Course Preview | Nursing Leadership Certificate from Emory Executive Education
13:49 min
34
So, now what we'd like to do is tell you a little bit about how we designed this program and the many things that we'd like to cover with you. And we thought we would do it just as a conversation between Trina and me to help you understand the thought process behind which we did this. So, I'm going to ask Trina a question first. So, Trina, with your experience in nursing, of the many challenges that nurses face, what would you say are the, maybe, two or three biggest challenges that you see going on today?
Thank you for that question, Michael. When I think about what we've all been through and leading through complexity, I liken it to a movie that was recently released, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Right? So much has come across, and nurse executives, inspiring and influencing, we're going to be the heroes that save us. No pressure. Right? But thinking about again, executive leadership in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous health care landscape, being able to understand and articulate and move forward in health care economics, social determinants of health to advance health equity, maintaining and building high-reliability organizations, technology, innovation, continuous learning, all of those are going to be incredibly important as we think about change, rapid change. And change is the only thing that's constant, right? So, and certainly also something that's going to be, I think really important for nurse executives is learning and leading a diverse workforce. Retention and recruitment. Understanding nurses' hierarchy of needs, understanding their sense of value, and belonging, what makes them feel inspired and fulfilled, and safe in the work that they're doing, and making sure that all of our organizations align with their professional and personal sense of identity, our mission, vision, and values. I think those are going to be incredibly important to position us not just for now, but what's next.
Trina, I was listening to you. I was wondering, first of all, that sounds like a lot. And it all sounds hard. How much training do nurses typically get in these complicated topics as they're in their nursing education, as they go through it?
That's a great question, Michael. Thank you for that. I will tell you; it varies. It varies depending upon the nurses' formal academic preparation. We have a lot of nurses who have been really good nurses and there have been leadership abilities that have been recognized by their leaders. So, they may have been put forward in positions and may not have necessarily received a great deal of development to be successful in that. And nurses again, I'll continue to say, we're superheroes and we learn about being better prepared to address these topics that I just mentioned, for example, and that's just a small snippet based on what we're seeing and what we're forecasting for the future. I think having a program like this in place that provides some structure, that provides an evidence-based framework to guide their development, will better position them to lead in these truly complex. I see something similar to that.
Nurses are asked to do all kinds of things and sometimes they're trained in it and sometimes they never received training, and that's not fair to them. I mean, that's one of the premises of this program, that with training, people can thrive and succeed. But it's not fair to throw someone into a really difficult situation and not give them any background in that. Agree. Absolutely, absolutely. And to tie back into talking about value, and the value of nurse leaders at all levels of an organization, and that's I think whether you're working in health care or whether you're working in academia, or some other industry that's connected to health outcomes, being able to develop someone to be their best self will improve their performance and ultimately the outcomes you hope to achieve. Absolutely. So, Michael, how have you seen the role of nursing executive change over time in health care? It's been fascinating to me.
So, I have a more holistic view. Most of the meetings I go to have multiple roles in them, not just one. So, I have far less experience with you than nursing. But what I've seen over about 20 years is, 20 years ago the nursing person who is attending is almost an afterthought. It's insulting, to be honest with you. And sometimes, if the nursing executive wasn't there, they would just go on with the meeting as if it wasn't critical. Over time as medicine has shifted to team-based, I have seen this start to change. We're not all the way there yet, but now I see meetings where we can't go on without our CNO in this meeting. And I think the more team-based it has become; the more nurses are recognized to be absolutely important because they do so much of the work. So, I see this as a good thing. We still have a way to go for being honest with each other, but I see nurses being more valued, more respected, more recognized as critical in the process. Yes, thank you for that Michael. That's so incredibly true. And that networking and collaborating and we take a term from lean methodology Akimbo, right? So, the people who are closest to the work, being able to have a voice and a part of decision-making around things that will absolutely impact their work and hopefully, their ability to achieve and sustain quality outcomes over time. It is so incredibly important that networking, that partnering, that inter-professional, interdisciplinary collaboration is incredibly important in leadership. I've seen, and tell me if you agree, of course, it's a virtuous cycle as well because sometimes nurses really know what's going on.
