By Juliette Kessler
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Los Angeles General Medical Center is on the up. The LA-based hospital is charting a course towards improved patient care and nurse well-being, boasting significant strides in nurse retention and patient outcomes after boldly revamping their work culture. The place where staff were once run ragged, they’re now hitting their stride with notable achievements under their belt, all thanks to a transformative initiative grounded in the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Healthy Work Environment Standards.
“Transforming our workplace culture required dedication and teamwork across every department,” Chief Nursing Officer Nancy Blake, PhD, RN, CCRN, NEA-BC, told Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. She isn’t wrong—the proof is in the pudding: a dive in nurse turnover, to just 10.4% in 2024 from a steep 20.6% two years prior, and a serious hike in the number of nurses armed with specialty certification, up from 11% to a solid 20%. Not to mention, the number of nurses with at least a Bachelor of Science in Nursing edged up from 49% to 57%.
The hospital didn’t stop there: it upped its game with an expanded residency program, welcoming over 500 fresh nurse graduates and holding onto 93% in the first 24 months—now that’s retention. Patient care, meanwhile, improved too; the rates of serious infections, falls, and hospital-acquired pressure injuries have all dropped, with infections taking more than a 50% plunge between 2022 and 2024. It’s a healthcare hat trick that’s caught the eye of the AACN, earning the nursing teams at LA General over 10 Beacon Awards of Excellence.
Recognition didn’t just come in the form of shiny accolades. The department grabbed the Bronze Eagle Award from the Los Angeles County Productivity and Quality Commission for its smarts in resource efficiency, innovative staffing, and hiring practices that cut through the red tape. What’s more, the hospital clinched the Magnet® designation, no mean feat and a true mark of nursing and patient care quality. This all-out achievement roster is the result of some serious policy revamping, including shared governance, leadership development, smarter scheduling systems, and grants aimed at reducing nurse burnout and celebrating hard-earned success.
LA General—a 600-bed juggernaut and Level One Trauma Center operated by the County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services—is a beacon in trauma and specialty care with a rep for delivering cutting-edge treatment through its world-class facilities. In partnership with the University of Southern California (USC) and the College of Nursing, it’s a place that’s pushing the boundaries of advanced healthcare in a big way for Southern California.
