- Email: [email protected]
Melissa Fitzpatrick, RN, MSN, FAAN
Leader to Watch Melissa Fitzpatrick, RN, MSN, FAAN Robert Hess, RN, PhD, FAAN
RH: We both come from the same
part of the country, one that is rich in nurse leaders. Can you tell me what brought you into nursing? MF: After seeing a Gidget movie when I was 10, I planned on being Gidget starring in “Melissa Goes to the UN.” I became fluent in three languages and lived abroad in high school, planning to become an interpreter. Then I had a revelation that English would become everyone’s second language and that my linguistic services would not be
14
Nurse Leader
needed. When I discussed this with my parents, they reminded me that I had always loved children and had run my own babysitting business since I was 12. They suggested that I look into becoming a pediatric nurse, and I did. I did not last long in pediatrics because we lost several children to leukemia in my first clinical rotation, but I fell in love with the critical care environment. I became a staff nurse in a Philadelphia ICU at age 19 and built my career on all that I learned from the amazing mentors and teachers I found there. RH: What early events propelled you to your first leadership positions? MF: I was taken under the wings of phenomenal clinical nurses early in my career and quickly realized that nursing is the heart of patient care and a true lifeline for patients and their families. My role models taught me how to prioritize, to think critically, and to assert myself as an advocate for my patients and for myself. It wasn’t long before I began to teach others, both informally at the bedside as a preceptor and charge nurse and formally as a critical care educator.When my chief nurse executive (CNE), Carol Hutelmyer, took
a chance on me and allowed me to establish a critical care course at our hospital, a world of opportunity opened for me. I started to teach critical care nurses and realized that I loved speaking in public and translating difficult critical care concepts to novices in the specialty. I was presenting to a class one afternoon when the faculty member heard my presentation on sudden cardiac death and suggested that I submit it for presentation at a national conference.This launched my speaking career and gained my access to an incredible network of colleagues. I joined the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) in 1984 and started to research and present critical care topics at local, regional, and national conferences. I was blessed to meet critical care leaders who took my breath away. They mentored me to become a very busy presenter, author, and consultant, and when some of them encouraged me to run for the AACN national board of directors, I took their advice and was elected on my first try. I served as treasurer for 3 years, presidentelect for 1 year, and president from 1995 to 1996. The experience of serving the largest specialty nursing organization in the world was life and career altering. My network expanded exponentially, and through it, I learned that the answer to any question that I could ever have was just one phone call away. To this day my AACN mentors, Wanda Johanson (CEO of AACN) and past presidents Marianne Chulay, Ann Evans, and many others, continue to guide me both personally and professionally. I always say that everything I have ever learned or have become I owe to my parents and to AACN.
February 2012
RH: You have enjoyed some career
mobility. What positions rank significantly in fashioning your leadership style? MF: I vividly remember going to Carol Hutelmyer in Philadelphia and telling her that I wanted to be her first critical care clinical nurse specialist and to run her first critical care course. She smiled at me (because I was so young and naive) and simply said, “Write it up, and let’s try it. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.” Thanks to her support, my plans worked out very well, and I have used her quote as the basis for my leadership in every role since then. I left Philadelphia in 1986 to manage a busy multidisciplinary ICU at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center [DHMC] in Hanover, New Hampshire. Within a few months, someone took a chance on me again, and Sandy Dickau promoted me to become the youngest ever vice president at DHMC, leading critical care and cardiac services. I loved every day in that role and working with an extraordinary team that achieved many milestones, including the creation of the first helicopter pro-
www.nurseleader.com
gram in that region of New England and designing and successfully moving into a brand-new facility in Lebanon, New Hampshire. I continued to hone my leadership style and met many bumps in the road, being so young and idealistic. Luckily, Sandy Dickau, Pam Thompson (current chief executive officer of the American Organization of Nurse Executives [AONE]), Kay Clark (our CNO and then president of AONE), and Linda Cronenwett (now dean emerita at the University of North Carolina School of Nursing) were with me for 12 years to support and teach me and to empower me to grow my leadership chops under their tutelage. From Dartmouth, I was recruited to Duke University Health System to become the senior associate chief operating officer and CNE. It was an exhilarating time and an opportunity to spread my leadership wings even further, solidifying a shared governance model, empowering team members, and navigating a culture in need of change. The basketball was pretty terrific, too!
After leaving Duke, I explored opportunities that I might never have considered but not for the support and sage counsel of trusted family and colleagues. I became editor in chief of Nursing Management Journal and lead the annual Nursing Management Congress for several years. It was a chance to reconnect with colleagues and authors from all over the country and to resume my speaking career. My network led me to my first foray into industry when I went to SAS, the world’s largest privately held software company, to create a healthcare practice that used business intelligence software to help health system leaders manage their data and to become more evidence-based in their work. I learned so much about data, measurement, and industry partnership, and those 6 years at SAS prepared me for my current role at Hill-Rom. RH: What do you have to say about careful, proactive planning in plotting a leadership trajectory? MF: Well, my first thought is that the most careful, proactive planning doesn’t always get you what you think it will! I have had so many phenomenal
Nurse Leader
15
opportunities in my career, and most of them came about when I least expected them and when I was not aware of how much I needed that change at that time. Luckily, I seemed to always be in a position to have an open mind and a safety net to try new things, and I have always landed on my feet. I remember being a smart-aleck ICU staff nurse, thinking that if I were ever a chief nurse I would do this, that, and the other—never thinking I would ever have that opportunity or want it. When presented with that career path, I tried to remember what it was like at the bedside being pulled in every direction, and I made executive decisions with the patient and the care nurse at the top of my mind. I never thought I would leave the hospital setting after almost 25 years. When the opportunity at SAS presented itself, I found an unanticipated niche in building balanced scorecards and translating data into actionable information for my C-suite colleagues across the country. Now with Hill-Rom—again thanks to a colleague who invited me in—I have had the chance to forge a role within industry and to help our organization make a difference every day in the lives of patients and their caregivers. I suggest that you surround yourself with trusted advisors, be willing to try new things, and know that, as a nurse leader, your resilience will serve you well and keep you energized about the unlimited possibilities in our profession and industry. Having the unwavering support of my husband and sons has allowed me to follow my career dreams and to be as excited about my profession today as I was when I first began.
16
Nurse Leader
RH: You have a unique job right now. How would you describe it and its potential for moving and shaking our profession? MF: I have the privilege of serving as the first-ever chief clinical officer at Hill-Rom, a large med-tech company that provides point-of-care solutions that enable safe and efficient patient care delivery. When my colleagues heard I was going to work at Hill-Rom, they asked what could I possibly do at the “bed company” and accused me of going to the “other side.” My experience has been nothing short of illuminating at many levels. I have helped my colleagues see the impact that nurse leaders in industry can have on clinical outcomes, cost effectiveness, technology adoption, and elevation of the profession. Traveling most days of the week to engage healthcare executives allows me to keep my finger on the pulse of issues that affect patient care delivery and to help to translate those issues into solutions that can have a lasting influence on patient and caregiver safety. Our footprint across the world is expansive, and to be part of such an innovative, socially responsible, and patient-centered organization is fulfilling. Having hundreds of nurses in our company who bring the voice of our customers to every discussion ensures that our people, processes, and technology are patient-centered, evidence-based, and value added. Every day, I strive to help our customers and colleagues to see us as a partner in clinical quality and not merely as a vendor. Elevating discussions about clinical technology beyond supply chain and procurement offices and into the C-suite and boardroom is the only way to make sure that
February 2012
decisions are made in support of patient and caregiver safety and not merely based on price alone. As a peer to the key decision-makers in our customer base, and as an executive who has been our customer, I am able to engage them as a thought leader, colleague, and clinical advisor and to articulate the things that truly differentiate us from all others. My mission is to elevate our discussions to the key decision-makers and to elevate the profession of nursing at the same time. As an industry partner, I have been able to facilitate transformation through publications, research, speaking, and engagements and as a convener of thought leaders. For example, soon after taking this position, I established the first HillRom Chief Nurse Executive Advisory Board, recognizing that CNEs are accountable for clinical quality and decision making around clinical technology. This board is made up of 20 incredible nurse executives who are leading some of the most cutting edge, innovative, and outcome-driven healthcare delivery systems and organizations in the world. They generously share their insights, feedback, and colleagueship and make us better partners and better innovators. I also manage our educational grants program and am so proud that my company continues to generously support the work of the DAISY Foundation, The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, FNINR [Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research], AONE, AACN, and The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau to name a few. We are in the third year of The Joint Commission Resources/Hill-Rom Patient Safety Scholar Program, which has yielded several peer-reviewed publications, a robust pressure ulcer program inventory tool, and a highly anticipated pressure ulcer riskadjustment model. Gaining access to these incredible organizations that share our mission and values has been transformational from a patient care perspective and for me personally. It is my hope that through these initiatives, we will be seen as colleagues, collaborators, and conveners, not just a vendor. Using our resources to support work that is transformational is so much more gratifying for all. These are just a few ways that I am using this role to move and shake the profession and the industry! RH: How have your fellow chief nurses received you in this industry role? MF: I am thrilled that I have been warmly accepted in this role and that my CNE colleagues are welcoming and open to my message. Having a CNE as the chief clinical officer when many other med-tech companies have a physician in this role certainly makes a statement in and of itself, and that has been widely acknowledged and appreciated in the 150 customer visits that I do each year. I’ve only had one bad meeting in almost 5 years in which the CNO told my team member (also a nurse) and me that we could “peddle our wares at the bed fair,” totally missing the point of my visit. It is an ongoing evolution and we will continue to educate and to enlighten. My colleagues are phenomenal and among the best and brightest that I have ever worked with in my career. I www.nurseleader.com
encourage them to continue their hard work to establish credibility, gain trust, keep their promises, and share proof points on the clinical outcomes that we enable. I know that those are the ways to become a true partner and that the majority of those we serve really want and appreciate that. We will be vigilant in chipping away at the old view of industry and the commoditization of our portfolio. I am always sure to walk my own talk by treating all colleagues with respect and by putting the needs of patients and their caregivers first. RH: Is there anything that you have learned in your industry role that has alarmed you? MF: One thing that has surprised me and that I am determined to change is the abdication of many CNEs of their role in clinical technology decision-making. Time and again, I meet with CNE peers who have delegated the decisions on monitors, pumps, beds, nurse-call systems, etc., to the staff nurses and their managers and have totally disengaged from the process. In many cases, I see decisions that are short sighted, penny wise and pound foolish, and not in the best interest of patients or their caregivers. Even in the most robust shared-governance models, the chief nurse still has an essential role to play in strategic decision-making related to industry partnerships and the integration of clinical technology at the point of care. I was stunned to see how often the voice of nursing is really not sought or heard when these expensive and longlasting decisions are being made. I try to elevate this issue in conversation with every healthcare leader I meet. In addition, I partnered with AONE to convene a Day of Dialogue that resulted in the publication of the “Guiding Principles for Nurse Leaders to Leverage Technology to Enhance Outcomes for Patients and Their Caregivers.” I was able to present this work with my AONE colleague Judy Husted at the HIMSS [Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society] conference, and I have seen these guiding principles serve as a great resource to nurse leaders as they approach technology decisions. RH: Tell me about your journey to leadership and some of the key moments that were decisive to you in affirming your own personal leadership. MF: I have had several disappointments and losses, both personally and professionally. With each one, I have gained clarity on my personal bottom line, articulated my core values and integrity, and demonstrated the resilience of nurse leaders and the human spirit. With each challenge, I vowed to share my story and, hopefully, give a voice to those who have experienced the same thing and to prevent it from happening to others. Having the platform to speak from and the network to engage in such rich dialogue has informed my leadership style and has made me better in all aspects of my life. I am still on my leadership journey and continue to learn from those at work and those we serve. I have been blessed with trusted advisors and mentors all along the way and continue to rely on them heavily. I have had the chance in my most recent two roles to exert tremendous influence on the role definition and on the way that it is executed across large and dynamic organizations. This takes
Nurse Leader
17
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Current position: Vice president and chief clinical officer, Hill-Rom Education: BSN, Gwynedd-Mercy College, MSN, University of Pennsylvania First job in nursing: Worked as a nursing assistant throughout nursing school and then as a staff nurse in the coronary care/medical intensive care unit after graduation Being in a leadership role gives me the opportunity to: Enhance outcomes for patients and their caregivers Most people don’t know that I: Enjoyed skydiving many years ago! My best advice for aspiring leaders: It’s a very small profession and industry, so don’t burn any bridges. One thing I want to learn: To put myself on my to-do list One word to describe me: Exuberant
