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The Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Nursing combines a rich history of excellence with a dedication to promoting healing to our patients and the communities we serve. We’re committed to the advancement of knowledge through scientific inquiry and the sharing of that knowledge.
We’re charting new academic partnerships, to ensure that all of our nurses possess the skills and knowledge to meet the patient care challenges of today and the future. With 77 percent of BWH nurses prepared at the baccalaureate level or higher, we are well on our way to achieving the 80 percent goal set by the Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing report.
Our nursing vision is simple: to provide excellent care to patients and families, with the best staff, in the safest environment.
Our diverse, multicultural and multigenerational community consists of more than 3,500 nurses practicing in clinical and leadership roles. All specialty areas with the exception of inpatient psychiatry and pediatrics are offered. We practice in various settings, including inpatient and outpatient areas of the hospital, and ambulatory and community health centers.
Building and advancing our capacity for lifelong learning are highly valued expectations for BWH nurses. We’re extremely proud of our highly-skilled, clinically capable team. In addition to competency in the clinical setting, our commitment to knowledge development by achieving advanced degrees is demonstrated in the ever-increasing number of registered nurses who hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree or higher. Further, a BSN is required for all newly hired registered nurses.
Mounting evidence shows that when a greater proportion of baccalaureate-prepared registered nurses provide care in hospitals, patients have better outcomes. [1] Additionally, a large portion of our nurses are engaged in professional development activities, professional organizations, certification programs, or quality improvement and research initiatives in order to advance their expertise and practice.
[1] Aiken, Clarke, Cheung, Sloane and Silber, 2003; Estabrooks, Midodzi, Cummings, Ricker, Giovannetti, 2005
Nursing leadership has a long history of commitment to clinical education and academic advancement of nurses. From the early model of diploma education at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital School of Nursing, one of the earliest schools of nursing in the Northeast, to our current philosophy of baccalaureate preparation as a basis of professional nursing practice, we continue to advance our teaching mission through our academic partnerships.
Today, we partner with more than 20 academic institutions to educate the next generation of nurses and support our future professional workforce and community by making accessible educational opportunities to nurses pursuing baccalaureate, master’s degrees, or a research or practice doctoral degree. At BWH, integrating professional education opportunities into the practice of nursing is paramount and ongoing — it helps further our nurses’ roles as skilled professionals and authentic leaders.
Brigham and Women's Hospital received Magnet recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the highest national honor for nursing excellence. Thank you to all of our staff members for your dedication and hard work.
The CNE supports the Professional Practice Model and goals of the Department of Nursing through advancing clinical nursing practice and interprofessional collaboration, contributing to knowledge about nursing workflow, and leading in the generation of nursing scholarship.
Following an immensely challenging year with the pandemic, tending to one’s own well-being is perhaps more important than ever for nurses. Join host Maddy Pearson, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, senior vice president of Clinical Services and chief nursing officer, as she interviews nurses and subject-matter experts in other fields about trauma-informed care, sleep health, moral distress, joy and additional topics to help caregivers develop resiliency and prioritize their mental and physical well-being.
For over a century, a leader in patient care, medical education and research, with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery.
About BWH
