Three nurses with various clinical and administrative backgrounds team up to author a book on healthcare leadership strategies. A former patient fulfills a lifelong dream of becoming a nurse at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Members of the American Nephrology Nurses Association (ANNA) join a collaborative to advocate for kidney patients. Read on for this week’s nursing news.
Nurses write book on healthcare leadership
A trio of nurses with various clinical and administrative backgrounds have authored a book together on leadership strategies for the healthcare industry.
Human-Centered Leadership in Healthcare: Evolution of a Revolution, written by nurses Kay Kennedy, DNP; Lucy Leclerc, PhD; and Susan P. Campis, MSN, brings nurses closer to understanding what the authors consider to be the attributes of a nurse leader — one who recognizes the humanity within their healthcare teams “by being an awakener, a connector, and an upholder.”
Citing real-world case studies, research, and a collection of leadership tools from the bedside to the boardroom, the authors say that the book helps nurses to learn how to start with “self” so that their leadership energy organically emanates outward to their teams and to their patients.
- How healthcare leaders promote “care for the caregivers” during the pandemic
- The defining characteristics of human-centered leadership in healthcare and how it has been developed
- Why “human-centered leadership in healthcare” is an idea for today’s time
- Why the healthcare industry requires a leadership approach that’s different from other industries
Kennedy holds a DNP in executive leadership from MGH Institute for Health Professions and is board certified as an advanced nurse executive and a certified professional in healthcare quality. She has held multiple leadership positions, including chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services. She has also published articles in peer-reviewed journals on human-centered leadership in healthcare and currently teaches at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University.
Leclerc is a nurse executive, entrepreneur, and assistant professor of nursing at Kennesaw State University, where she teaches leadership, professionalism, and ethics. She received her undergraduate nursing degree and PhD from the Medical University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on nursing leadership in practice and in academia. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Nursing Education and has published research in many peer-reviewed journals.
Campis began her nursing career as an ICU nurse and worked at the bedside for many years prior to accepting a formal leadership role. Her leadership roles have included nurse manager, director, and executive director. Her MSN degree focuses on leadership and management in nursing, and she is board certified as a nurse executive. She has also published several articles in peer-reviewed nursing leadership journals.
Related Webinar Course: Nurse Leadership Resiliency
Former patient becomes nurse at new hospital
Abby Lackman, RN, recently realized a lifelong dream: to become a nurse and to join the staff at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
Born prematurely in the mid-1990s after an ultrasound showed an abnormal mass developing congenital lung lesions, she spent part of her childhood in CHOP hospitals. As a result, Lackman began to develop an affinity for the doctors, nurses, and other staff members at CHOP who helped to save her life and to keep her healthy.
Lackman, who was recently profiled in an article by Philadelphia’s 6abc, was hired by CHOP six months ago. She is part of a healthcare team that has launched the organization’s new Middleman Family Pavilion in King of Prussia, PA, a Philadelphia suburb.
The new hospital holds more than 50 inpatient rooms, nearly 20 of which are reserved for the pediatric ICU, where Lackman provides care. The facility is also expected to provide support and relief for CHOP’s West Philadelphia campus, a 600-bed facility.
ANNA nurses join collaborative to advocate for kidney patients
Members of the American Nephrology Nurses Association (ANNA) have joined a collaborative including the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), and the Renal Healthcare Association (RHA) in urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Biden Administration to provide more resources to facilities that provide care to kidney patients across the country.
“Shortages in staff, supplies, and dialysis shifts for COVID-19-positive patients are causing severe stress in many parts of the country, resulting in facility closures, shortened treatment times, and backlogs in moving patients among dialysis, hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities,” the organizations wrote in a letter sent to Xavier Becerra, HHS secretary, and Jeffrey Zients, the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 response coordinator, dated Jan. 26. “These interruptions are having devastating impacts on dialysis patients, who rely on the continuity and stability of facilities that provide a treatment that patients cannot live without. Meanwhile, Omicron continues to spread among dialysis patients and staff, causing serious illness and exacerbating shortages and strain.”
Deaths among dialysis patients were 18% higher in 2020 than in 2019, according to officials within the collaborative. “Staffing and the necessary dialysis supplies, both of which are hard to come by, remain at critical levels,” said David Walz, MBA, BSN, RN, CNN, FACHE, president of the ANNA, in a prepared statement. “Nephrology nurses are crucial in delivering high-quality kidney care to people with kidney issues. Nephrology nurses on the frontlines are reporting more serious cases than they’ve ever seen, and care delivery is strained to the breaking point.”
To address the staffing and supply shortages, the nephrology organizations advise the Biden Administration to:
- Alleviate supply crises at dialysis facilities due to supply chain challenges/breakdowns and staff shortages
- Distribute high-level, government-approved masks to dialysis facilities
- Issue clarification regarding Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) policies related to the use of pre-filled saline syringes and saline protocols
- Encourage state and federal governments to allow reciprocity for nurses to allow for interstate practice during the pandemic, regardless of whether the state is a compact state
- Urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to recognize waning immunity in vaccinated people with kidney failure and ensure treatments approved through emergency use authorizations for the immunocompromised include people who are living with kidney failure
“The U.S. must do everything in its power to prepare for future surges in COVID-19 cases and prevent needless deaths among our most vulnerable citizens,” the letter also states. “ANNA, ASN, NKF, and RHA stand ready to partner with you, your colleagues, policymakers, and other stakeholders in service of this goal.”
Related CE Course: Pharmacological Management of Chronic Kidney Disease
Views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Elite Learning or Colibri Group. Media referenced in this news round-up does not constitute an endorsement.