substantial support from everyone on the team and a willingness to try new things and to reinvent myself. I have found being new and being the “first ever” to be humbling, challenging, and extremely fulfilling. It takes an exorbitant amount of energy to constantly educate and re-educate, helping those within and outside my company to recognize us as a true healthcare organization and to really understand what that means from a clinical, competency, and collaborative perspective. I have had many moments as chief cheerleader when I saw the “aha moment” in a customer’s face or the light bulb get brighter in a team member’s mindset. Hearing patients tell their stories of how our people and our portfolio saved their lives or kept them safe from harm is incredibly gratifying. These moments affirm and validate my mission and my passion for this work and remind me of the opportunity that I have to significantly influence healthcare delivery and to be a transformational leader in our industry. RH: What has been your seminal leadership work? MF: This May, I will celebrate my 35th anniversary in nursing. As a nurse, I have traveled the world, made lifelong friends, and made a difference in the lives of patients, families, and colleagues. I never thought at age 19 that nursing would open the doors to the places, roles, relationships, and organizations that it has. I have been given tremendous opportunities to serve and to lead, and I am grateful for each of them. Working within hospitals, professional associations, and industry have all afforded me the chance to contribute at high levels, to mentor others, and to ensure that we always remember that our roles exist to honor and serve the patients in our care. I hope that I haven’t had my swan song yet, and plan to continue to make a difference for a long time to come. I thought that I would be an interpreter at the UN. Instead, I’ve worked for almost 35 years to interpret patient and caregiver needs and to translate them into solutions and best practices. Maybe I grew up to be Gidget after all! NL Robert Hess, RN, PhD, FAAN, is the founder of the Forum for Shared Governance and executive vice president of global programming for Gannett Healthcare Group. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photography by Alan Ingram © 2011 1541-4612/2012/ $ See front matter Copyright 2012 by Mosby Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mnl/2011.11.004
18
Nurse Leader
February 2012
RH: We both come from the same
part of the country, one that is rich in nurse leaders. Can you tell me what brought you into nursing? MF: After seeing a Gidget movie when I was 10, I planned on being Gidget starring in “Melissa Goes to the UN.” I became fluent in three languages and lived abroad in high school, planning to become an interpreter. Then I had a revelation that English would become everyone’s second language and that my linguistic services would not be
14
Nurse Leader
needed. When I discussed this with my parents, they reminded me that I had always loved children and had run my own babysitting business since I was 12. They suggested that I look into becoming a pediatric nurse, and I did. I did not last long in pediatrics because we lost several children to leukemia in my first clinical rotation, but I fell in love with the critical care environment. I became a staff nurse in a Philadelphia ICU at age 19 and built my career on all that I learned from the amazing mentors and teachers I found there. RH: What early events propelled you to your first leadership positions? MF: I was taken under the wings of phenomenal clinical nurses early in my career and quickly realized that nursing is the heart of patient care and a true lifeline for patients and their families. My role models taught me how to prioritize, to think critically, and to assert myself as an advocate for my patients and for myself. It wasn’t long before I began to teach others, both informally at the bedside as a preceptor and charge nurse and formally as a critical care educator.When my chief nurse executive (CNE), Carol Hutelmyer, took
a chance on me and allowed me to establish a critical care course at our hospital, a world of opportunity opened for me. I started to teach critical care nurses and realized that I loved speaking in public and translating difficult critical care concepts to novices in the specialty. I was presenting to a class one afternoon when the faculty member heard my presentation on sudden cardiac death and suggested that I submit it for presentation at a national conference.This launched my speaking career and gained my access to an incredible network of colleagues. I joined the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) in 1984 and started to research and present critical care topics at local, regional, and national conferences. I was blessed to meet critical care leaders who took my breath away. They mentored me to become a very busy presenter, author, and consultant, and when some of them encouraged me to run for the AACN national board of directors, I took their advice and was elected on my first try. I served as treasurer for 3 years, presidentelect for 1 year, and president from 1995 to 1996. The experience of serving the largest specialty nursing organization in the world was life and career altering. My network expanded exponentially, and through it, I learned that the answer to any question that I could ever have was just one phone call away. To this day my AACN mentors, Wanda Johanson (CEO of AACN) and past presidents Marianne Chulay, Ann Evans, and many others, continue to guide me both personally and professionally. I always say that everything I have ever learned or have become I owe to my parents and to AACN.
