Nursing Excellence

Nursing at Saint Joseph Hospital

For more than 140 years, Saint Joseph Hospital has provided high-quality, compassionate nursing care for the Denver community, especially for those who are poor and vulnerable.

Excellence through Caring

Caring is the essence of nursing. Patients, family and community are our focus at Saint Joseph Hospital. Caring is critical in helping patients maintain health, promote healing, adapt to stressful experiences, and support a dignified death. Quality nursing care is every patient’s right and every team member’s responsibility. We believe that nurses are leaders in the care of their patients and have insight, act with intention, remove barriers to quality care, and consistently make patients, families, and staff their highest priority.

Magnet Designation

Our nurses demonstrate excellence through caring and were awarded Magnet designation, the highest honor in nursing excellence and quality patient care in May 2017.

Professional Practice Model (PPM)

The Saint Joseph Hospital PPM is based on our nursing philosophy. The mountain peaks represent the three core principles of caring, quality and nursing practice.

The flowing streams fill the lake demonstrating our model of care: patient, family, and community-centered care. The lake is in the center of the PPM, illustrating a patient, family and community-centered model of care. The lake also nourishes the nine nursing values, which are symbolized by the trees:

Collaborative Care
Excellence
Leadership
Advocacy
Individualized Care
Evidence-Based Practice
Innovation
Professionalism
Safe Environment

The sun shines over the entire schematic, signifying the nursing profession's overarching goal of healing and wholeness.

Nursing Shared Governance

Saint Joseph Hospital Nursing is governed by a shared decision-making model called shared governance. Nursing shared governance provides for widespread clinical nurse participation in decision making throughout the organization.

Nurses oversee the quality of patient care and monitor quality outcomes through participation on organizational committees and councils including the: