CON Alumni, Hall of Famer Leads Baptist Health Lexington, Hospital System Recognized Worldwide for Nursing Excellence
With Baptist Health Floyd earning a Pathway to Excellence® (Pathway) designation, Baptist Health becomes the only health system worldwide to have all of its affiliated hospitals receive a designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) with a combination of either Pathway to Excellence® or Magnet Recognition Program®.
In 2014, Baptist Health’s chief nursing officers set a goal for all owned and managed hospitals to achieve Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence or the Pathway to Excellence designation, both issued by the ANCC.
Karen Hill, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, FAAN, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer at Baptist Health Lexington, as well as three-time University of Kentucky College of Nursing alumna (BSN 1987, MSN 1990, DNP 2009), was instrumental in leading nursing excellence at Baptist Health Lexington.
“Magnet and Pathway are distinct programs with a complementary focus,” says Christine Pabico, RN, MSN, NE-BC, director of the Pathway program, “providing frameworks to support professional nursing practice and environments that foster excellence in nursing care delivery.”
“Magnet and Pathway designations indicate our hospitals are the best places for nurses to work,” says Gerard Colman, Baptist Health CEO. “These designations reflect a Baptist Health culture that supports nurses in providing the highest quality patient care.”
“It's through the collaborative efforts of all our employees that our nurses are enabled to give such exceptional patient care,” says Dr. Hill. ”The designations recognize quality patient care, nursing excellence, and innovations in professional nursing practice.”
“Recognition from the ANCC’s Magnet and Pathway programs represent a significant commitment from Baptist Health to achieve the highest voluntary standards for nursing excellence globally,” says Jeffrey Doucette, DNP, RN, FACHE, NEA-BC, CENP, LNHA, vice president for the Magnet Recognition Program and Pathway to Excellence at the ANCC. “We are delighted to congratulate Baptist Health for achieving designation at all of its acute care facilities.”
Baptist Health Floyd is one of five hospitals in Indiana to receive the Pathway designation and one of 167 internationally. ANCC’s Pathway to Excellence is known as the premiere designation for positive practice environments that empower and engage nurses. Only seven hospitals in Kentucky have received the designation, including Baptist Health Corbin, Baptist Health La Grange, Baptist Health Madisonville, Baptist Health Paducah, Baptist Health Richmond, and Hardin Memorial Health, Baptist Health’s managed hospital, which is set to become a part of the Baptist Health family later this year.
Baptist Health Louisville and Baptist Health Lexington have each achieved Magnet recognition – three times for the Lexington hospital and twice for Louisville. The Magnet designation is considered the gold standard in nursing excellence. Out of thousands of hospitals worldwide, only 468 have received the Magnet designation, with just six in Kentucky.
To earn an ANCC designation, an organization undergoes rigorous and voluntary evaluation of how it meets specific standards in key areas.
According to the ANCC, designated hospitals demonstrate improved patient care, safety and satisfaction. They also experience increased nursing job satisfaction rates, recruitment and retention.
About Dr. Karen Hill
Dr. Hill serves as the Chief Operating Officer/Chief Nursing Officer at Baptist Health Lexington. She holds an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) from Lexington Technical Institute (now BCTC) (1978) as well as BSN (1987), MSN (1990) and DNP (2010) degrees from the University of Kentucky College of Nursing. Dr. Hill oversees operations in the acute care hospital and outpatient centers with over 2800 employees. Baptist Health Lexington has been designated as a Magnet® organization three times under Dr. Hill’s leadership, recognizing the organization internationally for nursing excellence.
She leads system-wide initiatives including co-chair of the Value-Based Steering Committee and the Operations and Efficiency Council for Baptist Health System, based in Louisville, Ky. Dr. Hill has organized on behalf of the Baptist System, over 55 affinity groups of disciplines across the state to share best practices in resources, leadership and staffing.
Dr. Hill serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Nursing Administration, an international scholarly peer reviewed journal. Shel processes over 350 manuscripts for JONA annually and produces 12 editions a year for over 13,000 subscribers in 66 countries.
Dr. Hill presents internationally on leadership development, bringing evidence to practice, tips for publishing and working with an Editor, leading an intergenerational workforce and the retention of experienced older employees among other areas of expertise. Dr. Hill has over 65 peer-reviewed publications and is co-author of a book on creating a research environment in a community hospital to be released in 2018. She was inducted in the American Academy of Nursing as a Fellow in 2012 and the College of Nursing Hall of Fame in 2017.
Dr. Hill is the chair of Commerce Lexington, the chamber of commerce, as well as the Chairperson of the Hospital Advisory Commission for The Joint Commission. She serves and supports various community health-related charities and is an usher in her church. She is married to Brian Hill and is the mother of two children, Christopher and Melissa and grandmother to two granddaughters.
About Baptist Health
Founded in 1924 in Louisville, Ky., Baptist Health is a full-spectrum health system dedicated to improving the health of the communities it serves. The Baptist Health family consists of nine hospitals (eight owned and one managed); employed and independent physicians; more than 300 points of care in 75 Kentucky counties, seven counties in Illinois, six counties in Southern Indiana and two counties in Tennessee, including: outpatient facilities, physician practices and services, urgent care and retail-based clinics; outpatient diagnostic and surgery centers; home care; occupational medicine and physical therapy clinics; and fitness centers.
Baptist Health’s eight owned hospitals include more than 2,400 licensed beds in Corbin, La Grange, Lexington, Louisville, Madisonville, Paducah, Richmond and New Albany, Ind. Baptist Health manages Hardin Memorial Health, a 300-bed hospital in Elizabethtown, which is expected to become part of the Baptist Health family in December 2018. Baptist Health employs more than 20,000 people in Kentucky and surrounding states.
Baptist’s physician network, Baptist Health Medical Group, has about 1,100 employed providers, including about 600 employed physicians, plus more than 2,000 independent physicians.
About the American Nurses Credentialing Center
The mission of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association (ANA), is to promote excellence in nursing and healthcare globally through credentialing programs. ANCC's credentialing programs certify individual nurses in specialty practice areas and recognize healthcare organizations that promote nursing excellence, quality patient outcomes, and safe, positive work environments. Recognized internationally as the leader in organizational and individual nurse credentialing and accreditation, ANCC helps healthcare organizations build financial success, improved patient outcomes, and satisfied staff.