February 2012
RH: You have enjoyed some career
mobility. What positions rank significantly in fashioning your leadership style? MF: I vividly remember going to Carol Hutelmyer in Philadelphia and telling her that I wanted to be her first critical care clinical nurse specialist and to run her first critical care course. She smiled at me (because I was so young and naive) and simply said, “Write it up, and let’s try it. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.” Thanks to her support, my plans worked out very well, and I have used her quote as the basis for my leadership in every role since then. I left Philadelphia in 1986 to manage a busy multidisciplinary ICU at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center [DHMC] in Hanover, New Hampshire. Within a few months, someone took a chance on me again, and Sandy Dickau promoted me to become the youngest ever vice president at DHMC, leading critical care and cardiac services. I loved every day in that role and working with an extraordinary team that achieved many milestones, including the creation of the first helicopter pro-
www.nurseleader.com
gram in that region of New England and designing and successfully moving into a brand-new facility in Lebanon, New Hampshire. I continued to hone my leadership style and met many bumps in the road, being so young and idealistic. Luckily, Sandy Dickau, Pam Thompson (current chief executive officer of the American Organization of Nurse Executives [AONE]), Kay Clark (our CNO and then president of AONE), and Linda Cronenwett (now dean emerita at the University of North Carolina School of Nursing) were with me for 12 years to support and teach me and to empower me to grow my leadership chops under their tutelage. From Dartmouth, I was recruited to Duke University Health System to become the senior associate chief operating officer and CNE. It was an exhilarating time and an opportunity to spread my leadership wings even further, solidifying a shared governance model, empowering team members, and navigating a culture in need of change. The basketball was pretty terrific, too!
After leaving Duke, I explored opportunities that I might never have considered but not for the support and sage counsel of trusted family and colleagues. I became editor in chief of Nursing Management Journal and lead the annual Nursing Management Congress for several years. It was a chance to reconnect with colleagues and authors from all over the country and to resume my speaking career. My network led me to my first foray into industry when I went to SAS, the world’s largest privately held software company, to create a healthcare practice that used business intelligence software to help health system leaders manage their data and to become more evidence-based in their work. I learned so much about data, measurement, and industry partnership, and those 6 years at SAS prepared me for my current role at Hill-Rom. RH: What do you have to say about careful, proactive planning in plotting a leadership trajectory? MF: Well, my first thought is that the most careful, proactive planning doesn’t always get you what you think it will! I have had so many phenomenal
Nurse Leader
15
opportunities in my career, and most of them came about when I least expected them and when I was not aware of how much I needed that change at that time. Luckily, I seemed to always be in a position to have an open mind and a safety net to try new things, and I have always landed on my feet. I remember being a smart-aleck ICU staff nurse, thinking that if I were ever a chief nurse I would do this, that, and the other—never thinking I would ever have that opportunity or want it. When presented with that career path, I tried to remember what it was like at the bedside being pulled in every direction, and I made executive decisions with the patient and the care nurse at the top of my mind. I never thought I would leave the hospital setting after almost 25 years. When the opportunity at SAS presented itself, I found an unanticipated niche in building balanced scorecards and translating data into actionable information for my C-suite colleagues across the country. Now with Hill-Rom—again thanks to a colleague who invited me in—I have had the chance to forge a role within industry and to help our organization make a difference every day in the lives of patients and their caregivers. I suggest that you surround yourself with trusted advisors, be willing to try new things, and know that, as a nurse leader, your resilience will serve you well and keep you energized about the unlimited possibilities in our profession and industry. Having the unwavering support of my husband and sons has allowed me to follow my career dreams and to be as excited about my profession today as I was when I first began.
