My Nursing Career
UPMC has an extraordinary nursing team. UPMC nurses are an integral part of our patient and family focused environment in which nurses themselves create, design, support, and transform care. The foundation of innovation, clinical experts driving nursing practice, and evidence-based practice is well established and recognized for our nurses.
My Nursing Career allows nurses to spend their careers at UPMC with an amazing variety of settings, specialties, and almost endless roles. UPMC nurses can grow and develop in countless directions. UPMC nurses have the ability to build their career by tailoring choices of settings and specialties, and the ability to transfer among them, to grow and build an impressive professional skill set and professional portfolio, as well as experiences within one system. Nurses can begin a career with us in one area and then choose to reach out to many specialties, changing direction as interests develop and careers grow.
More importantly, as you grow and progress in your career with us, you will maintain your years of service throughout, as well as maintain your system seniority, benefit plans, paid time off (PTO) and increased PTO accrual amounts, and retirement programs in which you participate.
The program is rooted in the sentinel research conducted by noted author, lecturer, and University of California, San Francisco, nursing professor Patricia Benner, RN, who wrote “From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice."
My Nursing Career is designed around five levels of progressive clinical nursing practice:
My Nursing Career — Levels
Staff Nurse
This is an entry-level position for new graduates during their first year of practice at the bedside. It is intended to be a novice level of practice in which new graduates learn their roles and develop skills and abilities, often through the mentoring of a more experienced nurse. In order to progress to a Professional Staff Nurse, a nurse must successfully complete licensure requirements, have six months to one year of experience, and receive a satisfactory good/solid/strong appraisal on their most recent performance evaluation
Professional Staff Nurse
This position is designed to recognize and reward UPMC’s skilled and knowledgeable registered nurses. Staff nurses can progress to this level in a minimum of six months and nurses may choose to remain at this level throughout their careers. Experienced nurses joining UPMC most often enter at this level. Incremental salary increases are based on performance and experience. As their experience grows, professional staff nurses are increasingly relied upon to serve as patient care leaders and to serve as preceptors for new nurses.
A bachelor’s of science degree in nursing is preferred but not required.
Senior Professional Staff Nurse
This position is designed for nurses who want to continue to advance their careers. As their experience and expertise grows, senior professional staff nurses are increasing relied upon to serve as unit leaders. They serve as role models for professional nursing practice by serving as recognized leaders in one or more of the following areas: clinical expert, staff or patient educator/teacher, specialized resource nurse, and/or through evidenced based practice. Incremental salary increases are based on performance and experience.
Promotion to this level requires:
- A minimum of two years of experience.
- A good/solid/strong appraisal on their most recent Professional Staff Nurse performance evaluation.
- An annual performance appraisal of good/solid/strong or above to maintain the position.
- A current UPMC-approved Nursing certification. UPMC’s tuition assistance program supports certification. Nurses with a master’s or doctorate degree in Nursing are not required to achieve certification.
- On an annual basis, nurses in this position must identify and successfully complete a pre-approved professional contribution that supports UPMC’s nursing goals. Examples of professional contributions include a patient satisfaction improvement initiative, a work redesign project, recruitment or retention initiative, or a staff development initiative.
- A bachelor’s of science degree in nursing is preferred at this level but not required.
Clinician or Primary Nurse Care Coordinator (PNCC)
There are a limited number of these roles per unit at this level to which nurses apply as positions become available. Clinicians are primarily responsible for serving as leaders in clinical nursing practice, identifying patient and staff focused opportunities for improvement and leading the change process. PNCC’s are primarily responsible for leading and clinically managing a caseload of patients. These positions are exempt.
These professional promotions require:
- A minimum of 3 years of experience.
- A bachelor’s of science degree in nursing is required. A master’s degree (MSN or CNL) is preferred.
- Demonstrated performance in leadership and patient care with potential for growth.
Unit Director
There are a limited number of roles at this level to which nurses can apply when available. Unit Directors are responsible for Unit operational leadership. These professional promotions require:
- A minimum of 4 years of progressive leadership experience required with relevant clinical experience preferred.
- a BSN required at time of hire or transfer into position. A master's degree in Nursing or related health care field required, either at time of hire/transfer, or must be enrolled in a program within one year of hire/transfer date and completed within three years of enrollment.
- Demonstrated performance in operational leadership or patient and staff education.
