming, it is through the mutually supportive environment of teamwork that the day becomes possible—and, in fact, successful and enjoyable.
3. Because we are encouraged, affirmed and held accountable to each other in our professional standards, we work in an environment of constant support.
4. We spend most of our day in the work environment. Because of the team foundation, our day flows seamlessly. On days that would normally present a challenge, because of our professional compatibilities and cohesive standards we’re always ‘in this together.’
5. As part of a team, we’re never alone in our daily professional role. We have times when we’re practicing independently, but we know that we have the support of one another, and that at any given moment, a phone call, or sometimes even a gaze at one another, elicits help.

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As one of the managers of the inpatient psychiatric units at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, I have the privilege of working for the best team of inpatient psychiatric staff in America.

This is because we consistently demonstrate five key components. They are:

(1) clinical expertise

(2) continuity

(3) compassion

(4) coordination and

(5) curiosity

That’s what makes us a high-functioning team.

Although most of our team members are tenured staff, their curiosity and hunger for learning continues to grow. All of the primary nurses have obtained their ANCC certifications or master’s degree. All of the staff demonstrate a culture of inquiry through their frequent applications for research projects or their submissions for publication of their work, which documents their development of new interventions that have produced better clinical outcomes.

The team leaders are primary nurses with expertise in a variety of psychiatric diagnoses and behaviors. The primary nurses share their expertise with other team members so the staff can design tailored clinical interventions that work. The team developed a process that assures the continuity of these tailored interventions on a 24/7 basis. This process consists of the primary nurses partnering with the same psychiatrists and the same off-shift nurses. This seamless continuity creates smaller-component teams that deliver expert clinical nursing care 24 hours a day. This care is rendered by staff who always demonstrate compassion for their patients, their work and each other.

This year, our team experienced the unexpected death of one of our nurses. The nurse didn’t have any family in the area; his team became his family. We coordinated our schedules to make sure that while the nurse was in ICU, one of us would remain at his bedside until his death. And just as families should, the team coordinated beautiful funeral arrangements for our friend and colleague.

All of this is why our team is the best in America.

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The mega-hit NBC reality series The Biggest Loser, which features obese contestants in a weight-loss competition, has captured the attention of audiences from coast to coast. Included in those who have been paying attention are the pediatric oncology nurses at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, who launched their own version of The Biggest Loser contest in January 2008.

The “Biggest Loser” nurses at M. D. Anderson assert that the competition has not only improved their personal lives, but their work environment as well. Below are some tips on how your unit can work together as a team to lose weight.

• Instead of bringing boxes of donuts for staff to share, encourage patients and families to bring granola bars.
• Motivate one another! Nurse manager Leslie Christison says, “[M. D. Anderson nurses] encourage each other to drink lots of water and give each other kudos for walking more and eating right. I’ve never seen so many salads and Lean Cuisines in the staff lounge for lunch!”
• Get a workout group together and give yourselves some creative names. Here are examples of some names that M. D. Anderson staff have come up with: Pork Rinds, Loosiana Losers, the Flab-U-Less Duo and Shake, Rattle and Roll Your Weight Off.
• Inspire each other, knowing that as a nurse you are setting an example for your patients. Paula Garroutte, pediatric oncology nurse who lost 50 pounds on the program says, “working at a cancer center has made me want to live a healthier life. Obesity is linked to an increased risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. I’m not setting a good example for the patients here if I don’t lead a healthy lifestyle myself.”

Read all about advanced practice nurse in Pediatrics at M.D. Anderson, Beatriz Rozo and her amazing weight loss story in “Biggest Losers” — The Nurse Edition.