Nursing professionals gathered on Nov. 8 in Light Hall to listen to Karen Keady, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, Vanderbilt University Medical Center System Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), present “Looking Ahead After 100 Days as System CNO” at the quarterly Nursing Grand Rounds.
Keady joined VUMC on July 1, transitioning from her role as vice president and chief nurse executive with the University of Rochester Medical Center.
The presentation was an opportunity for Keady to introduce herself to the enterprise and express her vision for the future of nursing at VUMC.
She began by sharing her personal nursing journey spanning 37 years and how her immersion into Vanderbilt culture shaped her ideas for advancing support for existing systems and growing opportunities for the future workforce.
“My strategy to learn about our health system was in part to analyze our metrics, but what was most impactful was to visit all the hospitals. Conducting meet-and-greets, one-on-ones, putting my scrubs on and getting involved clinically was immensely helpful to learn the culture of our nursing communities,” Keady said.
With a 40% increase in nursing staff over the last five years, VUMC currently employs over 9,000 nursing professionals.
“This tremendous clinical growth has happened because of the needs of our community, and it’s important to do our best to match that, but we need to do so while ensuring that our infrastructure and leadership systems grow in alignment as well,” Keady said.
To properly support the growing workforce and maintain the exceptional standards of care, Keady outlined opportunities for development and highlighted successful strategies currently in operation.
Her goal is to accomplish this through the framework of Vanderbilt Nursing’s strategic plan, which is to stabilize, sustain and build the workforce; transform and empower nursing practice; and design evidence-based care delivery to optimize patient and community outcomes.
“The fact that this strategic plan is already in place has been a blessing. This is exactly the work we should be executing over the next three years. Everything that is on our priority list is embedded in the strategic plan, and it allows me immediately to operationalize it,” said Keady.
To stabilize, sustain and build the workforce, Keady outlined the following initiatives: develop engaging onboarding processes; grow personal career development through additional career ladders; incentivize recruitment and retention through expanded loan repayment programs and flexible scheduling options; and continue to broaden workforce diversity through community career pathways.
She celebrated the commitment VUMC Nursing has shown in incorporating shared governance and leadership development to support initiatives that transform and empower nursing practice.
Implementing reward programs to recognize professionals for exceptional service, cultivating multigenerational teams, and the dedication to secure grants for workforce initiatives and career development were a few spotlighted examples.
“Our leadership gives the most autonomy to the people that are closest to the patients and the families, and continuing to practice that shared governance is so important,” Keady said.
Lastly, she touched on the final goal of the strategic nursing plan — design evidence-based care delivery to optimize patient and community outcomes.
She recognized the forward-thinking progress in integrating technology into nursing through the virtual nursing and Hospital at Home programs.
She’s endeavoring to share many of these programs more broadly through intrapreneurship.
“A great strength of Vanderbilt Nursing is embracing technology and continuing to expand it. We can capitalize on innovative programs like informatics boot camps, research/evidence-based practice immersions, or nurse care model courses, and use those earning opportunities to reinvest in our own programs,” Keady said.
Bryan Dejanovich MMHC, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, senior director of regional hospital integration, said of Keady’s presentation: “I’m excited to see what the future holds. Being able to listen and connect with her ideas left many of us feeling motivated and engaged to accomplish her vision for pushing the limits for what nursing can be and how it can be done.”
