Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

18 NURSING SPOTLIGHT 'I never said no to an opportunity': MetroHealth's chief nursing officer on change By Mariah Taylor M elissa Kline, DNP, RN, did not intend to go into leadership when she started as a staff nurse at Cleveland-based MetroHealth. But over the last 20 years, she realized leadership is where she belonged. "I love taking care of our patients and I really liked learning about how the unit functions," she told Becker's. "I started by helping schedule nurses, then became a charge nurse, and I got involved in different councils to develop performance improvement projects. at's when I realized I like doing that sort of thing." Dr. Kline started as an assistant manager in 2003 and made her way up until she became chief nursing officer in 2015. "I never said no to an opportunity," she said. "When our CEO at the time asked me if I was interested in being chief nurse, all of a sudden I knew that's what I wanted to do. I hadn't set out for that position, but I said yes to it without knowing the salary. I just wanted to lead our nursing staff." Here, Dr. Kline discusses the issues facing nurses, technological advances and leadership. Question: What's the greatest challenge facing nurses right now? Dr. Melissa Kline: e greatest challenge is the pace of changes happening. ere's a lot of changes in how we deliver healthcare. I think people are finally paying attention to prevention instead of just treating disease, so we have a focus on that prevention while also providing care within the hospitals. ose changes, coupled with a nursing shortage and technological advances like artificial intelligence and virtual care, means we are testing different care delivery models. Aer COVID-19, how do we keep the pace of change going in order to provide appropriate and quality care? It's a lot to change and adapt to. Q: What concerns you most about the healthcare field? MK: e shortage of care providers in all specialties, but especially primary care. How do we keep people engaged in the work and attract them to healthcare? It's very rewarding. ere are many roles that are flexible but there are people who have to work holidays, night shis and weekends. So being attractive to people in the workforce can be difficult. We've been partnering with different education institutions like high schools and colleges to get the younger generation interested in healthcare and nursing. We have a nurse internship type program for juniors and seniors where they interact with nurses and get to shadow them on the job. But we also expose students to other careers in healthcare. ere's something for everybody from marketing to information to quality All nurses laid off at more than 100 Optum- owned clinics By Jakob Emerson A chain of urgent care clinics owned by UnitedHealth Group's Optum is laying off all nursing positions nationwide. Morgantown, W.Va.-based MedExpress Urgent Care will eliminate registered nursing positions at nearly 150 facilities as part of a larger group of layoffs at Optum, nurse.org reported Aug. 21. A MedExpress spokesperson did not confirm or deny the accuracy of the report when reached by Becker's, though they did provide the following statement: "MedExpress continually assesses and evolves our staffing models to better reflect urgent care industry standards. As always, we will support team members affected with job placement resources and seek to deploy them where possible to any open roles within the company." The nurse.org report was confirmed by WSAZ in West Virginia. An online petition posted by MedExpress nurses is calling on UnitedHealth to reverse its decision. As of Aug. 22, the petition had gathered more than 3,500 signatures. "Not only is there no plan in place for the enormous amount of retraining it would require to make our centers run without nurses, but removing our lifeline from our clinics is a death sentence," the petition said. "Without significant, mandatory, hands-on, companywide training to make this new model work, it is completely negligent." UnitedHealth Group has provided limited information about layoffs at Optum and its subsidiaries, but former employees with the company took to social media in August about large swaths of layoffs they say are occurring. A regional senior security manager for Optum's Pacific West region wrote on LinkedIn that he was "part of the worldwide reductions in force by UnitedHealth Group and Optum." "We continually review the capabilities and services we offer to meet the growing and evolving needs of our businesses and the people we serve," UnitedHealth Group told Becker's previously. "As always, we will support affected team members with job placement resources and seek to deploy them where possible to any open roles within the company." Becker's has reached out to UnitedHealth Group for additional comment about MedExpress and will update this article if more information becomes available. n

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