Mission

Provide leading-edge patient care while advancing professional nursing practice.

Vision

Lead the way for every patient, every time: nursing practice, patient care, and scholarship.

Values

UK HealthCare, the College of Medicine, and Eastern State Hospital have implemented five values to help guide actions, behaviors, and decision-making to foster a cohesive work culture focused on patient-centered care.

These values are our foundation for every person, every patient, every time, as demonstrated through the Nursing Professional Practice Model. The DIReCT (Diversity, Innovation, Respect, Compassion, Teamwork) values are:

• Diversity: We foster a people-centered environment that is inclusive of all.
• Innovation: We embrace continuous learning and improvement to drive positive change.
• Respect: We value our patients and families, our partners in care, our community, our co-workers, ourselves, and the resources entrusted to us.
• Compassion: We express empathy for the needs, thoughts, and feelings of those we serve and with whom we work.
• Teamwork: We cultivate and maintain meaningful relationships to create positive outcomes.

Philosophy

• We consider our work as nurses to be an honor, and we strive for continuous improvement to provide excellence in all that we do.
• Nursing care is delivered in a complex environment that supports the trifold mission of patient care, education, and research. As nurses, we participate in each aspect of the mission, with patient care holding the principal position in our daily efforts.
• A patient’s right to participate in care planning is regarded as a nursing value at UK HealthCare. We understand that patient and family education about treatment and care options is a nursing responsibility, held jointly with our physicians and other members of the team. We accept that responsibility.