And by including them, it actually speeds up the process. They give information faster, better, more complete, more holistically. So, the decision-making is better and faster for everyone. Why not include them and empower them? Thank you for that. Of course. And you're welcome. So, I've a question for you, many but not all of our participants are either about to enter a CNE role or have recently done so, there're some variation, so from your experience, what are the two or three most important skills they'll need to focus on as they think about starting to enter or recently entering such a role? Yes, thank you. That's another really great question. I would say, again, thinking about our current landscape, most of us want to always think about what is evidence-based and evidence-informed in terms of leadership.
But I'm compelled to start with communication and relationship management. That is so foundational to our ability, again, to connect with other individuals, to collaborate, to be able to have effective communication and decision-making around some really difficult things. So, I will continue to place communication and relationship management skills or competency very, very high up on the list and certainly, after that, I would definitely like to be able to have nurses, nurse executives become really astute in financial acumen and agility. I think being able to speak the language of finance moving forward is going to be incredibly important for leading our organizations and sitting at some of the tables as representatives and being looked at to provide leadership and direction around governing.
A lot of the challenges that we're facing around staffing, around health care delivery, financial acumen, financial agility, really being able to speak the language of finance I think is incredibly important. And certainly, recognizing technology, the advancement in technology and innovation particularly, as again we're looking at, and I'm primarily on the health care side now, but looking at different ways to provide health to a really broad sector who may have previously had difficulty with access, affordability. So, looking at those social determinants of health, how are we better able to serve individuals focused on population, health management? All of that will be incredibly important moving forward.
And correct me if I'm mistaken, what I see are that nurses are right at the forefront of everything that you talk about. So, communication, for example, I have found it's often the nurse that has to catch, okay that wasn't fully explained and we're in a little bit too much of a hurry and the patient didn't get it and the nurse has to make sure that there's a connection. And social determinants of health, I found it's often the nurses that are most thoughtful and sensitive to. I don't know if this is resonating with this, but how do I find out a way to communicate it that resonates with them? So, I think nurses are so important for these jobs. Yes, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. You're absolutely right. So, what was the process by which you created the content for the Chief Nurse Executive Program? So, the content I think is very important for all of us, especially those who are participating.
I like to often start with what do the participants most need. So, it's not about me, it's not about Trina, it's about people who sign up for such a program, like what are the things that they most need. So, talking to prospective participants, talking to people actually in the field of a variety of backgrounds and ranks and experience. And then what you find typically is the number of topics we could cover is far more than we have time available. That's a good problem to have. Then we have to figure out what are the most important. And so, Trina and I talked about that. You'll meet our colleague Bob. He helped with the process as well. And then what's a logical order for that? Because there are some topics that naturally flow from one to another, to trying to come up with an order and a sequence that makes sense of that, you'll most easily learn it and retain it.
And then who are the best people to teach each one? We have a great problem here at Emory. We have way too many people who are really good who could teach this topic. Health care is about half of our campus. We have one of the best health care team in the country, if not the world. And so, it's actually a tough decision. Of the four people who could teach a topic, who's the right one to do it? I'll gladly take that than the opposite of course. So, there is a lot to it in terms of the topics, the people, the sequence, but a lot of thought to a lot of conversations to try to design what is going to work best for the people who are participating. That's excellent. And I absolutely love that. So, we have this framework that's a part of this program and I think being able to give you the leadership concepts and also couple them with the voice of other nurse executives so you can connect it to.
For example, the Institute of Healthcare Improvement's Quadruple Aim, now Quintuple Aim looking at the patient experience which is always going to be important, cost which is always going to be important, being able to think about getting population health and population health management and ultimately clinician well-being, which we haven't really talked a lot about, however, it is incredibly essential and ultimately what do we need to understand and do to address social determinants of health so that we are in fact able to advance health equity. We will be able to, hopefully, beautifully pull together the leadership competencies and also share the voice of nurse executives so that you're able to apply and advance your knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors around these complex topics to advance health care overall.
I was listening, I think clinician well-being is such an important topic and I think that's particularly relevant for nurses. Again, I defer to you, but burnout is a big deal in health care right now and staffing is a big deal, but everyone talks about it for nursing which, again I think, reflects how important nurses are that even in the media when you watch the news they talk, they don't just say health care shortage, they say nursing shortage, and which reflects that actually nurses are really, really important. I think it's a good thing. But then I think it's incumbent upon us to figure out how do we help nurses to thrive in a really difficult environment. Agreed, agreed, yes. Clinician well-being and particularly the well-being of nurses is I think going to be on the forefront of nurse executives' minds no matter what practice setting you're in. Absolutely.
