CCI Champion Profile
CCI Champions are mentors to the nursing staff and leaders not only in the institutions that employ them but within the volunteer community within CCI. This select group of certificants has demonstrated their commitment to promoting CCI’s mission and understanding that patients deserve to experience not just excellent care, but extraordinary care.
In this month’s update, we profile Holly S. Ervine, RN, BSN, CNOR. For the last 14 years, Holly has epitomized the spirit of the CCI Champion, most recently through her work as the Surgical Education Coordinator for Tanner Health System, a three-hospital health system in West Georgia. She joined the CCI Champion program in February after working on a CCI committee, but she has promoted certification among her colleagues since she first earned her credential.
Holly shares her views on why encouraging certification and mentoring both new and veteran nurses to seek certification is important to quality patient care.
What is most meaningful to you about your work?
That perioperative nurses have the opportunity to help so many people in so many different ways (not just the patient). When I worked as a staff nurse and people asked what I did in the OR, I explained to them that I was a patient advocate, to be their voice in a time when they are unable to speak for themselves, and to keep them safe at all costs. As an educator and member of management I am still an advocate for the patient, but I am also an advocate for the staff, to be their voice when needed and provide them what they need to make sure the patient is always safe.
What does CCI’s tag line, "Personal Commitment to Extraordinary Care," mean to you?
Each perioperative nurse, whether they realize it or not, provides extraordinary care. Certification shows the community, co-workers, and administration that you have gone the extra steps and have made the personal commitment to lifelong learning.
How does participation in the nursing community and an organization like CCI help the industry as a whole?
All nurses work toward the same goal and result—positive patient outcomes. When we all work together, we have a better understanding of each individual’s role and can reach the goal through our collaborative effort. As a CNOR and a member of Sigma Theta Tau, I realize that both organizations emphasize education to provide exemplary patient care that will result in the best outcome for the patient.
Why did you become a CCI Champion?
I became a champion because I believe in certification and I believe in CCI. Certification confirms your knowledge and makes the nurse more confident in their practice.
What does it mean to be a CCI Champion, and what are some of the professional development opportunities that this program provides you?
To me, being a CCI champion means promoting certification. Certification validates a perioperative nurse’s specialized knowledge and experience. Working in a health system where there are only two certified nurses, the first step I have taken has been to encourage others to become certified. They have the knowledge base - they just need to trust it and GO FOR IT!
Being a CCI Champion has provided me the tools needed to bring awareness of the value, benefits, and rewards of certification to the nurses I work with as well as administration.
What challenges do you find in your workplace related to competency, and why is ongoing professional development and certification important?
The biggest challenge in the workplace related to competency is the ever changing technology. Each day, companies come out with new widgets and gadgets and it is hard to keep up with it all. Through professional development and certification, a perioperative nurse shows their commitment to learning and keeping up with those changing technologies.
How can we as individual nurses, or as the healthcare community as a whole, continue advancing patient safety and the quality of patient care?
Ask questions and continually learn! In the operating room, the learning process never stops!
What has been most rewarding to you as a CCI Champion?
The most rewarding thing for me has been having the opportunity to encourage and mentor the nurse’s that I work with toward certification. There was one other CNOR-certified nurse in my hospital when I first started there a year ago. Since then, one other nurse has become certified with others preparing to take the exam soon. It’s rewarding to instill a belief in others that they have the knowledge to successfully take the certification exam. Another rewarding aspect has been the recognition others have given me by asking clinical questions and knowing that they can learn from me the Standards and Recommended Practices.
What would you say to someone who was interested in becoming a Champion?
Former CCI President Sherron Kurtz, RN, MSA, CNOR, CNAA, once said, “To make a difference you have to participate—you have to be at the table. It starts with a single step.” Gandhi once said, “You have to be the change you want to see in the world.” To them, I would say, make a place for yourself at the table and let others see the Champion in you!
Being a champion for certification is a way to reach out to others and share with them the importance of being certified. Certification shows your patients, managers, administration and community that you are committed to lifelong learning. It also means that you’re being the best perioperative registered nurse that you can be by ensuring that you are current in the latest technology, standards and recommended practices.
What are your plans for the future?
I plan on maintaining my certification and continuing my work as a CCI Champion. I will continue to encourage other perioperative registered nurses to follow the standards, continue their education, and obtain their certification. I also plan to continue to strive for excellence in my every day practice so that patients entrusted to us can return to their previous state of health and wellness due to the high quality of care and interventions we give based on our knowledge of nationally set standards.
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Healthcare providers in operating rooms, and other areas where invasive procedures are performed, function in high-risk environments where potential hazards exist. The increasing complexity of patient care and the healthcare system brings ever-expanding challenges to those charged with protecting patients.