As National Nurses Week comes to an end, let’s continue to recognize the work nurses do in so many different settings each and every day. The theme for International Nurses Day 2022 is “Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health”. And let’s encourage young people who are interested in a nursing
career to learn more about the many paths they could take. I’m hoping my readers who are already established in their own careers will share this post with the young people they know who may be considering a nursing career.
I’ve worked in healthcare IT for 40 years now. During that time, I have been fortunate to work with amazing nurses in both leadership and staff roles. There are so many different paths a nurse can take in their career. Here are the stories of a few nurses I know well.
My favorite nurse and the one I am most proud of is my oldest daughter, Katie Killinger. She decided to go into nursing after she graduated from college with a degree in Hospitality Administration / Management. When she first mentioned that she was thinking of nursing, I was very supportive and told her she’d have many potential paths as her career progressed. She went to Regis College in the Boston area in a combined undergrad/grad program. After two years she earned her Bachelor of Nursing degree and sat for the nursing boards. After the third year she had her master’s degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Her early nursing experience included staff nurse positions on the cardiac surgery step-down unit and then the cardiac surgery ICU at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). One of her first nurse practitioner (NP) positions was supporting two division chiefs as the NP and Coordinator of the Atrial Fibrillation Program at Mass General Hospital. For the past 10 years she has been the Chief NP of the Orthopedic/Spine Surgery Service at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. Who knows what her future holds – I know from our many conversations that maintaining a balance between clinical and administrative time is something she considers for the long-term.
My second favorite nurse is my sister, Mary Sheehan. She and her husband, Tim, both attended a two-year associate degree nursing program and then went on to get their bachelors and advanced degrees. Mary got a master’s degree in public health and led just about every division in the Minnesota public health department during her long tenure with the state. Before retiring she served as a county health and human services director. Tim went on to get his master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling and then a PhD in clinical psychology. He served as executive director and senior vice president at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. He was instrumental in establishing the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies and served as Professor and Director, Institutional Effectiveness for the graduate school.
There is another Mary Sheahen in my life – a friend and former colleague from my Chicago days. She was the Chief Nursing Officer at Good Samaritan Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the health system when I was in IT leadership at the corporate office. She went on to serve as CEO at several hospitals and then started her own leadership coaching practice.
I worked with Mairead Hickey at BWH for nearly 13 years when I was their CIO. Early in Mairead’s nursing career she earned her master’s and PhD and then became an associate professor at Yale University School of Nursing and director of Graduate Nursing for clinical nurse specialists. During her career at BWH, she created the Nursing Research Project, and held leadership positions in Patient Care Services, Research and Outcome Measurement and Quality Management Services. She was vice president of Women’s Health and Specialty Services before being named Chief Nursing Officer and SVP for Patient Care Services. She eventually became the Chief Operating Officer (and hence my boss). She has been a wonderful colleague, boss, mentor, and friend over the years.
And finally, I want to acknowledge the CNO I’ve worked with most recently – Laura Wood, EVP, Patient Care Operations and System CNO at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). Laura has a long career as a nurse leader in health systems and worked at Siemens as their National Vice President, Clinical Solutions for many years. Laura’s strength as an executive leader balanced with her compassion and empathy made her one of my favorite colleagues when I served BCH as interim CIO last year. Laura and I recently had an exchange about the importance of family being present for pediatric patients even during the pandemic when visitors were significantly restricted. The presence of family is something I personally understand and can relate to.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all the nurses who took an IT or informatics path in their career including several CIO colleagues. They are critical to the successful implementation and adoption of clinical systems in our organizations and help the rest of IT understand the day-to-day challenges and needs of our nurses.
Nurses are the most trusted professionals according to Gallup’s annual rating of honesty and ethics in various professions – nurses have been top-rated for 20 years in a row. No surprise. But they should also be the most listened to – whether it’s the very practical and wise advice they give family members on health issues, or the concerns and issues they raise to hospital administration, or when they ask people in their community to mask up and get vaccinated.
I hope you show your gratitude to your nursing colleagues and those who care for you not just this week but every week and encourage more young women and men to pursue a career in nursing. You never know what path they may take in the long run, but you can trust that they will lead and serve with compassion.
“As a nurse we have the opportunity to heal the mind, soul, heart, and body of our patients. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
Related Posts and Resources
Nurses: A Voice to Lead (from International Council of Nurses):
Celebrate nurses, but more importantly listen to them