16
Nurse Leader
RH: You have a unique job right now. How would you describe it and its potential for moving and shaking our profession? MF: I have the privilege of serving as the first-ever chief clinical officer at Hill-Rom, a large med-tech company that provides point-of-care solutions that enable safe and efficient patient care delivery. When my colleagues heard I was going to work at Hill-Rom, they asked what could I possibly do at the “bed company” and accused me of going to the “other side.” My experience has been nothing short of illuminating at many levels. I have helped my colleagues see the impact that nurse leaders in industry can have on clinical outcomes, cost effectiveness, technology adoption, and elevation of the profession. Traveling most days of the week to engage healthcare executives allows me to keep my finger on the pulse of issues that affect patient care delivery and to help to translate those issues into solutions that can have a lasting influence on patient and caregiver safety. Our footprint across the world is expansive, and to be part of such an innovative, socially responsible, and patient-centered organization is fulfilling. Having hundreds of nurses in our company who bring the voice of our customers to every discussion ensures that our people, processes, and technology are patient-centered, evidence-based, and value added. Every day, I strive to help our customers and colleagues to see us as a partner in clinical quality and not merely as a vendor. Elevating discussions about clinical technology beyond supply chain and procurement offices and into the C-suite and boardroom is the only way to make sure that
February 2012
decisions are made in support of patient and caregiver safety and not merely based on price alone. As a peer to the key decision-makers in our customer base, and as an executive who has been our customer, I am able to engage them as a thought leader, colleague, and clinical advisor and to articulate the things that truly differentiate us from all others. My mission is to elevate our discussions to the key decision-makers and to elevate the profession of nursing at the same time. As an industry partner, I have been able to facilitate transformation through publications, research, speaking, and engagements and as a convener of thought leaders. For example, soon after taking this position, I established the first HillRom Chief Nurse Executive Advisory Board, recognizing that CNEs are accountable for clinical quality and decision making around clinical technology. This board is made up of 20 incredible nurse executives who are leading some of the most cutting edge, innovative, and outcome-driven healthcare delivery systems and organizations in the world. They generously share their insights, feedback, and colleagueship and make us better partners and better innovators. I also manage our educational grants program and am so proud that my company continues to generously support the work of the DAISY Foundation, The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, FNINR [Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research], AONE, AACN, and The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau to name a few. We are in the third year of The Joint Commission Resources/Hill-Rom Patient Safety Scholar Program, which has yielded several peer-reviewed publications, a robust pressure ulcer program inventory tool, and a highly anticipated pressure ulcer riskadjustment model. Gaining access to these incredible organizations that share our mission and values has been transformational from a patient care perspective and for me personally. It is my hope that through these initiatives, we will be seen as colleagues, collaborators, and conveners, not just a vendor. Using our resources to support work that is transformational is so much more gratifying for all. These are just a few ways that I am using this role to move and shake the profession and the industry! RH: How have your fellow chief nurses received you in this industry role? MF: I am thrilled that I have been warmly accepted in this role and that my CNE colleagues are welcoming and open to my message. Having a CNE as the chief clinical officer when many other med-tech companies have a physician in this role certainly makes a statement in and of itself, and that has been widely acknowledged and appreciated in the 150 customer visits that I do each year. I’ve only had one bad meeting in almost 5 years in which the CNO told my team member (also a nurse) and me that we could “peddle our wares at the bed fair,” totally missing the point of my visit. It is an ongoing evolution and we will continue to educate and to enlighten. My colleagues are phenomenal and among the best and brightest that I have ever worked with in my career. I www.nurseleader.com
