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Nursing > Challenge from the CNO |
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What are the philosophies that drive this nursing leader to help push this hospital to the top in Southern California? Bhavna Mistry, Public Relations Coordinator gets the details on the education, mentoring and quality focus that Diane lives by.
Q: Chief Nursing Officer is one of the primary leadership roles in a hospital. What advice would you give a nurse who aspires to that position one day?
A: Every nurse should look inside themselves and decide for themselves what their job satisfiers are and what they want to attain from their practice for themselves and for their patients. I think it's important that once they make that decision they find someone who can assist them in obtaining their own personal or professional goal.
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Q: Who was your mentor; and do you believe having a mentor is important?
A: Many years ago, I came across a VP of patient care services who saw that I had potential and was willing to invest in me as a person and as a mentor and got me past my fears – my own internal fears of, "can I do it?" She helped me define my career path and helped me take the risks I needed to take to gain the confidence to do what I do today. No matter what job you're in, I think everybody needs somebody to help them with a reality check when they hit certain situations.
Q: What's your opinion on nursing education, particularly continuing education for nursing professionals?
A: The more you know the more you need to know. If you go home at the end of your shift and you haven't learned one new thing, you haven't done yourself or your patients' justice. Education is a life-long experience and nurses always need to seek out educational opportunities to advance their professional practice. You can learn from the physician by asking questions about their patient care delivery, lab work, and clinical finding. You can learn from your peers, they may be doing something that will facilitate improvement in your task opportunities or they may be able to help you with a time management skill. You can learn something from everyone you meet. My challenge to everybody in nursing is to go home every day having learn one new thing and I hold myself to that.
Q: How do you define quality nursing care?
A: When I'm in nursing orientation, I tell everybody that if they treated every patient like it was somebody they love, think of the quality nursing care and the job satisfaction. If you love what you do and you have a passion for what you do, you have to go home feeling good about what you've done for somebody else during the day. That's what it's all about.
Q: What are the skills and attributes an individual needs to be a "quality nurse" in today's healthcare environment?
A: A nurse needs to be intelligent, compassionate, have integrity and make decisions that impact people's lives on a daily basis. They have to have a hunger for knowledge and be able to use their critical thinking skills to do what's right for the patient at the right time, for the right reason. It's not for everyone, it takes a special person to be a nurse.
Q: There are several programs that you put into place during the last two years that advance the skill set (clinical competency) and career development of nurses at Henry Mayo. Which ones have been most effective so far, or have given you the most professional satisfaction?
A: One of the things that I think has been most positive for Henry Mayo is the implementation of the RN 5 role, which is refining how we deliver care on the floor. It extends the scope of responsibility of the nurses on the floor and provides an educational opportunity for people to take on a new leadership role. Our RN 5 role is focused on the clinical quality of care delivered during their shift, the education of the nurses that worked with them and the physician satisfaction component to make sure that the physicians have what they need to ensure the patient is taken care of. This role also serves as the liaison to the nursing directors and to nursing leadership, so they have to be the resource and a mentor for the people that work with them.
The other thing I'm immensely pleased with is the nursing leadership academy and the fact that through The Advisory Board we are able to have administrative supervisors and the nursing directors attend a specialized training program. One thing that I've learned in my career is that patient and employee satisfaction is directly related to the skills of their front-line manager. I want my front-line managers to have all the tools, education and resources to be the most successful they can be to run their departments and provide that quality patient care and employee satisfaction. It was so successful with just nursing that senior leadership agreed to have the rest of the directors participate. We have four more modules lined up this year.
Q: As Chief Nursing Officer you are impacting quite a few nursing careers. You have 500 nursing professionals under your leadership. As these nurses move forward in their careers, what ideas or ideals do you hope they'll take forward with them as a result of your leadership?
A: I hope that my passion for nursing is contagious. I hope that they realize learning is a life long process, and that the reason all of us should have gone into nursing in the first place is because we care about people and that the patients get their needs served. If I can do that I will have been very successful.
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23845 McBean Parkway