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On Oct. 7, RNs were invited to start voting in the annual Professional Nursing Staff Organization (PNSO) election. Voting will close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 21. Any RN who has not yet cast their ballot is encouraged to do so immediately. Visit the PNSO website to learn more and vote now.

The PNSO is the Shared Governance structure for UVA nursing, and all UVA nurses are automatically members. The following positions and candidates are up for election:

2022 PNSO President-Elect (Watch a video to learn more about the candidates.)

• Ruth Graham, BSN, RN, RN-BC, Clinician 4, Cardiac Transition Unit
• Mesha Jones, BSN, RN, CCRN, CWON, Clinician 4, Wound Ostomy Care Team

2022–2023 Nominating Committee (Watch a video to learn more about the candidates.)

• Taylor Cady, BSN, RN, CCRN, Clinician 4, Newborn Intensive Care Unit
• Loucita Hurlbrink, BSN, RN, CCRN, Clinician 4, Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit
• Jean Scully, BSN, RN, RN-BC, Clinician 3, Heart and Vascular Center
• Tina VanDerveer, MSN, RN, RN-BC, Clinician 4, Electrophysiology Lab

How It All Works

Every year, the PNSO president and two committee members roll off and a President-Elect and two new committee members are elected.

The election process starts each spring when the Nominating Committee — comprised of four elected members and led by the past PNSO President — begin scoring nominations against a rubric. The top President-Elect candidates and Nominating Committee candidates are added to the ballot.

During the summer, the candidates start campaigning. They are invited to introduce themselves at various meetings — including Nursing Cabinet (the overarching governing body of nursing Shared Governance) and Central nursing committees (Awards and Recognition Committee, Nursing Summit Planning Committee, Clinical Practice Committee, etc.) — and participate in a campaign video, so their peers can get to know them better.

After voting in the fall, the elected candidates will assume their new positions at the beginning of the year.

Why Is It Important to Vote?

Shared Governance is a structured and streamlined way for nursing to be represented wherever decisions are being made at UVA Health.

“A way for all nurses to share in that decision-making and Shared Governance process is to elect the voice of our nurses,” says Barb Trotter, RN, 2021 PNSO President.

The voting process gives power to every RN to influence nursing and decision-making across the organization.

“One simple, easy step — voting — is the first step in saying, ‘I want my voice heard. I want to be involved in some way in what’s happening here at UVA,’” says TJ Lovdal, RN, 2021 PNSO President-Elect. “That is a part of our culture — for nurses to have such an incredible say in what happens in our workplace and what happens in the way we care for our patients. It is so ingrained in who we are as UVA nurses. “

Does This Matter Outside of Nursing?

The PNSO President represents nursing for many interdisciplinary colleagues. The voice of nursing is valued across all facets of UVA Health, and Lovdal says that if nursing were absent in discussions outside of the nursing realm, it would be greatly missed.

“If there is a decision made that nursing did not get a voice in, people crave it,” says Lovdal. “We learned so much during COVID that we are all participating in shared decision making within our workplace every single day. It is so part of our workplace that we don’t even know we’re doing it.”

What’s Next?

After the election, the votes will be tallied, and the winners will be announced. The Nominating Committee comes together with two tellers to count and maintain transparency and accountability in the process.

Each year, the tellers are two non-nursing colleagues who are invited to assist with vote counting and validate the results. This year, the tellers are two pharmacists, Jamie Artale and Patricia Betts.

Thank you for your service, Jaime and Patricia, and good luck to all the candidates! All RNs can cast their ballot on the PNSO website. Voting closes at 5 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 21.