In Part 3 of our series, we take a high level view of creative ways nurses are shaping their challenging, yet successful and satisfying careers. Hear from Dr. Jane Englebright, very recently retired senior vice president and chief nurse executive for Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare, the nation’s leading provider of healthcare services. And we have MEDITECH’s Associate Vice President Cathy Turner. Cathy is a nurse and member of HIMSS and ANIA, as well as director of MEDITECH’s Nursing Informatics Program.
Christine: I'm Christine Parent, MEDITECH's Associate Vice President, and today I'm talking with Dr. Jane Englebright, recently retired Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive for Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare, the nation's leading provider of healthcare services. And I also have here MEDITECH’s Associate Vice President, Cathy Turner. Cathy is a member of HIMSS and ANIA, as well as Director of MEDITECH's Nursing Informatics program, and now here is nationally recognized Nursing Innovator and Leader, Dr. Jane Englebright.
Welcome Dr. Englebright. Tell us, do you feel hopeful and or optimistic for the future of frontline healthcare workers in general?
Dr. Englebright: I feel very hopeful for our frontline caregivers. To me there's never been more clarity around the importance of our frontline healthcare workers, the hard job that they do every single day, not just during a pandemic, and more appreciation for them, and I think that's going to translate into changes in policy and work environment that will be very beneficial over the long run.
Christine: To follow up to that, how can health systems attract and support the next generation of clinicians and nurse leaders even in the midst of these challenging times?
Dr. Englebright: I think attracting the next generation of clinicians and clinical leaders is all about giving them, first of all, meaningful work to do. In my mind, that is the ratio of meaningful
to non-meaningful work that they have to do in the course of their day, creating a healthy work environment in which they can grow and thrive and live out their own personal mission, and then recognizing and rewarding them for the great jobs they do when they do it. And we begin to have this culture that is focused on, really, I guess, back to the quadruple aim and focus on all of those things together: We want to give great care and a great experience, we want to be efficient at doing that and we want to do it, and we need to do that with a healthy work team in place who can deliver on all of those promises to our patients.
Christine: What advice would you give to someone that's entering nursing, or on the cusp of entering nursing and they’re looking around and seeing what's going on in hospitals and wondering if they should move forward. What would be your advice to them?
Dr. Englebright: Definitely move forward. Now is the time, again healthcare workers are more appreciated now than they ever have been. There's more career opportunities, career advancement. I like to say nurses have kind of been discovered during this process and new opportunities to provide nursing services in new ways and in new places are definitely out there. And remote nursing is on the horizon here as something that will also be a new career pathway for nurses. So I think this is a great time to be a nurse, to be joining the profession, and to be on the frontlines as we go through this transformation.
Christine: Dr. Englebright is truly making a difference. I also have with me changemaker Cathy Turner, my colleague and Director of MEDITECH’s Nursing Informatics program. You’ve pivoted a number of times in your strong career, how do you feel today’s nurses should approach changing career trajectory?
Cathy Turner: Nursing is such a great foundation for many career paths, and there’s really no shortage of opportunities. I do think having a direct experience with patient care first is helpful. It helps people identify managing priorities and crises, as well as constantly learning new techniques and technologies and it just exposes them to so much. I think as a by-product of that, if people are thinking about changing their career path, take a look at that experience and find out what did you gravitate to, what did you find satisfying, what was your greatest achievement during that time? And then find a path that matches that. There is just so much satisfaction in being passionate about what you do and if you can find that, it makes a difference every day. So, really, that’s my recommendation, is find out what you’ve liked and then find a career path that matches it. There are just so many opportunities in nursing.
Christine: Having seen the industry as both a student and a teacher, how do you advise others navigating an educational workload while also practicing?
Cathy Turner: One of the nice things about nursing is, especially if people are still practicing as a staff nurse, is that the schedule is fairly predictable. You know what shift you work, you know what weekends, you know what flexibility you have or not, and then find a program that matches that. There are evening programs, weekend programs, day programs, online programs. I have taught both in a classroom and both online and they both have their advantages. It is really about finding the right fit, finding what helps you in your career. Sometimes it’s for a sense of satisfaction, sometimes it's because you need additional knowledge in the field you are going into or that you’re in, and either want that credential behind you or you know that there is more you have to learn. Obviously learning, we do that our entire life, and finding that right fit to make you better at what you do, just is a nice sense of accomplishment and it really just makes you more confident in that position.
Christine Parent: Can you speak to the CEUs often offered at our workshop sessions and the importance of continuing education just in general?
Cathy Turner: Certainly as nurses, we all have to keep up our credentials, and it's not always an easy thing to do trying to fit that in with everything you do. We’ve been fortunate in our ability to do that in our forums. I won’t lie that it's getting harder and harder every year. We look for those opportunities to provide kind of an added benefit to our customers in attending those sessions, so whether they are learning new methods, new technology, hearing from their peers about their successes or challenges, all that is valuable in their day-to-day work. And as a by-product of that, they are able to get the contact hours. Those contact hours are essential in all of us keeping our credentials. Many of the nurses that attend our forums use their own vacation time, use their own money to get to our conferences, so we are glad we are able to provide those for them and help them keep their licenses current.
It is so advantageous to your career, especially if you are changing your career trajectory a little bit, to have that additional information as to what you need to do in that job or just expand the scope to make that position even better. You can find a way to make it fit in your life, and whether it takes you 2 years or 4 years, it doesn't matter. It's kind of the journey that makes the difference, and every course that you take, you’ll be able to apply to what you're doing in your job. I really encourage that. The nursing informatics certification has been around for quite a long time. It’s a nice credential when that's the field that you're working in, if that’s something that you're looking at, but as all of you know, ANA has a lot of different credentials, and I do think it’s a sense of pride and satisfaction when you've achieved those, so certainly any educational opportunities you have to further that, I think that's of great value and great satisfaction.
Christine: Thanks for tuning in. As always, be sure to subscribe to hear our latest episodes and we'll talk to you next time.
Calling all changemakers! MEDITECH’s customers can join us for our upcoming educational and thought leadership events. You won't want to miss a new cross-disciplinary, immersive learning experience for customers on September 20-22 at MEDITECH’s Foxborough, Massachusetts Conference Center. Register on the MEDITECH website at ehr.meditech.com, and get ready for a transformational leadership experience!