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Home > For nursesBecome a nurse at Regions
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Grow with us
Come grow with us professionally
When we choose to become nurses, we open ourselves to a lifetime of learning. Because Regions Hospital is a hospital that teaches, we automatically place a high value on learning, development and achievement. There is a link between well-educated nurses and safe, high-quality patient care. We believe that professional development improves the individual’s job satisfaction and enriches our workplace overall.
At Regions, we support our nurses to be the best they can be.
To encourage our employees to pursue nursing degrees, specialty certification and professional development we provide tuition reimbursement, nursing scholarships and monetary incentives. Regions Hospital also offers many in-house educational opportunities. Many of these provide free continuing education units (CEUs). One of the many benefits of being a nurse at Regions is the incredible amount of professional opportunities and areas of clinical practice for nurses.
Nurses who join our team will begin a journey of lifelong learning.
Examples of some of the educational opportunities for Regions nurses include:
- Nursing clinical skills days held throughout the year
- Shadowing opportunities offered to employees who want to know more about nursing in other units or departments
- Nursing self-learning packets on our intranet site
- Regions Hospital Medical Library
- Unit and organizational inservices and educational opportunities
- Educational offerings provided by the HealthPartners Institute for Medical Education (IME), including the HealthPartners Clinical Simulation program
- Various onsite educational/CEU offerings
- Caring Across Cultures quarterly inservices
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Our staff
Meet Regions’ strong and diverse team of nursing staff, the largest group of employees at Regions Hospital. We value strong team work and work closely with physicians and other members of our interdisciplinary team to provide exceptional care to our patients.
Case managers
The Care Management Department consists of nurse case managers and social workers who possess skills and experience in planning for patients’ needs during and after their hospital stays. They develop and coordinate an individualized plan of care and implement plans for a safe discharge. The Care Management staff has vast knowledge of community resources and services available to meet the individual needs of patients. Care Management promotes the delivery of high-quality patient care and assists with the progression of care.
Nurse case managers work on both inpatient units and within the Emergency Department. They partner with physicians and other health care professionals to develop a plan of care and communicate it to patients and their families. In addition, case managers gather data and follow specific protocols to make recommendations that enhance the efficiency of care delivery. Case managers can assist in scheduling care conferences, communicating with insurance companies and coordinating services. They assure a safe discharge by assessing whether a patient needs transitional care prior to returning home or home care services after getting there.
Charge nurses
Our unit charge nurses provide leadership and act as a designated resource in advancing the goals and objectives of the unit and Nursing department. In the absence of the nurse manager, the charge nurse monitors clinical needs and serves as a clinical resource to assure safe, quality care.
Clinical nurse specialists
Our Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) are autonomous leaders who provide an important component in improving quality of care and moving Regions to levels of excellence. Our CNSs are role models. The role of the CNS encompasses three areas:
- Patient care: Our CNSs are clinical and assessment experts; they have a direct role in improving patient outcomes. Their role includes providing direct patient and family care and collaborating with the inter-disciplinary team.
- Nursing practice: Our CNSs are innovative leaders of evidence-based practice with a high focus on standardizing patient care. They provide support and development of staff and managers within a specific clinical arena. Also, our CNSs lead research and evidence-based practice (EBP) into the clinical care of our patients.
- Organizational commitment–Regions: CNSs have an active role in nursing councils and committees; they are change agents who provide educational sessions, training on new products and lead nursing practice and decisions to providing excellence in care.
Health unit coordinators (HUCs)
HUCs play a vital role at Regions Hospital. They are the first and last person our patients and visitors see when coming onto the units and they are there to help in any way needed to promote the best possible customer service. They are also trained in the new electronic health record and help doctors, nurses and any other staff who may need assistance. They assist the nursing staff by answering the phones, paging doctors and keeping the charge nurse informed of new issues. It is often their role to order unit supplies, perform auditing and help maintain a healthy working environment. The HUC is a valuable member of the patient care team at Regions.
