Lippincott® NursingCenter®

In this conversation with Mary Beth Kingston, the Chief Nursing Officer at Advocate Aurora Health in Milwaukee, learn about the turns her career has taken over her 41 years as a nurse, as well as her big jump from Philadelphia to Milwaukee just six years ago to accept her current leadership position. Ms. Kingston describes her typical day as a Chief Nursing Officer, although we know that in nursing there really is no such thing as a “typical day.” Most of her time is spent focusing on patient safety, quality of care, the patient experience, and workforce issues; making sure staff is highly educated and engaged; and working with shared governance teams. She has worked with the Nurses on Boards Coalition (NOBC) both through her involvement in the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), a member organization of which she’s currently President-Elect, and through sponsorship of the NOBC by Aurora Health.

Dr. Mary Ann Fuchs is Vice President of Patient Care and System Chief Nurse Executive for Duke University Health System and the Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs for Duke University School of Nursing.Dr. Fuchs began her career in oncology nursing, later becoming an oncology clinical nurse specialist, and continued on that path working with adult and pediatric stem cell transplant patients. However, like many of us, Dr. Fuchs did not imagine the turn her career would take. As opportunities were presented and mentors guided her, Dr. Fuchs is now a respected leader at a prestigious health system and nursing school.In this conversation, Dr. Fuchs shares her passion in nursing, three pieces of advice for up-and-coming nurse leaders, and the important work being done by the Nurses on Boards Coalition.

In this conversation, John W. Bluford, lll Founder and President of the Bluford Healthcare Leadership Institute and President Emeritus of Truman Medical Centers, shares the important work of the Nurses on Boards Coalition and how nurses can be leaders in health care. Listen in on our conversation and hear specific examples from Mr. Bluford of how he has seen the voice of nursing impact change. Mr. Bluford offers some great advice regarding the need for nurses to understand the financial aspects of health care, since we already know our profession as the “business of caring.”

Dr. Angela Patterson, the Chief Nurse Practitioner Officer of CVS MinuteClinic and Vice President of CVS Health knew from a young age that she wanted to be a nurse. Her career has evolved through the years, with transitions from medical/surgical nursing to later becoming a family practice nurse practitioner and co-owning a family medical practice, to her current role at CVS, as well as chairing the board for a charter high school for underprivileged high school students who wish to go into nursing. Dr. Patterson has great advice for nurses to get involved with board membership. She describes resources such as the Nurses on Boards Coalition, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. She also reminds us that, as nurses, we have inherent skills, qualities, and traits for board membership.

Dr. Patrick Robinson is the Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Capella University. Dr. Robinson has a wealth of experiences and achievements in academia and nursing leadership, as well as clinical expertise caring for HIV/AIDS patients. Learn about his journey in nursing, along with the work being done at Capella University and the Nurses on Boards Coalition to prepare nurses to be leaders in health care. Some highlights from this conversation include words of wisdom from Dr. Robinson’s own mentor, Joan Shaver, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Arizona. In fact, when presented with a problem or challenge, Dr. Robinson often asks himself, “What would Joan do?” Listen in to learn three takeaways from this advice.

Mike Singer is CEO of Strategic Partners, Inc (SPI). Mr. Singer’s extensive and successful business career has been – and continues to be – deeply engaged with nurses. In this conversation, Mr. Singer shares his personal and business experiences with nurses, really focusing on the value of nurses in decision-making. As natural leaders and collaborators, nurses bring unique skills and experiences to improve the health of communities across America.Mr. Singer also shares the philanthropic efforts of his company as well as valuable advice for nurses to get involved with boards. As you listen to our conversation, Mr. Singer references the important work of SPI with The Daisy Foundation, A Nurse I Am, Scrubs Magazine and ScrubsMag.com. Also, SPI is a Founding Strategic Partner of the Nurses on Boards Coalition and is involved in sharing the Coalition’s important work, “To improve the health of communities and the nation through the service of nurses on boards and other bodies.”

Carolyn Ackerman Ed.D MS RN CHPN, is from Arvada, Colo., and has almost 40 years of experience in home health and hospice. Not only is Ackerman a registered nurse, but she is also an assistant professor at Regis University in Denver, and she is very involved in end-of-life interdisciplinary simulation. Ackerman recently graduated from Creighton University with her Ed.D in interdisciplinary education. She created an end-of-life board game called The Path of Life: The Journey of Living at the End-of-Life © game, where participants assume the role of the patient as they make decisions related to their terminal disease.

“The most important thing for nurses to understand about informatics is that it’s not technology. Informatics is not about hard drives, and it’s not even necessarily about programming, and we certainly cannot fix someone’s problems with Outlook. Informatics is about how we’re managing data, information from both a process perspective and a technical perspective to advance health care.” Mollie R. Cummins, PhD, RN, FAAN has been a practicing nurse since 1994 and has made waves in the nursing informatics specialty throughout her career. She holds a doctorate in nursing science and information science from Indiana University, serves as an associate professor of nursing and adjunct professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Utah, and currently serves as the president of the Utah Nursing Informatics Network.

Jessica Emmons, is a recent Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) program graduate who, like many of us, has quite an interesting story to tell of her journey into nursing and to her latest career stop, as a nurse anesthetist. Jessica began her adult life as an accountant and when she was looking for a change, others in healthcare described nursing as an “enviable world.” During her 12 years as an emergency room nurse, Jessica also worked as a vascular access nurse, where she experienced significant autonomy and decision-making responsibility. As she developed her leadership skills and was sought after for more responsibility, she realized that remaining at the bedside was important to her. She shadowed a colleague in the operating room and had a “wow experience” that drew her to becoming a CRNA.

For this special edition of Nurse On the Move, we are featuring Lori Mayer, DNP, MSN, RN, MSCN, an MS-certified nurse and editorial board member of LiveWiseMS.org. Listen to this conversation to learn more about what an MS nurse is, how to create a nursing care plan for an MS patient, and to discover what LiveWiseMS.org is all about.