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Nurses have continued to feel the strain of the pandemic even as the acute challenges of COVID-19 have lessened. Finding and hiring talented nurses, in particular, has become a nationwide concern — one that UVA Health is proving adept at overcoming, thanks in large part to Debbie Lewandowski and her teams.

When Lewandowski, Inpatient Director and RN Traveler Liaison, decided to return to Charlottesville — Veronica Brill, Associate Chief Nursing Officer, asked her to help with finding, hiring, and retaining quality nurses. “Everything was on the table,” Lewandowski recalls. “We had never lived through something like the pandemic before. It truly was unprecedented, and there weren’t ready-made solutions.”

Along with her project leads, Lewandowski worked to overcome these challenges through creative approaches, including streamlining the hiring process to include auto offers, onboarding and retaining international nurses, and leveraging the insights of current UVA Health nurses into attracting talented applicants for Clin 1s and Experienced RN hires.

“We had to be creative. As an out-of-the-box thinker, this challenge felt so right to me,” Lewandowski explains. To her credit, Lewandowski has been more than creative — she’s been successful. Learn more about three unique ideas her teams developed and implemented, resulting in a positive and lasting impact on UVA Health and the broader community:

1. Streamlining Hiring

Amid the back-and-forth with managers while selecting and hiring candidates, Lewandowski and her team realized they were missing out on nurses who were being aggressively pursed by other hospitals. It’s not uncommon for a single nurse to receive half a dozen offers, and delays in the hiring process can lead to a candidate choosing another hospital. 

Lewandowski decided to implement a system of auto offers with RN traveler hires. She started by identifying the needs of hiring managers upfront, then soliciting their input to assemble a description of their unit and their ideal candidate. Once they had that, Lewandowski and her team could identify and hire qualified candidates quickly, without the need for continuous manager intervention.

This not only allows nursing managers to devote more time to caring for patients, it also allows for the expedited hiring of staff while still ensuring quality and safety. In one weekend alone, 60 nurses were hired thanks to the new process!

2. Thinking Globally

For another initiative, Lewandowski drew inspiration from earlier in her career. Years before, while working at MD Anderson in Houston, she helped support the hiring of more than 300 nurses from the Philippines and assisted in their successful transition. 

She now oversees a similar program at UVA Health with the support of her executives and HR: hiring international nurses and creating an onboarding and orientation process to help them integrate into the local community. To date, the clinical areas have hired 84 international nurses — 31 of whom are on site now. 

Her current goal is to continue to boost retention, helping these nurses feel at home at work and in Charlottesville. “Beyond the work they will do at UVA Health, it’s about getting used to being in the U.S. and the lifestyle here in Charlottesville. These nurses have become an integral part of UVA Health and bring so much joy.”

Lewandowski is thrilled Clinical Program Coordinator Theresa ‘TJ’ Lovdal now oversees the project. “TJ has already hosted two CEO meet-and-greets and set up a Facebook page for their use, which has been a great mode of communication. She has networked with many external health care systems to continue to build on the project, and will publish best practices in the near future.” 

3. Collaborating Across Teams 

A third hiring initiative began with Lewandowski and her team making sure current UVA Health nurses are heard at the beginning of the hiring process. While HR identifies candidates, UVA Health nurses now begin the interview process and engage with candidates right at the beginning. This personal contact allows both sides to determine quickly whether we're the right fit. As Lewandowski says, “Who knows nurses better than nurses?”

Along with having nurses reaching out to applicants, Lewandowski and her team have launched a nursing ambassador program to take advantage of the talent coming out of Piedmont Virginia Community College and UVA. Current nurses now visit hiring events to advocate on behalf of UVA Health and the incredible system in place here. 

“The nurses who work here are able to articulate all the great things about UVA Health. They can answer the questions that an HR person might not be able to.” All of which leads to a smoother recruitment process, and more time for HR to spend sourcing and recruiting. 

Lewandowski is grateful for the support and partnership of Melynda Zarzyski, RN, now in HR, who has helped move the dial quickly across barriers. She also wants to recognize her collaborative team members: 

Clin 1 Hires

Nursing

• Nate Ledford, RN
• Ginny Cramer, RN
• Lindsay Bohn, RN
• Amber Norris, RN
• TJ Lovdal, RN

HR

• Corrine Lascala 

Experienced RN Hires

Nursing

• Linda Edenfield, RN
• Taralyn Wear, RN
• Brandon Eves, RN
• Loucita Hurlbrink, RN

HR

• Renee Bounds
• Balone Thompson
• Allyson Monahan 

More Than a Job

These three programs are just a few of the ways Lewandowski and her project leads are keeping UVA Health on the cutting edge of recruitment and retention. 

As each new hiring initiative rolls out, one thing remains a constant source of motivation for Lewandowski — our patients and those who care for them. “I anchor everything I do in service to the patients and the team, because at the end of the day, it's really about them."

Having worked in Oncology throughout her career, Lewandowski knows firsthand the strength and stamina it takes to care for patients day in and day out. Now, she's now lending support to Scott Austin, RN and Matt Houston, RN for their work on the Extern Project, which includes a match process to becoming a Clin 1. Lewandowski also works closely with Leigh Ann Nordt, RN, who has ideas for staffing models and workforce solutions to rebuild our staff. 

As she keeps nearing retirement, Lewandowski could not be happier with where she is. “I really believe in UVA Health. I’ve had my family taken care of here, and I would do so again.” She wants to contribute as much to UVA Health as it has contributed to her. She's succeeding nicely.