From the time that the Foundation’s Board of Trustees approved the Betty Irene Moore Nursing Initiative in late 2003, over 90 grants have been awarded to organizations working to improve nursing-related patient outcomes in adult acute care hospitals in five San Francisco Bay Area counties (Alameda, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara) and five Greater Sacramento counties (Amador, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo). Altogether, these grants have totaled more than $90 million.

2008 Highlights:

In 2008, Betty Irene Moore Nursing Initiative grantees significantly increased the Registered Nurse (RN) workforce in the region, alleviated barriers to educational expansion, and improved nursing-related patient outcomes for adult acute care hospital patients. Among the most significant achievements of 2008 were the following:

Developing a larger, more highly skilled RN workforce

• Through Foundation-supported pre-licensure nursing programs at City College of San Francisco (in collaboration with California Pacific Medical Center), Ohlone College (in collaboration with Washington Hospital), Samuel Merritt College, San Jose State University, and the University of San Francisco, 292 new RNs (or a cumulative 558 new RNs) are providing care at the bedside in 2008.
• To address the nursing faculty shortage, the Foundation’s grantees (the University of California, San Francisco, Dominican University, and Holy Names University) graduated 29 new Ph.D. and MSN-level faculty in 2008. In addition, 38 new clinical faculty were developed in the SFBA in 2008 through programs led by the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care. To date, the Foundation’s grantees have graduated 101 new Ph.D. and MSN-level faculty members and 60 new clinical faculty.

Implementing more effective hospital practices

• With funding from the Betty Irene Moore Nursing Initiative, the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California and the Center for Quality Systems Performance have organized Beacon, the Bay Area Patient Safety Collaborative, to support San Francisco Bay Area adult acute care hospitals in working together to improve hospital care processes. In 2008, through Beacon’s convening, education, and on-site support to hospitals, membership rose to 39 actively participating hospitals and 92% of member hospitals demonstrated significant improvement in patient outcomes This included 34 member hospitals demonstrating reduction in central-line bloodstream infections and 32 member hospitals demonstrating a  reduction in ventilator-acquired pneumonia, two serious healthcare infections.
• Sutter Health’s Partners Advancing Clinical Excellence (PACE) Nurse-led Councils demonstrated improvements in patient outcomes in 2008, with Sutter Health San Francisco Bay Area affiliates reporting significant reductions in preventable complications and mortality rates. Participating hospitals are Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Eden/San Leandro Medical Center, California Pacific Medical Center, St. Luke’s Hospital, Marin General Hospital, Mills-Peninsula Hospital, and Novato Community Hospital. The results included marked declines against a 2006 baseline in ventilator-acquired pneumonia, central-line bloodstream infection, heart attack mortality, and severe sepsis mortality. 

Our grantees’ continued efforts are expanding the highly trained RN workforce and advancing safer and more effective hospital practices. We thank all our grantees and their partners for their remarkable accomplishments in 2008.