Ascension Saint Francis

Faithful to the spirit of our Sponsors, Saint Francis Hospital exists to witness God’s sustaining love through compassionate family-centered care. The nurse staff at Saint Francis Hospital is committed to clinical excellence. We work together to foster a safe, supportive, and caring environment in which trust, growth, and healing can take place. We promote an environment of care which respects the diverse needs of patients, families and co-workers. We hold ourselves accountable for delivering excellent quality of care and for improving the health and well-being of the community which we serve.

About us

Saint Francis Hospital was founded in 1901 by a Franciscan Order of Catholic Sisters in Evanston, Illinois. Saint Francis Hospital joined the Resurrection Health Care System in 2001. The co-sponsorship and governance of Resurrection Health Care has been by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth and Sister of Resurrection. For more than a century, our Sponsors have provided compassionate charity care to those in need, particularly the poor, marginalized and immigrant populations. In 2011, Resurrection Healthcare merged with Provena Healthcare to become Presence Health, the largest Catholic Healthcare Organization in the State of Illinois. In March 2018, Saint Francis and all of Presence Health was acquired by Amita Health, a faith-based non-profit healthcare organization. Amita Health was owned by the parent organization of Ascension Health. In 2022, Amita Health was dissolved and Saint Francis became fully integrated within Ascension. Ascension is one of the largest non-profit and Catholic healthcare organizations in the United States. If you are interested in becoming a part of this journey to excellence, please look at our open nursing positions.

Ascension Saint Francis is proud to be a community hospital in the North Shore area that delivers specialty care, 24/7 emergency care, inpatient and outpatient services to the community we serve. Find out more about our mission, vision, and values. 

Exemplary professional practice

Dr. Jean Watson’s theory of human caring is the Professional Practice Model that our Saint Francis nurses follow. Within this framework are 10 CARITAS, which are:

1. Formation of humanistic-altruistic system of values
   • Treats self and others with kindness
   • Honors and respects self and others
2. Instillation of faith-hope
   • Learn about others hopes and believes and incorporate them into care plan
   • Appropriate attention and encouragement
3. Cultivation of sensitivity to oneself and others
   • Practice self-reflection, gratitude, forgiveness, compassion
   • Transform tasks into healing interactions
4. Developing of a helping-trusting (human caring) relationship
   • Practice non-judgmental attitudes
   • Promote direct, constructive, healthy communication
5. Promotion and acceptance of the expression of positive and negative feelings
   • Help to see good in any situation
   • Allows for uncertainty and ability to deal with negativity
6. Systematic use of the scientific problem-solving method of decision-making
   • Encourage questions and discussion
   • Help explore alternative ways to approach respective situations
7. Promotion of interpersonal teaching-learning
   • Active listening to others and being actively present
   • Participation in collaborative efforts
8. Provision for a supportive, protective, and or corrective mental, physical, sociocultural, and spiritual environment
   • Creates healing environment, including a physical space (cleanliness, limited noise)
   • Promotes and demonstrates caring intentions
9. Assistance with gratification of human needs
   • Respect for others’ needs, believes, privacy, perceptions
   • Appropriate inclusion and comforting of family and significant others
10. Allowance of existential-phenomenological forces
    • Acknowledges that not everything is known or defined
    • Supports hope and opportunity/possibility

Nursing excellence honors and distinctions

Ascension Saint Francis has received many recognitions for our clinical excellence and commitment to patients. 

Clinical matrix

The Ascension Saint Francis Clinical Excellence Matrix is part of the Ascension Illinois Clinical Excellence Matrix. There are two levels of the matrix, both offering opportunities and incentives to receive the clinical matrix. This Matrix is standardized for all clinical nurses and the purpose and philosophy of this initiative is to:

• Sustain an environment that attracts and retains the highest caliber nurse with the skills to heal and the spirit to care.
• Provide nurses with the framework to advance their cognitive and technical skills and evaluate their professional growth along the continuum of novice to expert.
• Recognize and reward nurses for professional achievements which have been demonstrated to improve overall patient care and outcomes.
• Exemplify the care delivery model of Relationship Based Care by demonstrating components of the model throughout the RN’s professional advancement.

Shared governance

At Ascension Saint Francis, our frontline nurses participate in Shared Governance. Shared Governance is the formal infrastructure to promote a journey of excellence involving those who provide direct patient care. In Shared Governance, there is a strong focus on all aspects of nursing practice and includes sub-councils in Clinical Practice and Performance Improvement. Our Shared Governance Council has achieved a number of initiatives to help build the culture of Ascension Saint Francis and ensure that their voices are heard. Some of these initiatives include:

• Mentorship Program
• 360 Performance Feedback
• Daisy Award Recognition
• Bee Award Recognition for Care Team Associates
• Team Daisy Recognition
• Gift of Hope Flag Raising Ceremony
• Clinical Chatter

Publications and research

Ascension Saint Francis is innovative and is one of the first to be at the forefront of innovation. We are currently working on a number of publications and research projects.