Thank you for that question, Michael. When I think about what we've all been through and leading through complexity, I liken it to a movie that was recently released, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Right? So much has come across, and nurse executives, inspiring and influencing, we're going to be the heroes that save us. No pressure. Right? But thinking about again, executive leadership in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous health care landscape, being able to understand and articulate and move forward in health care economics, social determinants of health to advance health equity, maintaining and building high-reliability organizations, technology, innovation, continuous learning, all of those are going to be incredibly important as we think about change, rapid change. And change is the only thing that's constant, right? So, and certainly also something that's going to be, I think really important for nurse executives is learning and leading a diverse workforce. Retention and recruitment. Understanding nurses' hierarchy of needs, understanding their sense of value, and belonging, what makes them feel inspired and fulfilled, and safe in the work that they're doing, and making sure that all of our organizations align with their professional and personal sense of identity, our mission, vision, and values. I think those are going to be incredibly important to position us not just for now, but what's next.
Trina, I was listening to you. I was wondering, first of all, that sounds like a lot. And it all sounds hard. How much training do nurses typically get in these complicated topics as they're in their nursing education, as they go through it?
That's a great question, Michael. Thank you for that. I will tell you; it varies. It varies depending upon the nurses' formal academic preparation. We have a lot of nurses who have been really good nurses and there have been leadership abilities that have been recognized by their leaders. So, they may have been put forward in positions and may not have necessarily received a great deal of development to be successful in that. And nurses again, I'll continue to say, we're superheroes and we learn about being better prepared to address these topics that I just mentioned, for example, and that's just a small snippet based on what we're seeing and what we're forecasting for the future. I think having a program like this in place that provides some structure, that provides an evidence-based framework to guide their development, will better position them to lead in these truly complex. I see something similar to that.
Nurses are asked to do all kinds of things and sometimes they're trained in it and sometimes they never received training, and that's not fair to them. I mean, that's one of the premises of this program, that with training, people can thrive and succeed. But it's not fair to throw someone into a really difficult situation and not give them any background in that. Agree. Absolutely, absolutely. And to tie back into talking about value, and the value of nurse leaders at all levels of an organization, and that's I think whether you're working in health care or whether you're working in academia, or some other industry that's connected to health outcomes, being able to develop someone to be their best self will improve their performance and ultimately the outcomes you hope to achieve. Absolutely. So, Michael, how have you seen the role of nursing executive change over time in health care? It's been fascinating to me.
So, I have a more holistic view. Most of the meetings I go to have multiple roles in them, not just one. So, I have far less experience with you than nursing. But what I've seen over about 20 years is, 20 years ago the nursing person who is attending is almost an afterthought. It's insulting, to be honest with you. And sometimes, if the nursing executive wasn't there, they would just go on with the meeting as if it wasn't critical. Over time as medicine has shifted to team-based, I have seen this start to change. We're not all the way there yet, but now I see meetings where we can't go on without our CNO in this meeting. And I think the more team-based it has become; the more nurses are recognized to be absolutely important because they do so much of the work. So, I see this as a good thing. We still have a way to go for being honest with each other, but I see nurses being more valued, more respected, more recognized as critical in the process. Yes, thank you for that Michael. That's so incredibly true. And that networking and collaborating and we take a term from lean methodology Akimbo, right? So, the people who are closest to the work, being able to have a voice and a part of decision-making around things that will absolutely impact their work and hopefully, their ability to achieve and sustain quality outcomes over time. It is so incredibly important that networking, that partnering, that inter-professional, interdisciplinary collaboration is incredibly important in leadership. I've seen, and tell me if you agree, of course, it's a virtuous cycle as well because sometimes nurses really know what's going on.
And by including them, it actually speeds up the process. They give information faster, better, more complete, more holistically. So, the decision-making is better and faster for everyone. Why not include them and empower them? Thank you for that. Of course. And you're welcome. So, I've a question for you, many but not all of our participants are either about to enter a CNE role or have recently done so, there're some variation, so from your experience, what are the two or three most important skills they'll need to focus on as they think about starting to enter or recently entering such a role? Yes, thank you. That's another really great question. I would say, again, thinking about our current landscape, most of us want to always think about what is evidence-based and evidence-informed in terms of leadership.
