Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1512339
22 NURSING SPOTLIGHT Why 1 chief nurse nixed 'challenges' from her vocabulary By Mariah Taylor D ianne Aroh, MSN, RN, chief nursing officer at Tacoma, Wash.-based Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, is passionate about turning every challenge into an opportunity. Ms. Aroh grew up in Jamaica and from a young age, she wanted to be a lawyer. It was not until her brother was injured playing soccer that she considered an entirely new field. "I was very involved in his care," she told Becker's. "I was at the hospital every day aer school and I was so fascinated with the nurses, physicians and caring. I wanted to be his nurse and I felt that was a calling for me." Aer immigrating to the United States, she began working at New York City-based Montefiore Health System. "ey really saw more in me than I saw in myself," she said. Her mentors helped her move from a staff nurse into manager roles. Eventually, she became the chief nurse executive at the hospital. From there, she served as executive leadership at two hospitals before taking her current position at Virginia Mason in 2021. Here, she discusses some of the challenges in healthcare and the programs she is most proud of. Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity. Question: What's the greatest challenge facing nurses right now? Dianne Aroh: e greatest challenge facing nursing is also its most exciting opportunity. We need nurse leaders to be more reflective about how we are approaching challenges and our willingness and courage to abandon what we're comfortable with so we can move into the future of nursing. Different people want different things, and people are being more open about what's important to them. Yes, we are confronting challenges, but I want to change the word "challenge" to new opportunities. Q: What concerns you most about the healthcare field? DA: Our willingness to be bolder. I think what concerns me most is that we will abandon optimism in the face of challenges. But the opportunities to do something differently, I should say, are insurmountable. I think making sure that we remain in a state of optimism, understanding and reflection will allow leaders to see that what worked in the past may not work now. We need to ensure that we are changing and transforming as leaders — for us to push back on the traditional ways of how we've always managed, and lead in a different way. We should consider our workforce as true partners in our strategy and abandon that top-down approach to leadership. We are workers together and we have a common goal, and we're gonna get through this together. Q: What's something your hospital or system is doing that you're most proud of? DA: I am proud of the growth we've made, like our commitment to health equity, that we have more minority physicians, and the fact that we've made that level of commitment and we put our money behind that commitment. I am also proud that we continue to invest in specialty programs. And of course, the fact that we're leveraging technology and taking our nurses into a different type of care model. We are now embracing the fact that nurses need to practice at the top of their licenses. We are hiring more pharmacy techs and are going to hire safety companions to ease the burden of work on nurses. I'm also proud of the fact that we are going to be promoting more upskilling of people within our organization that want to have a different career trajectory. Q: What's the best leadership advice you've received? DA: I would say the best leadership advice that I've ever received is never let anyone define you; never let anyone tell you who you can be or who you are. n The benefits of rehiring 'boomerang' nurses By Erica Carbajal I n May, some hospitals started reporting a positive trend: Former nurses who left their full-time positions for travel gigs or earlier in the pandemic were interested in returning. "The boomerang nurses have returned," Gail Vozzella, DNP, Houston Methodist's chief nursing executive, told The Wall Street Journal at the start of May. At that time, the hospital had seen about 60 nurses return since the start of the year. Pay rates for travel nurse assignments have come down significantly from peak periods of demand earlier in the pandemic, often cited as a key factor driving some nurses back to their former employers. In a Sept. 6 post, Wolters Kluwer outlined several benefits for hospitals rehiring former nurses: • Boomerang nurses gained new experiences and skills they can offer to support their original organization's growth and improvement. • They're familiar with the culture and would be able to acclimate back into their jobs quickly • They're less costly to reorient. • They may be more engaged than external hires, based on research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that suggests boomerang employees are typically more satisfied and committed to their roles, and receive stronger performance reviews. "Where employers were once leary about returning staffers, there has been a mindset shift in the post- COVID environment," the information technology company said in its blog post, citing a survey where 76 percent of HR professionals said they are more open to hiring former employees than they were in the past. n