Susan - I Created an Environment where Nurses Could Thrive

Susan -







When I was thinking about a career choice, I didn’t know if I wanted to be a mathematician or a nurse.  Because money for college was limited, my mom encouraged me to go to nursing school.  During graduate school, I became very interested in the women’s movement.  I was a strong activist and, along with some other nurses, we formed a group in the National Organization for Women called Nurses NOW.  We were convinced that many of the problems that faced nurses and the nursing profession were directly related to that fact that it is a profession comprised predominately of women.  We spoke out about these issues and were pretty open about our thoughts and feelings on the subject.  After I completed graduate school, it became clear to me that I would find it difficult to move up the management ladder in that particular city because of my strong convictions.  Hospital leaders could easily find the subject to be threatening.  Fortunately, I was able to land a job as Associate Director of Nursing in another state.  Within two years, I became the chief nurse, a position which I held for 16 years.  

In the mid 1980s, a new clinical nurse specialist joined our team.  As it turned out, she shared many of the same thoughts and feelings I had about women’s issues in nursing.  We began to talk about this with other nursing leaders in the organization.  We formed a Nursing Empowerment Committee which began to explore in depth the issues that nurses face.  We defined empowerment as “knowing and believing that one can influence others, effect change and ably carry out one’s role.”"Empowerment is not a gift...it has to come from within...it's our jobs as leaders and managers to create an environment where people can thrive."  We did a lot of research and reading on the subject.  Out of these conversations came the idea of an all day workshop that we developed and presented to the nursing staff at the hospital.  We taught nurses how to stand up for themselves and not be intimidated by overpowering physicians.  We talked with them about oppressed group behavior and how it caused the worst kind of nurse abuse, lateral violence or nurse to nurse abuse which often revealed itself as the “3Bs”, backstabbing, bickering and blaming. We worked with them to help build self-esteem.  I have to say that we were very fortunate to have the support of the CEO as we carried out this work.  We were able to transform the culture in the organization by openly dealing with controversial issues, enhancing self esteem and by building pride in the profession of nursing.

News of what we were doing began to spread and we were frequently asked to speak at other hospitals and professional meetings.  Often we would hear, “I would really like for you to come and speak in our organization, but can you use different language other than nurse abuse and empowerment and, please don’t talk about the oppressed group behavior.”  I would have to tell those people that we would not come unless we could speak to the issues directly.  I am convinced that we did make a difference for many nurses around the country over that five year period.

At the age of 50 I decided to reinvent my career.  I wanted to work for a health care organization that focused on keeping people healthy across the continuum of care, a place where I could use my leadership experience, management expertise and nursing background to be able to make a difference in health care for large numbers of people.  I had no idea where my vision would take me, but I set out to find out through the tried and t rue method of networking.  The position I found was Quality Director for a regional health care organization.  Although my salary was less and I had to move my family across the country, I have to say that it has been a refreshing change.  

In my current role, I work with other leaders and staff to find innovative ways to improve the quality of care we provide to patients. We also work to bring quality improvement activities to the local level, to engage staff so they feel that they’re really able to make a difference in their own work environment.  When people feel they have the ability to influence what occurs in their work environment, they have more ownership and pride in their work.

I went into management because I wanted to influence the ability of nurses to provide the best possible care to patients.  I feel that, as a leader, I have made more of a difference for many patients than I did when it was just me, individually, providing care to very few patients.  I’m proud to say that throughout my career, I have worked to create an environment where staff can truly make a difference for the patients they care for.  I have often heard leaders say, “We need to empower our staff.”  But empowerment is not a gift.  It has to come from within each of us and it’s our jobs as leaders and managers to create an environment where people can thrive.

Power Strategies:  Improve, Empower, Lead
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