Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1482786
60 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Viewpoint: Stop treating nurses like selfless mothers By Mackenzie Bean A dvocating for better working conditions is an es- pecially challenging task for nurses, as they are battling a long history of sexism and false no- tions about the profession, Stephen Mihm, PhD, wrote in an op-ed published Sept. 16 in Bloomberg. "A century's worth of sentimental blather about nursing as selfless women's work has left Americans ill-equipped to grasp the severity of the current crisis," said Dr. Mihm, a professor of history at the University of Georgia in Athens. The modern nursing profession ties back to the Civil War, when women volunteered to care for wounded soldiers, he said. In the decades after, formal nurse training schools gained prominence, and few — if any — admitted men. Typically, female nursing students spent two to three years training on the job in hospitals and lived in dormitories that were run like convents. After graduation, few went into hospital nursing, as most of the work was done by students — who were unpaid, according to Dr. Mihm. "This arrangement helped cement a public perception that nursing was less a conventional job and career than a selfless endeavor akin to motherhood," he wrote. Now, amid prevalent staffing shortages, nurses strikes are gaining traction nationwide. Nurses are not just fighting for better working conditions and pay, but also public support, according to Dr. Mihm. "The history can help us understand why, unlike workers at Amazon.com or Starbucks Corp., nurses must confront decades of sexist attitudes that have condemned them for being anything other than tireless, self-sacrificing caregivers," he said. n know if when you were in elementary school had those plastic human body models that had all the different organ systems. I was fascinated by those things and [in] the encyclopedias, there was a plastic overlay of the human body organ systems that I was fascinated with. So I'd flip through the circulatory system, the nervous system and so on. I always had that interest but it was never out there in the front of my decision making with my education. I think that came later aer my dad had that stroke. Q: What has been your biggest accomplishment thus far? Whether it be in your career in general or at UW Health? AB: I've been so lucky to work with such good, good teams and good organizations. I've been with UW Health pretty much my entire career. I did have a few years full time at the VA, which is an affiliate of UW Health and, you know, both organizations such great teams that, I guess it's hard to look back and think of [a] greatest accomplishment because we're always working to continually improve and focus on what's com- ing next right to meet our patient care needs. And so I kind of thought through this one a little bit, maybe as to what's really extremely rewarding. And once again, what's the most rewarding thing, I couldn't come up with one specific thing, but I guess [there's] a couple of different layers. I still take care of patients, and for me, that connection at a patient level is so very rewarding. I always say patient care is my first love. It is really why folks who are in healthcare are in healthcare. And then when you think about our academic missions associated with patient care, our education piece, for me, some of the most rewarding times have been within that education realm. For residents in particular when that light bulb goes on, that patient care is a privilege. I feel like once you are a healthcare team member, if they haven't come to healthcare, knowing and understanding that, once that light bulb goes off, that's so rewarding. With that privilege that is healthcare, with that comes specific obligations, [like] continual improvement, working with a team. And for me, some of the most re- warding experiences are when that light bulb goes off. Administratively, something that really caught up collectively across our organization from everyone across all of our disciplines really has been UW Health's collective response throughout the pandemic. Just the amount of collaboration, flexibility, resiliency in the time of pro- found unknowns, ever changing information and new curveballs. I am just really proud of the collective team for that as well. Q: If you could eliminate one of the healthcare industry's problems overnight, what would it be and why? AB: I think it's just sort of human nature, that we all view our experi- ence from our own lens and platform. So I've been saying for a while to residents, to colleagues, that if I had a magic wand that I could wave, I would make any 'us versus them' in healthcare go away. And so there's lots of different layers of that. So when you think of just the patient care team, you know any doctor versus nurse isn't productive. Resident ver- sus nurse or the ICU team disagreeing with the ED team. When we're busy and working hard sometimes, we can just be overly focused on our own perspective. Q: What are your goals for the next six months as chief medi- cal officer of UW Health? Next year? AB: is one really comes down to one word, and really, that is health. For [a] large academic medical system like UW Health, this means we're building the care models, workforce and clinical programs to deliver remarkable care and meet patients where they are. is isn't new work, but it's also at a time when it's never been more challenging. When you think about most health systems facing financial headwinds about a stable market. Our patients still expect us to continue to meet their needs. And so even though we've been through a pandemic, and we still have plenty of COVID-19 around, that pandemic isn't an excuse for us to mark time. And so we've had to get creative. And I think part of that creativity has been leveraging some of the silver linings of the pandem- ic. I think examples of expanding telemedicine and remote work op- tions are great examples of this. You know, we've been able to expand our workforce even through the pandemic and develop new virtual care options to continue to meet needs. But that high level, meeting the health needs of our community, is something that over the next six months, years is going to continue to be challenging. Q: What is the best leadership advice you have ever received? AB: You don't have to have a title of a leader to be a leader. And sort of paired with that was the comment that you're not leading if nobody's following. e skills to be an effective leader don't come with a title. ere's informal leaders and the concept of leading by influence where a lot of leadership exists. And I think that concept for me was really, really helpful early in my career. n