March 2026 Honoree
Graciela Correia, RN
It was recognised in early 2025 that the consistency and effectiveness of handover and safety huddles could be improved in terms of quality and time effectiveness.
Graciela approached the challenge with remarkable openness and a genuine desire to learn. She led a division-wide project across 8 acute hospitals covering London, Birmingham and Manchester.
Rather than relying on assumptions or quick fixes, she committed herself to deeply understanding the current state. She conducted structured observations of handovers across 14 inpatient units, coordinated with Matrons at all sites to complete observations of the evening handover process, surveyed all nursing staff to gather their candid feedback, and performed detailed time studies to quantify how long each component of the process took.
The results were illuminating. The observations, survey responses, and time studies revealed that the safety briefings and bedside handovers were taking on average 50 minutes in total, often causing outgoing staff to leave work late. Many of the nurses surveyed expressed that there was clear room for improvement in the handover process, and safety huddles were not being consistently completed.
Observations also highlighted several areas of opportunity. During handovers, every patient was being discussed with all members of the team, creating unnecessary length and cognitive overload, patients were frequently being spoken about in the third person during bedside handovers, and there was a lack of consistency in the content and structure of the safety briefings, bedside handovers, and safety huddles.
Using the data she gathered, Graciela coordinated a process improvement (Kaizen) event that brought together nursing leaders from every facility in the organization. She shared core project objectives to help guide the conversation and output of the Kaizen event, including the importance of placing the patient firmly at the centre of their own care conversations.
This approach was aimed at helping patients feel included in their recovery journey while also shining a light on potential safety issues. Graciela also outlined the need to redefine what it meant for nurses to be “in the know” by distinguishing essential must know information from good to know details to help streamline shift change activities while ensuring that crucial patient information remained top of mind.
Finally, she called attention to the variations in the frequency, timing, and information within the bedside handover and safety huddle processes, which led to inconsistent experiences for both nursing staff and patients.
During the Kaizen event, Graciela encouraged open dialogue, challenged longstanding assumptions, and ensured that every voice in the room was heard leading to the development of clear, evidence based recommendations for a future state handover and safety huddle process that aligned directly with the project’s core objectives.
These recommendations included:
1. Creating operational definitions to ensure consistency and clarity across the division
2. Guidelines for the content and structure of the safety briefings, bedside handovers, and safety huddles. Instructions were created for when the processes should happen during the day, the physical location of the processes, who should be included, and what should be discussed.
3. Setting clear timing expectations for each process, leading to a total of 30 minutes for safety briefings and bedside handovers and 15 minutes per safety huddle. The 30-minute maximum helps ensure the outgoing staff leaves on time while the incoming staff has a smooth beginning of the shift.
4. Making the patient a member of their care team. Nurses would no longer have a conversation about the patient using third-person language, but rather would speak with the patient about how they are feeling, their goals for the upcoming shift, and feedback they may have. This dialogue between nurses and patients creates an environment where patients can feel heard and valued. It also allows nurses the opportunity to identify potential safety issues based on the patient’s feedback and provide education on how to avoid them. The Nurses also conduct visible patient and room checks, eg wound checks, infusion checks and medications in the room, to improve safety and communication.
After the Kaizen event, Graciela then took on the complex task of securing feedback and approval from the division and facility Chief Nursing Officers. Her thoughtful presentation of the data and her ability to translate frontline experiences into actionable improvements earned strong support.
With that endorsement, she led the rollout of the new processes across all facilities in August 2025, ensuring that each site received the guidance, training, and support needed for successful adoption.
A defining strength of her work was the deliberate, disciplined approach she brought to sustainability. She developed a comprehensive control plan to monitor compliance, reinforce best practices, and ensure the longevity of the improvements through the utilization of process owners on every relevant ward.
These process owners complete regularly scheduled audits to ensure compliance with an escalation process to their facility leadership and Graciela should there be an issue or question. Based on the audit results, the process owners are then responsible for following up with the team to provide feedback and any necessary training.
Graciela also shared the output of this project with the Clinical Operations and Quality Governance teams, so they can observe these processes when visiting a facility and provide feedback to the team, facility leadership, and Graciela.
She also has plans for the first quarter of 2026 to spend a week with each facility to observe, provide feedback, and reinforce the processes where necessary.
This ongoing commitment to long-term success demonstrates not only leadership but also a deep respect for the staff and patients who benefit from the changes.
Through reflection, data-driven learning, and courageous collaboration, she transformed a complex organizational challenge into a meaningful and lasting improvement in care.
Her leadership has elevated the quality, consistency, and safety of bedside communication across the entire system.