But I'm compelled to start with communication and relationship management. That is so foundational to our ability, again, to connect with other individuals, to collaborate, to be able to have effective communication and decision-making around some really difficult things. So, I will continue to place communication and relationship management skills or competency very, very high up on the list and certainly, after that, I would definitely like to be able to have nurses, nurse executives become really astute in financial acumen and agility. I think being able to speak the language of finance moving forward is going to be incredibly important for leading our organizations and sitting at some of the tables as representatives and being looked at to provide leadership and direction around governing.
A lot of the challenges that we're facing around staffing, around health care delivery, financial acumen, financial agility, really being able to speak the language of finance I think is incredibly important. And certainly, recognizing technology, the advancement in technology and innovation particularly, as again we're looking at, and I'm primarily on the health care side now, but looking at different ways to provide health to a really broad sector who may have previously had difficulty with access, affordability. So, looking at those social determinants of health, how are we better able to serve individuals focused on population, health management? All of that will be incredibly important moving forward.
And correct me if I'm mistaken, what I see are that nurses are right at the forefront of everything that you talk about. So, communication, for example, I have found it's often the nurse that has to catch, okay that wasn't fully explained and we're in a little bit too much of a hurry and the patient didn't get it and the nurse has to make sure that there's a connection. And social determinants of health, I found it's often the nurses that are most thoughtful and sensitive to. I don't know if this is resonating with this, but how do I find out a way to communicate it that resonates with them? So, I think nurses are so important for these jobs. Yes, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. You're absolutely right. So, what was the process by which you created the content for the Chief Nurse Executive Program? So, the content I think is very important for all of us, especially those who are participating.
I like to often start with what do the participants most need. So, it's not about me, it's not about Trina, it's about people who sign up for such a program, like what are the things that they most need. So, talking to prospective participants, talking to people actually in the field of a variety of backgrounds and ranks and experience. And then what you find typically is the number of topics we could cover is far more than we have time available. That's a good problem to have. Then we have to figure out what are the most important. And so, Trina and I talked about that. You'll meet our colleague Bob. He helped with the process as well. And then what's a logical order for that? Because there are some topics that naturally flow from one to another, to trying to come up with an order and a sequence that makes sense of that, you'll most easily learn it and retain it.
And then who are the best people to teach each one? We have a great problem here at Emory. We have way too many people who are really good who could teach this topic. Health care is about half of our campus. We have one of the best health care team in the country, if not the world. And so, it's actually a tough decision. Of the four people who could teach a topic, who's the right one to do it? I'll gladly take that than the opposite of course. So, there is a lot to it in terms of the topics, the people, the sequence, but a lot of thought to a lot of conversations to try to design what is going to work best for the people who are participating. That's excellent. And I absolutely love that. So, we have this framework that's a part of this program and I think being able to give you the leadership concepts and also couple them with the voice of other nurse executives so you can connect it to.
For example, the Institute of Healthcare Improvement's Quadruple Aim, now Quintuple Aim looking at the patient experience which is always going to be important, cost which is always going to be important, being able to think about getting population health and population health management and ultimately clinician well-being, which we haven't really talked a lot about, however, it is incredibly essential and ultimately what do we need to understand and do to address social determinants of health so that we are in fact able to advance health equity. We will be able to, hopefully, beautifully pull together the leadership competencies and also share the voice of nurse executives so that you're able to apply and advance your knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors around these complex topics to advance health care overall.
I was listening, I think clinician well-being is such an important topic and I think that's particularly relevant for nurses. Again, I defer to you, but burnout is a big deal in health care right now and staffing is a big deal, but everyone talks about it for nursing which, again I think, reflects how important nurses are that even in the media when you watch the news they talk, they don't just say health care shortage, they say nursing shortage, and which reflects that actually nurses are really, really important. I think it's a good thing. But then I think it's incumbent upon us to figure out how do we help nurses to thrive in a really difficult environment. Agreed, agreed, yes. Clinician well-being and particularly the well-being of nurses is I think going to be on the forefront of nurse executives' minds no matter what practice setting you're in. Absolutely.
