Baylor Health Care System Names New Chief Nursing Officer
Event Offered at Six Baylor Health Care System Hospitals
Contact: Wendy Walker, (214) 820-4581Email: wendyw@baylorhealth.edu
(DALLAS, Jan. 16, 2007) -- Rosemary Luquire, R.N., Ph.D., has been named Baylor Health Care System's chief nursing officer (CNO). On Jan. 1, Dr. Luquire began her role as the Baylor senior executive team leader responsible for directing and facilitating Baylor Health Care System's standards of nursing practices, policies and procedures.
"My goal is to further involve nurses in decision making pertaining to work design and work flow as we advance the delivery of safe, timely, efficient, effective, equitable, and patient-centered care across Baylor Health Care System," Dr. Luquire says.
Dr. Luquire comes to Baylor from St. Luke's Episcopal Health System in Houston where she most recently served as CNO, senior vice president and chief quality officer. She was responsible for overseeing the health care system's professional nursing practice and the quality improvement program.
"Dr. Luquire is a well-respected clinician who has earned a reputation for research-based practice, minimal staff turnover and an unfailing commitment to quality and safety in the delivery of patient care, staff retention and cost-effective operations," said Gary Brock, chief operating officer, Baylor Health Care System.
A graduate of Emory University, Dr. Luquire earned her Ph.D. from Texas Woman's University (TWU) and her master's degree in nursing from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UT). Dr. Luquire holds joint faculty appointments at both TWU and UT, and has been named as an outstanding alumna by both schools. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, a commissioner for the Magnet Commission in Washington, D.C., and is a member of the American Nurses Association, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and the national and local chapters of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
In 2006, Dr. Luquire was the David J. Fine Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Southern Mississippi. Always active in her professional community, she currently serves on the Chief Nursing Officers Council, University Health System Consortium, the board of directors of Houston Hospice and Palliative Care System, and on the McDonald Fund Grants Committee. Additionally, she has applied evidence-based practices that are recognized as best practices by JCAHO and collaborated with local community organizations to increase enrollment within Texas nursing schools.
In 1991, Dr. Luquire spearheaded the development of outcomes management-which focused on measurement with an emphasis to improve patient and institutional outcomes-the precursor to the current phase of evidence-based practice. It was through this program and other initiatives under Dr. Luquire that St. Luke's became the first nursing Magnet-designated hospital in Texas and in the southwestern United States.
Baylor Health Care System is a network of hospitals, primary care and specialty care centers, rehabilitation clinics, affiliated ambulatory surgery centers and the Baylor Research Institute. One of the largest private-sector employers in Dallas/Fort Worth, Baylor employs more than 16,000 people and has more than 3,300 physicians on its medical staffs. Baylor University Medical Center, flagship hospital of the system, is a major patient care, teaching and research center for the Southwest. For fiscal year 2006, Baylor Health Care System will report $407 million in community benefit to the Department of State Health Services.