encourage them to continue their hard work to establish credibility, gain trust, keep their promises, and share proof points on the clinical outcomes that we enable. I know that those are the ways to become a true partner and that the majority of those we serve really want and appreciate that. We will be vigilant in chipping away at the old view of industry and the commoditization of our portfolio. I am always sure to walk my own talk by treating all colleagues with respect and by putting the needs of patients and their caregivers first. RH: Is there anything that you have learned in your industry role that has alarmed you? MF: One thing that has surprised me and that I am determined to change is the abdication of many CNEs of their role in clinical technology decision-making. Time and again, I meet with CNE peers who have delegated the decisions on monitors, pumps, beds, nurse-call systems, etc., to the staff nurses and their managers and have totally disengaged from the process. In many cases, I see decisions that are short sighted, penny wise and pound foolish, and not in the best interest of patients or their caregivers. Even in the most robust shared-governance models, the chief nurse still has an essential role to play in strategic decision-making related to industry partnerships and the integration of clinical technology at the point of care. I was stunned to see how often the voice of nursing is really not sought or heard when these expensive and longlasting decisions are being made. I try to elevate this issue in conversation with every healthcare leader I meet. In addition, I partnered with AONE to convene a Day of Dialogue that resulted in the publication of the “Guiding Principles for Nurse Leaders to Leverage Technology to Enhance Outcomes for Patients and Their Caregivers.” I was able to present this work with my AONE colleague Judy Husted at the HIMSS [Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society] conference, and I have seen these guiding principles serve as a great resource to nurse leaders as they approach technology decisions. RH: Tell me about your journey to leadership and some of the key moments that were decisive to you in affirming your own personal leadership. MF: I have had several disappointments and losses, both personally and professionally. With each one, I have gained clarity on my personal bottom line, articulated my core values and integrity, and demonstrated the resilience of nurse leaders and the human spirit. With each challenge, I vowed to share my story and, hopefully, give a voice to those who have experienced the same thing and to prevent it from happening to others. Having the platform to speak from and the network to engage in such rich dialogue has informed my leadership style and has made me better in all aspects of my life. I am still on my leadership journey and continue to learn from those at work and those we serve. I have been blessed with trusted advisors and mentors all along the way and continue to rely on them heavily. I have had the chance in my most recent two roles to exert tremendous influence on the role definition and on the way that it is executed across large and dynamic organizations. This takes
Nurse Leader
17
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Current position: Vice president and chief clinical officer, Hill-Rom Education: BSN, Gwynedd-Mercy College, MSN, University of Pennsylvania First job in nursing: Worked as a nursing assistant throughout nursing school and then as a staff nurse in the coronary care/medical intensive care unit after graduation Being in a leadership role gives me the opportunity to: Enhance outcomes for patients and their caregivers Most people don’t know that I: Enjoyed skydiving many years ago! My best advice for aspiring leaders: It’s a very small profession and industry, so don’t burn any bridges. One thing I want to learn: To put myself on my to-do list One word to describe me: Exuberant
substantial support from everyone on the team and a willingness to try new things and to reinvent myself. I have found being new and being the “first ever” to be humbling, challenging, and extremely fulfilling. It takes an exorbitant amount of energy to constantly educate and re-educate, helping those within and outside my company to recognize us as a true healthcare organization and to really understand what that means from a clinical, competency, and collaborative perspective. I have had many moments as chief cheerleader when I saw the “aha moment” in a customer’s face or the light bulb get brighter in a team member’s mindset. Hearing patients tell their stories of how our people and our portfolio saved their lives or kept them safe from harm is incredibly gratifying. These moments affirm and validate my mission and my passion for this work and remind me of the opportunity that I have to significantly influence healthcare delivery and to be a transformational leader in our industry. RH: What has been your seminal leadership work? MF: This May, I will celebrate my 35th anniversary in nursing. As a nurse, I have traveled the world, made lifelong friends, and made a difference in the lives of patients, families, and colleagues. I never thought at age 19 that nursing would open the doors to the places, roles, relationships, and organizations that it has. I have been given tremendous opportunities to serve and to lead, and I am grateful for each of them. Working within hospitals, professional associations, and industry have all afforded me the chance to contribute at high levels, to mentor others, and to ensure that we always remember that our roles exist to honor and serve the patients in our care. I hope that I haven’t had my swan song yet, and plan to continue to make a difference for a long time to come. I thought that I would be an interpreter at the UN. Instead, I’ve worked for almost 35 years to interpret patient and caregiver needs and to translate them into solutions and best practices. Maybe I grew up to be Gidget after all! NL Robert Hess, RN, PhD, FAAN, is the founder of the Forum for Shared Governance and executive vice president of global programming for Gannett Healthcare Group. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photography by Alan Ingram © 2011 1541-4612/2012/ $ See front matter Copyright 2012 by Mosby Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mnl/2011.11.004
18
Nurse Leader
February 2012