Inpatient clinical supervisors
Our inpatient clinical supervisors are valuable members of our team. These nurses plan, organize, coordinate and are a resource in the day-to-day operations on the nursing units. Inpatient clinical supervisors function in a variety of roles as care coordinator, educator, resource manager, advocate and others.
Nurse managers
Our nurse managers are leaders who work closely with their nursing staff and other disciplines in the hospital to ensure our patients receive patient-centered care that is safe, effective, timely and efficient. Nurse managers build relationships with nursing staff on professional and personal levels, which fosters a collaborative and engaging work environment. The managers’ dedication to both staff and patients is one of the reasons we have a high job satisfaction rate among our nursing staff. Regions is committed to the professional development of our nurses and offers opportunities — both internally and externally — to develop advanced skills and new competencies. All of our nurse managers have a master’s degree or are currently working toward that achievement.
Nurse supervisors
Nursing supervisors lead our staff to provide safe, timely, equitable, effective and patient-centered care and service. Our supervisors also promote staff growth and development and lead and work on initiatives that will enhance patient care. Nursing supervisors work closely with the charge nurses and nurse managers.
Patient care assistants (PCAs), behavioral health nursing assistants (NAs) & emergency room technicians (ERTs)
Regions Hospital has roughly 250 PCAs, NAs and ERTs who are valuable members of our nursing team. They are at our patients’ bedsides, providing compassionate and quality patient care with a registered nurse. They assist with stocking patient rooms, patient transfers and transports within departments. Other tasks may include performing activities of daily living, assisting patients, providing patient care treatments such as discontinuing IVs and restraint monitoring and collecting patient data such as weights, vital signs, intake and output, lab specimens and blood glucose-finger sticks.
Patient flow coordinators
Our seven patient flow coordinators (PFCs) are the most well-known nurses in the hospital. They are here 24/7/365 and regularly communicate with nursing units in search of beds for admissions and patient transfers. They work with our clinical team leaders and nurse managers to provide safe staffing to the units and ensure the smooth transition of patient flow.
Practice & education teams
Continuous staff development is a critical element of providing excellence in nursing care. To ensure nurses have the educational opportunities, skills and competencies, our team of clinical nurse specialists, staff development specialists and decentralized nurse educators work with nursing unit leadership and unit practice councils to identify staff development needs. Our Practice and Education Teams provide support and resources in their areas of clinical expertise, education and nursing practice for the nursing staff in their area.
Social workers
A social worker’s primary responsibility in the hospital setting is to help patients and their families understand and adjust to a new medical crisis or chronic medical condition. Patients and families will receive support when working through the emotions of a serious diagnosis or making necessary decisions. Social workers are able to help work with legal systems to implement guardianships or advance directives. Additionally, they provide chemical health assessments, arrange skilled nursing placement, coordinate home care services and secure other community services to create a safe discharge.
Staff development specialists
The staff development specialists promote the professional growth and clinical development of the nursing staff at Regions Hospital; they provide essential services in the following key areas:
- Central nursing orientation
- Charge nurse education
- Critical care and CPR classes
- Continuing education opportunities
- HUC, PCA and NA orientation
- New nurse orientation
- New graduate nurse orientation
- Nursing skills days
- Nursing preceptor program and development
- Shadowing program
- Student nurses
Trauma nurse clinicians
Our trauma nurse clinicians work closely with physicians and collaborate with the interdisciplinary team to assure quality patient care outcomes across the continuum for our trauma patients. By ensuring a seamless quality of care, improved teamwork and efficient use of resources, the clinicians improve patient and family satisfaction and care.
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Ancker Nursing
Arthur B. Ancker Memorial School of Nursing
Timeline
1891: Board of Control for St. Paul (population 500,000) suggested that a school of nursing be established offering a two-year program.
1892: Fourteen students entered the City-County School of Nursing.
1893: The first nurse graduates from the Training School for Nurses.
1902: Increased nursing program from two years to three years.
1917: New nurses’ residence completed. This allowed all the pupils to live in one building instead of being divided throughout the hospital.
1918: The first instructor was hired to teach at the Ancker School of Nursing. Until this time, all lectures were given by the doctors.
