Discovering nursing excellence through appreciative inquiry

University of Kentucky/Kentucky Children's Hospital (UKH/KCH) is a 473-bed, licensed, quaternary, full-service, acute care facility. This teaching facility provides clinical experiences for nursing, pharmacy, chaplain, medicine, nutrition, social services, diagnostic technicians, and rehabilitation services. As a major referral center and Level I trauma center, bed availability and patient throughput are extremely important, and adequate numbers of qualified registered nurses are critical to those initiatives.