PONL 2025 Annual Conference Snapshot sessions

1. RN Recruitment: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 

In less than a year, one academic medical center cut RN vacancies by 60% and reduced agency spend by more than 80% through a bold, interprofessional recruitment redesign.

This session will share how a nurse-led team—spanning HR, Talent Acquisition, Finance, and Communications—aligned around a shared goal to implement an innovative, fast-track hiring model. Attendees will learn how real-time problem-solving, executive engagement, and relentless follow-through led to measurable, sustainable results.

Presented by: 

 Nicole Hartman, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC
Vice President, Nursing Clinical Excellence | Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

2. Improving Nurse Satisfaction and Patient Outcomes Through Digital Care Integration

Explore a practical solution to the national nursing workforce crisis. This session highlights how Digital Nursing (DN) reduces burdens on bedside nurses by optimizing workflows and minimizing administrative tasks.

A pilot program on a 47-bed telemetry unit showed powerful results:

• DNs completed 2,300+ tasks, saving 355 hours of nursing time

• 20% increase in early discharges

• 30% reduction in missed lunches

• Higher nurse engagement and patient satisfaction

The initiative’s success led to expansion across 13 units in two hospitals, resulting in a 21% decrease in nursing turnover. Learn how this innovative approach can strengthen both nurse satisfaction and patient outcomes.

Presented by: 

 Sara Angelilli, DNP, MS, RN, CNOR, NPD-BC, NE-BC
Director Nursing Education & Professional Development | Allegheny Health Network

3. Beyond the Checklist: Creating a Peer Review Process Nurses Value

Are your current peer reviews producing meaningful results? This session offers a new approach! Learn how one team replaced traditional Likert scales with rubric-anchored assessments and narrative feedback to design a peer review process truly valued by nurses at every level.

Walk away with practical strategies to build a peer review model that fosters accountability, professional growth, and a culture of continuous improvement in nursing practice.

Presented by: 

 Lynn Kosar, DNP, RN, NEA-BC
Chief Nursing Officer | Allegheny Health Network, Forbes Hospital

 Janine Valko, MSN, RN, CEN
Magnet Program Director | Allegheny Health Network, Forbes Hospital

4. Nurse Leader-Driven Nightly Safety Huddles

How can nurse leaders strengthen teamwork and improve safety on the night shift? This session explores the implementation of nightly interdisciplinary safety huddles, showing how they promote relationship building, increase awareness of safety concerns, and help prioritize complex patient care scenarios.

Discover how this simple, low-cost intervention can improve perceptions of teamwork, foster psychological safety, and enhance engagement among night-shift teams.

Presented by: 

 Joanna Dixon,DNP, RN, NPD-BC, NEA-BC
Lead Clinical Nurse Educator | Main Line Health

5. Nursing Students’ Perspectives on Interruptions and Healthcare Management's Role: A Qualitative Study

Interruptions are a daily reality in nursing, impacting efficiency, safety, and well-being. Addressing these challenges requires more than individual coping—it demands system-level solutions and engaged leadership.

This qualitative study examined how 42 senior nursing students experienced interruptions during a high-fidelity simulation and reflected on healthcare management’s role in mitigating their impact. Three themes emerged:

1. Patient safety amid interruptions as a shared responsibility

2. Empathetic advocacy in business and leadership decisions

3. The impact of interruptions on nurse well-being

Students found the simulation both realistic and valuable, underscoring the need for leaders to understand frontline realities and engage meaningfully with nurses.

Presented by: 

 Monica Rochman, RN, PhD

Assistant Professor, Director, Health Systems Leadership | Widener University

6. Leveraging Technology for Effective Fall Prevention and Post-Fall Care

This session showcases how a data-driven approach can dramatically improve patient safety outcomes. By implementing a predictive analytics model within the EMR, one organization:

• Improved risk identification from 60% to over 90%

• Reduced documentation burden for nurses

• Enhanced care coordination across teams

Presenters will share strategies for phased implementation, interprofessional collaboration, and continuous quality improvement, highlighting how technology can both improve workflows and elevate clinical practice.

Presented by: 

 Amy Callahan, DNP, RN
System Director, Nursing Education & Professional Practice | Main Line Health

7. Implementing a Multidisciplinary Cohorting Care Model to Reduce Heart Failure Readmissions on a Med-Surg Unit 

Faced with Heart Failure 30-day readmission rates above the CMS benchmark, one team developed an innovative cohorting care model to improve outcomes. Inspired by the success of a Cardiac Step-Down Unit, a multidisciplinary team tailored the model for a medical-surgical telemetry unit.

Early results are promising: after 9 months, 30-day readmission rates dropped below the CMS benchmark, demonstrating the model’s effectiveness.

Learn how this approach was designed, implemented, and measured—and how it can be adapted to other care settings.

Presented by: 

 Pam Juritsch, MSN, RN, NE-BC

Director of Clinical Services | Lehigh Valley Health Network, Part of Jefferson Health

 Annie DeRoberts, BSN, MHS, LSSGB, RN

Senior Continuous Improvement Specialist | Jefferson Health

8. The Impact of a Healthcare Financial and Business Management Education and Mentoring Program on Nurse Leaders: A Mixed Methods Project

The healthcare ecosystem continues to evolve into a complex, value-based environment where nurse leaders must demonstrate strong business and financial acumen. Yet, these remain among the most underdeveloped competencies in nursing leadership, creating a significant practice gap.

This session presents the statistically significant results of a multi-method project study, showing how an education and mentoring program improved nurse leaders’ knowledge and self-perceived competency in healthcare financial and business management.

Attendees will gain insights into how targeted education can close the practice gap, strengthen leadership effectiveness, and equip nurse leaders for the challenges of modern healthcare.

Presented by: 

 Carol Fluegge DNP, MBA, MA, CENP, RN
Executive HealthCare Consulting

9. Cultivating Civility

Are your nurse leaders equipped to handle bullying and incivility—or are unhealthy work environments left unchecked? A culture of civility is essential for safe patient care and high-performing teams, yet many nurse leaders lack the skills to create and sustain it.

This session highlights a nurse leader–led quality improvement project designed to empower leaders with structured training to address disruptive behaviors head-on.

Attendees will learn how the initiative:

• Strengthened leaders’ ability to recognize, prevent, and manage incivility

• Fostered accountability and improved staff well-being

• Positioned civility as a strategic imperative for cultural transformation and patient safety

Presented by: 

 Courtney Ruck, DNP, RN, SCRN, NEA-BC

Division Director Critical Care, Nursing Unit Director Neuroscience Medical Surgical Unit | Tower Health - Reading Hospital