When Coleen Wilson, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, took over the helm as chief nursing officer for UCLA West Valley Medical Center, she was excited about the possibilities while also mindful of the challenges of bringing WVMC up to the world-class standards patients have come to expect from UCLA Health.
Though the hospital was under-resourced in certain areas, Dr. Wilson recalls, one thing stood out: WVMC nurses have tremendous heart. And at no time was that more evident than during the devastating LA wildfires that broke out across the area in January.
Dr. Wilson explains: “We had a fire that broke out about a mile and a half away from our hospital, and we have a large number of staff who live in that area. They were quickly placed under mandatory evacuation zones, and they were panicking. I told them, ‘Go home, take care of your family. We’ll figure out how we’re going to manage everything in the moment. But right now you need to go and focus on your family and their well-being.’”
A number of the nurses left. About six hours later, Dr. Wilson was rounding when she saw several of the nurses who had been sent home. She asked them if the evacuation orders had been lifted, and they said no. She asked them if their family got out safely, and they said yes.
“So I asked them, ‘Why did you come back?’ And they looked at me, and they said, ‘My family is safe now, and I’m worried about my family here. The fires aren’t that far away. And I want to be here to support my team and my patients.’”
At that moment, Dr. Wilson says, she knew she was in the right place.
“I’m telling you, it brings tears to my eyes to think about it,” she says. “It wasn’t just one nurse — there were several nurses who did that. And I’ve not seen that before.”
The Feeling of Community
When UCLA Health acquired West Hills Hospital and Medical Center — now UCLA West Valley Medical Center — in the spring of 2024, it offered San Fernando Valley residents convenient access to one of the most advanced and comprehensive health care systems in the world.
With 260 beds, the hospital provides high-quality, patient-centered care across a range of specialties. It houses LA County’s first accredited Chest Pain Center and the Advanced Wound Care Center, which uses the latest technologies to treat chronic or non-healing wounds.
“This is a community hospital,” says Dr. Wilson, who is also an assistant adjunct professor at the UCLA School of Nursing. “But the beauty that it brings with it is a really strong sense of community that transcends the hospital and the outpatient area. It really is about the community and the feel of the community. And I think that piece — you can feel it when you walk through the doors.”
The nursing team numbers around 400, and what stands out to Dr. Wilson is the level of clinical practice experience.
“We have nurses who have been working at the former West Hills Hospital for almost 40 years at the bedside, and I would say the average is at least 15 to 20, which gives us a plethora of people to help integrate our newer generation of nurses into what nursing is all about,” she says.
Dr. Wilson appreciates the high retention rate at UCLA Health — almost 90% of nurses onboarded stay in the system — which she notes benefits nurses and helps elevate nursing practice across the system.
“I’m very appreciative of the experience that this hospital itself has brought and I’m looking forward to identifying how West Valley is going to shift into UCLA practice with that experience,” she says.
Specialized Unit
WVMC is also home to the UCLA Health Regional Burn Center, which provides acute burn wound care, outpatient burn care, reconstructive surgery, rehabilitation services, psychological counseling and burn survivor support.
Nurses in the burn unit are trained to provide specialized care including dressing techniques, fluid resuscitation (vital in the first 48–72 hours), temperature regulation for hypothermic patients and complex pain management coordination.
Mariah Gonzalez, RN, has worked in the unit for four years. She describes her unit as close-knit and always willing to help those from other units who are unfamiliar with burn protocol.
“I think the most rewarding part is having burns that we don’t expect the best outcomes in and then seeing the patient go home,” she says. “Just seeing that progression and the patient being able to move on with their life, even after going through probably one of the most traumatic things in their life — it’s all you can hope for being a nurse.”
Early Challenges
From the day the UCLA Health name was put on the doors at WVMC, patients began coming in droves, Dr. Wilson says, driving their budgeted census from 112 to about 160 and tasking nurses with caring for patients in a very tight space.
It was a chaotic time, but the nursing team rose to the challenge, she adds, finding ways to provide exceptional care with limited resources.
“I remember walking around from unit to unit with a big bag of gummy bears,” Dr. Wilson says. “And I was saying, ‘I don’t have nurses, and I don’t have care partners. But I have hugs and gummy bears.’ And the nurses would laugh and giggle. They said, ‘It’s OK, Coleen, we’ve got this. We’ll still give excellent care.’”
Major overhauls have been completed to successfully integrate WVMC into the UCLA Health system, including implementation of new ISS technology management infrastructure in March.
It amounted to more than simply going live with CareConnect, Dr. Wilson explains.
“We had new telephone systems, we had new overhead codes, we had new paging systems — there was a list of about 20 different things that were switched in one day,” she recalls.
“And they did it so gracefully. Within two weeks, the nursing team responded, ‘OK, we’ve got this.’ Never once did I hear a negative thing. It’s always been, ‘Let’s figure out how to make it happen,’ which I think is spectacular.”
Value in Change
In March, the units unveiled performance dashboards they started creating in fall 2024. This data helps them to track — and improve — patient outcomes through their nursing sensitive indicators and patient satisfaction scores. They’ve also begun shifting to a shared decision-making model, forming Unit Practice Councils to empower nurse decision-making through Nursing’s professional governance structure.
Dr. Wilson believes her staff is in a unique position to shape the future of Nursing at WVMC.
“What I’m asking everybody to do is culture change,” she explains. “You know, we’ve done it this way in the past, and it’s worked for the last 25 to 30 years. Why do you want us to do it any differently? And the fun work, for me, is helping them understand the value in change, growth and exceptional patient care.”
Gonzalez says the changes have been welcome. She appreciates the addition of the Kindness Cart, more staff appreciation activities, and leadership being responsive to staff needs.
“It makes us feel heard and, in turn, we’re able to do our job better,” she says. “It’s just a great feeling to have that sense of community and willingness to help.”
Dr. Wilson, who has been with UCLA Health for more than 20 years, predicts the future growth of WVMC will be “quite spectacular.”
“I watched Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center grow from a community hospital to a tertiary care center, and I feel like that’s where we can complete this,” she says. “It’s going to take a village, but we have an amazing village to work with.”
"I’m very appreciative of the experience that this hospital itself has brought and I’m looking forward to identifying how West Valley is going to shift into UCLA practice with that experience."
Coleen Wilson, DNP, RN, NEA-BC
Chief Nursing Officer, UCLA West Valley Medical Center
