Photo caption: Angela Burke, Registered Nurse, Manager of Professional Practice & Education, alongside the Pressure Injury Group.
By: Coralee Sonnenburg, Clinical Director of Professional Practice, Ambulatory Care Unit, Allied Health, and Medical Inpatient, Brant Community Healthcare System.
In today’s complex health care environment, improving patient outcomes requires more than clinical expertise; it requires a workforce that is educated, supported, and empowered through evidence-based Nursing Professional Development (NPD). At Brant Community Healthcare System (BCHS), a community hospital with a small but highly dedicated Professional Practice team, this connection has been brought to life through the leadership of Angela Burke, RN, Manager of Professional Practice & Education. Through her disciplined application of the Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD) standards, Angela has helped reshaped nursing education, strengthened clinical practice, and delivered tangible improvements in patient outcomes.
When Angela assumed leadership in the Professional Practice & Education department, BCHS lacked standardized frameworks, consistent processes, and reliable methods for measuring the impact of education on clinical practice. Guided by ANPD’s evidence-based practice model, she embedded structure, accountability, and outcome evaluation into every facet of the department’s work. This foundational shift from activities to outcomes and from intuition to evidence, has elevated the credibility and effectiveness of the department and directly enhanced the quality of patient care.
One of the earliest and most transformative outcomes of her approach has been the development of the BCHS New Graduate Nurse Residency Program. Built using ANPD resources and aligned with best practices for transition to practice, the program provides new nurses and internationally educated nurses (IENs) with structured clinical support, guided skill development, reflective practice opportunities, and sustained mentorship during the most vulnerable phase of their careers. The impact has been substantial: new graduates enter clinical environments with greater confidence, stronger critical-thinking skills, and improved readiness for independent practice. Program evaluation identified that 100% of IENs who participated in the program report increased confidence in their clinical skills and feel the program strengthened their commitment to the organization.
Angela also applied ANPD standards to collaborate in the redesign of additional foundational programs at BCHS, including the preceptor program and the nursing clinical orientation program. These initiatives have strengthened the skill and consistency of frontline clinical education, ensured equitable and high-quality onboarding for all new staff, and reinforced competency-based practice across the organization. Together, these programs form a comprehensive system that supports nursing practice at BCHS and ultimately contributes to the quality and safety of care they provide. Additionally, this enhanced practice environment contributes to the sustainability of the nursing workforce. Over the last year, BCHS has seen strengthened retention, reduced onboarding variability, and a more stable nursing workforce factors that directly affect patient safety, continuity of care, and overall patient experience.
The impact of ANPD-guided practice is also evident in BCHS’s work to reduce hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs), a significant patient safety priority. Angela led the development of a multidisciplinary education initiative grounded in ANPD’s systematic approach to assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The 8 month long program improved staff proficiency in prevention practices, increased early detection, and strengthened adherence to risk-assessment protocols. Documented improvements in pressure injury prevention and patient care as a result of this work included:
- Implementation of a standardized wound care workflow, reducing the average wait time for wound consultation from 17.5 days to 1.35 days and the average time on service from 25 days to 4.4 days.
- A 17 % increase in organizational compliance with documentation of Braden scoring for pressure injury risk identification to 97%.
- Documentation of patient appropriate therapeutic surfaces for pressure injury prevention increased from 40% in April 2025 to 82%.
- Documentation of patient skin and wound assessment within 24 hours of admission to hospital increased from 67% to 88%.
Enhanced data collection has allowed BCHS to clearly demonstrate the connection between practice, patient needs, and patient outcomes. These insights informed senior leadership decision-making and directly supported the justification for investment in new therapeutic surfaces for high-risk patients. Demonstrating how structured and evidence-based nursing practice development relates directly to improved comfort, safety, and dignity for some of the hospital’s most vulnerable individuals.
Angela’s leadership has driven a cultural shift at BCHS: professional development is now strategic, evidence-based, and tied to measurable clinical outcomes. Nursing education is no longer a set of isolated activities but a key driver of patient safety, workforce stability, and organizational excellence.
By applying ANPD standards, Angela has shown the transformative power of strong NPD leadership in a community hospital. Through structured programs, workforce development, and education aligned with patient-centered outcomes, she has elevated nursing practice and improved care quality. Her work exemplifies how evidence-based NPD can reshape healthcare—one clinician, one patient, one initiative at a time.