Why not a nurse as a CEO?

FROM O U R COLUMNISTS The Nurse Executive W h y N o t a Nurse as a CEO? i!i!!!!!i!i!i!iii~ii~ii~ililililiiii!i!i!i;i~ii!iiiiiii!iiiii!i!ii RECENTLY,I ?,lETwith a foundation adiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~ii~:iii~iii~i~i~ili~i~i~ visory council for a school of social work. The purpose of my meeting with this group was to discuss some of the ways in which the Foundation Advisory Council for the School of Nursing served as ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: a support system for the School of Nursing. The dean of the school of social work had invited some of her graduates to talk to council members in general and to discuss jobs they had obtained since graduation. The dean beamed as these four individuals discussed their present jobs and career goals. One graduate was a senator's legislative assistant, another worked !n the governor's office as an aide, and the remaining two worked with the legislative budget board in the state capitol. Although I realized that graduates of the school of social work were skilled, the variety of positions they might pursue and successfully master was eye-opening. I have been teaching courses in educational administration for the past eight years. At the beginning ofeac h course, I discuss the fact that when these students graduate from the doctoral program in nursing, they will be prepared to be educational administrators. The position and level of responsibility they seek will depend not only on their training and ability, but also on their ambition. I f a geologist or health planner can be the president of a major research institution or hospital, why not a nurse? For a period in my professional career, when I heard of a nurse who moved "out of nursing" into a top-level administrative position or even a middle-level administrative position, I was distressed and my private comment was: "What a shame to lose so-and-so to nursing:' Perhaps I've grown up, or perhaps my

professional definition of what a nurse is and can be has expanded considerably in the past few years. As I see persons prepared as social workers or geologists or chemists without much of the administrative and organizational theory taught in a nurse executive program in nursing, it gives me pause. I know that the nurse prepared as an executive is far better equipped for a top administrative position. I am pleased that we have nurses in the state legislature, in Congress; nurses who are presidents and vice-presidents of universities, associate deans for academic affairs, provosts and associate provosts in central administration; nurses v~ho head federal and state agencies; and nurses who head hospitals as chief executive officers (CEOs). I beam with pride, because I no longer say: "What a shame to lose so-and-so to nursing." Now my comment, public and private, is: "Isn't it great to have a nurse in a place of influence!" On occasion, we see some of these individuals forget they are nurses, or at least it appears they have forgotten they are nurses. I've seen this phenomenon particularly often in hospital CEOs. However, no one is ever an ex-nurse any more than the physician or geoldgist who becomes president of a university is an ex-physician or an ex-geologist. So let's give a big hoorah for those in our ranks who now have the opportunity to bring the best of nursing to bear on other fields!

BILLYEJ. BROWN, EDD, RN, FAAN Dean and Professor School of Nursing University of Texas-Austin 1700 Red River Austin, TX 78701