Dayton Children's chief nurse executive announces retirement

After 10 years of leading Dayton Children’s nursing staff, Renae Phillips, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, vice president for patient care services and chief nurse executive will retire January 31.

Renae may be best known for leading Dayton Children’s to a pinnacle moment - becoming one of only 7 percent of hospitals in the country to achieve Magnet® designation in 2013. Magnet recognizes health care organizations for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice.

It’s a great achievement and not surprising that Renae led the accreditation for the hospital, as her focus has always been on making Dayton Children’s the safest children’s hospital in Ohio. She worked tirelessly to advance the profession of nursing, championing improvements in collaboration, accountability and bringing research from books to bedside to improve overall medical care for patients. It’s easy to see what those improvements mean to the patient in a video Dayton Children’s recently created, entitled, “Our Very Best.”

Renae not only drove these changes at Dayton Children’s, but also at a state level. She serves on the Nursing 2015 Committee, contributing to the development of the State’s Safe Staffing Law. She has also been an active leader for the Ohio Children’s Hospital Solutions for Patient Safety and serves on the Ohio Action Coalition Steering Committee representing the Ohio Hospital Association.

Renae’s administrative responsibility at Dayton Children’s covered all inpatient care areas, as well as trauma and emergency services, surgical and physician services, respiratory care, patient transport and Children’s Home Care of Dayton.

Her other accomplishments include:

• Leading Dayton Children’s to re-verification as a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center and achieving “gold” from the Commission on Cancer.
• Establishing key programs in the community including:
  • The Combat Readiness Program in collaboration with Wright-Patterson, ensuring Air Force nurses are trained in pediatric medical care
  • The Partners in Practice Program, providing nearly 50 nurses at community hospitals with pediatric experience
• Co-leading the implementation of EPIC electronic medical records system for inpatient units and other areas.
• Serving on the executive steering committee for the Southwest Ohio Neonatal Collaborative, the care alliance between the neonatal intensive care units at Dayton Children’s and Miami Valley.
• Serving as an advocate for nurse education and advancement, developing the IMPACTS clinical advancement program, and chairing the Allied Health Professional Steering Committee, which led to a significant increase in the number of Advanced Practice Nurses.
• Serving as an advisor for the school of nursing at Cedarville University and Wright State University.

While Renae’s shoes will certainly be hard to fill, a national executive search will be underway for a new vice president for patient care services and chief nurse executive.

For more information, contact:

Stacy Porter

Communications specialist

Phone: 937-641-3666

porters@childrensdayton.org