Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1506185
58 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP A UPMC nurse's rapid rise to leadership By Kelly Gooch A shley Iannazzo, DNP, RN, has experienced various changes during her career trajectory. Most recently, she went from one direct report three years ago to overseeing about 700 employees as senior director of clinical operations at the UPMC Center for Nursing Excellence and UPMC Travel Staffing senior nurse leader. Dr. Iannazzo shared how she views her leadership journey, discussed her role in Pittsburgh-based UPMC's in-house travel staffing agency, and passed along advice to professionals who are striving to level up. Her journey in healthcare has roots going back to high school. "I always knew I liked medicine, whether it be as a medical doctor or a veterinarian," Dr. Iannazzo told Becker's. en, "I got an opportunity in high school to shadow a nurse, and I loved being able to be with the patient all day and connect with the families. "And that was the opportunity I needed to connect my personality and love for partnership and connection with that medicine aspect that interested me as well." Aer high school, Dr. Iannazzo applied to nursing schools, ending up at University of Pittsburgh Nursing for her four-year degree. She selected a med-surg rotation at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh. "I worked on Magee's … med-surg telemetry unit. I did my transitions there, and then I was hired over spring break," she said in a UPMC article. "I was so proud that I already had a job before I even graduated. I started there in the summer, and I quickly trained to charge nurse due to some needs on the unit and my natural ability to lead teams. I then returned to Pitt for a Master of Nursing Science in the Clinical Nurse Leader program. I took advantage of our flexible scheduling programs by becoming a full-time weekend program nurse." Dr. Iannazzo later was offered a quality improvement fellowship and then hired full-time as a quality nurse coordinator. Aer completing her doctorate in health systems executive leadership, she stepped into a programmatic nurse specialist role supporting the UPMC Experience. She was then promoted to director, and then promoted to senior director with the launch of UPMC's in-house travel staffing agency. UPMC initially announced in December 2021 that it had created UPMC Travel Staffing, a new in-house travel staffing agency to address a nursing shortage and to attract and retain workers. rough the agency, nurses and surgical technologists earn $85 an hour and $63 an hour, respectively, in addition to a $2,880 stipend at "I've been coached and mentored by not only our [human resources] colleagues, but also our finance colleagues. My leaders set me up for success with the network that I could build and start trusting over the past three years." — Ashley Iannazzo, DNP, RN Image Credit: The New York Times