1920: Scarlet fever struck the first Ancker nursing student.
1923: Dr. Arthur B. Ancker passed away. The Board of Control placed in its permanent records the following sentiment concerning Dr. Ancker: “In the midst of the duties which he loved and performed with wholehearted devotion, Dr. Arthur B. Ancker passed quietly and happily out of the world to which he had given so much cheerful, uplifting, efficient human service. He died as he would have wished in the harness, his last act and thought connected with the work which was his life’s joy.”
1925: A glee club for students was organized.
1968: Ancker admits its first male students who would eventually graduate with the class of 1972.
1976: The final class graduates from Arthur B. Ancker Memorial School of Nursing.
History
The training school was established by the Board of Control in 1891, at which time a two-year course was established. It was designed to give young women desirous of becoming graduate nurses a systematic course of instruction and practice, to enlist the interests and efforts of intelligent and well-educated women in the care of patients who seek treatment at the hospital and to meet the demand of the community for competent nurses. The course was increased from two to three years in 1902.
In the beginning years of the school, the curriculum involved lectures from local doctors and consisted mainly of clinical experience. The hospital was staffed solely with pupil nurses and the superintendent. In 1896, lectures were scheduled on a regular basis and involved topics such as autonomy and physiology and the diseases most prevalent at the time such as diphtheria.
The first graduate of the Training School for Nurses was Martha Illjarn in 1893, the only graduate that year. It wasn’t until 1897 that the first commencement exercise was performed in the hospital; this exercise was carried on until the closing of the school. The role of the Rehabilitation Team is to help you return to your life with the skills needed to be as independent as possible, honoring you and your family’s beliefs, culture, needs and goals throughout the process.
Additional information
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Care delivery model
Professional Nursing Practice Care Delivery Model
Profound and amazing experiences occur every day at Regions Hospital. The nurse/patient relationship is the foundation of providing excellent patient care. Establishing a therapeutic relationship with each patient and his or her family is essential to providing the best care and best experience for our patients.
Our Professional Nursing Practice Nursing Model offers patient and family-centered care that maintains an unwavering focus on what matters most: caring and healing at the patient’s bedside. The foundation for our nursing model of care is built on the premise that health care is provided through relationships with patients and families.
Shared governance
Shared governance builds on the foundation of an inclusive decision-making structure for nursing staff and nursing leaders. This model empowers staff nurses to work with a high level of autonomy, managing their clinical practice and working environment. All councils within the Shared Governance Model are led or co-led by staff nurses. Organizations with shared governance structures have a more creative and fulfilled workforce, lower staff turnover and vacancy rate, improved quality of care and positive work relationships among staff.
"A Shared Governance Nursing Model is a great way for nurses to work with others to create consistent evidence-based nursing care throughout our hospital. I feel that in order for the nursing department to attain the goals we have set for our patents, we must work together. Staff nurses and administrators working together improves communication throughout our workplace, leading to a better understanding of each of our roles. We all play an important part in creating an exceptional nursing department which will lead to the best patient/family outcomes."
— Cindy, RN, SICU, Shared Governance Development TeamEvidence-based practice
Evidence-based practice (EBP) involves performing new research or searching for and critiquing published research and then determining how the best research evidence will be incorporated into practice. Nurses are embracing evidence-based practice; clinical decisions are based upon a foundation of solid science, using research that has applied rigorous epidemiologic methods and has been published in peer-reviewed journals. Evidence-based nursing involves increased reliance on formal, systematic analysis and synthesis of the research literature to determine clinical effectiveness. It challenges consensus-based judgments and applies critical assessment of the available research to make decisions regarding patient care.
“Our vision is lived out each day by our nurses.”
— Christine Boese, RN, MS
Vice President, Patient Care Services
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Make an appointment
651-254-3330
651-254-1756 (fax) -
Get directions
Regions Hospital
Nursing Administration
Mail Stop 11102U
640 Jackson Street
St. Paul, MN 55101 -
Apply for a nursing position