Graciela approached the challenge with remarkable openness and a genuine desire to learn. She led a division-wide project across 8 acute hospitals covering London, Birmingham and Manchester.
Rather than relying on assumptions or quick fixes, she committed herself to deeply understanding the current state. She conducted structured observations of handovers across 14 inpatient units, coordinated with Matrons at all sites to complete observations of the evening handover process, surveyed all nursing staff to gather their candid feedback, and performed detailed time studies to quantify how long each component of the process took.
The results were illuminating. The observations, survey responses, and time studies revealed that the safety briefings and bedside handovers were taking on average 50 minutes in total, often causing outgoing staff to leave work late. Many of the nurses surveyed expressed that there was clear room for improvement in the handover process, and safety huddles were not being consistently completed.
Observations also highlighted several areas of opportunity. During handovers, every patient was being discussed with all members of the team, creating unnecessary length and cognitive overload, patients were frequently being spoken about in the third person during bedside handovers, and there was a lack of consistency in the content and structure of the safety briefings, bedside handovers, and safety huddles.
Using the data she gathered, Graciela coordinated a process improvement (Kaizen) event that brought together nursing leaders from every facility in the organization. She shared core project objectives to help guide the conversation and output of the Kaizen event, including the importance of placing the patient firmly at the centre of their own care conversations.
This approach was aimed at helping patients feel included in their recovery journey while also shining a light on potential safety issues. Graciela also outlined the need to redefine what it meant for nurses to be “in the know” by distinguishing essential must know information from good to know details to help streamline shift change activities while ensuring that crucial patient information remained top of mind.
Finally, she called attention to the variations in the frequency, timing, and information within the bedside handover and safety huddle processes, which led to inconsistent experiences for both nursing staff and patients.
During the Kaizen event, Graciela encouraged open dialogue, challenged longstanding assumptions, and ensured that every voice in the room was heard leading to the development of clear, evidence based recommendations for a future state handover and safety huddle process that aligned directly with the project’s core objectives.
These recommendations included:
1. Creating operational definitions to ensure consistency and clarity across the division
2. Guidelines for the content and structure of the safety briefings, bedside handovers, and safety huddles. Instructions were created for when the processes should happen during the day, the physical location of the processes, who should be included, and what should be discussed.
3. Setting clear timing expectations for each process, leading to a total of 30 minutes for safety briefings and bedside handovers and 15 minutes per safety huddle. The 30-minute maximum helps ensure the outgoing staff leaves on time while the incoming staff has a smooth beginning of the shift.
4. Making the patient a member of their care team. Nurses would no longer have a conversation about the patient using third-person language, but rather would speak with the patient about how they are feeling, their goals for the upcoming shift, and feedback they may have. This dialogue between nurses and patients creates an environment where patients can feel heard and valued. It also allows nurses the opportunity to identify potential safety issues based on the patient’s feedback and provide education on how to avoid them. The Nurses also conduct visible patient and room checks, eg wound checks, infusion checks and medications in the room, to improve safety and communication.
After the Kaizen event, Graciela then took on the complex task of securing feedback and approval from the division and facility Chief Nursing Officers. Her thoughtful presentation of the data and her ability to translate frontline experiences into actionable improvements earned strong support.
With that endorsement, she led the rollout of the new processes across all facilities in August 2025, ensuring that each site received the guidance, training, and support needed for successful adoption.
A defining strength of her work was the deliberate, disciplined approach she brought to sustainability. She developed a comprehensive control plan to monitor compliance, reinforce best practices, and ensure the longevity of the improvements through the utilization of process owners on every relevant ward.
These process owners complete regularly scheduled audits to ensure compliance with an escalation process to their facility leadership and Graciela should there be an issue or question. Based on the audit results, the process owners are then responsible for following up with the team to provide feedback and any necessary training.
Graciela also shared the output of this project with the Clinical Operations and Quality Governance teams, so they can observe these processes when visiting a facility and provide feedback to the team, facility leadership, and Graciela.
She also has plans for the first quarter of 2026 to spend a week with each facility to observe, provide feedback, and reinforce the processes where necessary.
This ongoing commitment to long-term success demonstrates not only leadership but also a deep respect for the staff and patients who benefit from the changes.
Through reflection, data-driven learning, and courageous collaboration, she transformed a complex organizational challenge into a meaningful and lasting improvement in care.
Her leadership has elevated the quality, consistency, and safety of bedside communication across the entire system.
Thank you, Graciela, for your exceptional compassion, advocacy, and dedication to your patients. You truly make a difference.
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