Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Katrina Ascencio-Holmes on Building and Retaining Sutter Health’s Nursing Workforce

Transcript

Katrina Ascencio-Holmes on Building and Retaining Sutter Health’s Nursing Workforce · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:02
  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
• 0:04
  - leaders right now is not a short list.
• 0:07
  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
• 0:09
  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
• 0:12
  - favor,
• 0:12
  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
• 0:15
  - and discipline,
• 0:16
  - and a workforce story that is still being
• 0:19
  - written.
• 0:20
  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
• 0:23
  - more than 1,500 executive level attendees and nearly
• 0:27
  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
• 0:30
  - are designed to help c suite leaders benchmark,
• 0:32
  - pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
• 0:35
  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
• 0:37
  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
• 0:39
  - It's the kind of event you leave with
• 0:40
  - a clear sense of where you stand and
• 0:42
  - what comes next.
• 0:44
  - So join us November second through the fifth
• 0:46
  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago
• 0:48
  - and come ready to do the hard thinking.
• 0:50
  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:54
  - by clicking on the events tab in the
• 0:56
  - upper right.
• 0:58
  - Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:00
  - Clinical Leadership podcast.
• 1:02
  - I'm Mackenzie Bean, associate vice president and managing
• 1:05
  - editor of Becker's Hospital Review.
• 1:08
  - Today, I'm so delighted to be joined on
• 1:10
  - the podcast by Katrina Sensio Holmes, who is
• 1:13
  - the system vice president and chief nurse officer
• 1:16
  - of Sutter Health.
• 1:17
  - Kat, thank you so much for joining us
• 1:19
  - today. How are you doing?
• 1:21
  - I'm doing great, Mackenzie, and thank you for
• 1:23
  - calling me Kat. Everyone calls me Kat. Appreciate
• 1:26
  - that.
• 1:28
  - Of course. Well, I'm excited to get into
• 1:30
  - our conversation today and hear more about the
• 1:33
  - work that you're doing at Sutter Health. But
• 1:35
  - before we dive in, can you just share
• 1:37
  - a little bit more about yourself, your career
• 1:39
  - background, and your current role for our listeners?
• 1:42
  - Absolutely.
• 1:44
  - So
• 1:45
  - I have been
• 1:46
  - a nurse,
• 1:48
  - almost well, over about forty years now. My
• 1:50
  - goodness.
• 1:52
  - And I've loved every part of it. I
• 1:54
  - started my career
• 1:56
  - actually in med surg and went to labor
• 1:58
  - and delivery,
• 2:00
  - then went to the operating room,
• 2:02
  - and then kind of put it over to
• 2:03
  - the ambulatory surgery center and did ambulatory surgery
• 2:07
  - center for about ten years of my career,
• 2:10
  - and then joined Sutter Health
• 2:12
  - And I've been with Sutter Health for the
• 2:13
  - last seventeen
• 2:15
  - years in the ambulatory surgery side as well
• 2:18
  - as the acute care side
• 2:20
  - and have had multiple
• 2:21
  - different titles, CEO and CNE and but there's
• 2:26
  - no better title than a nurse.
• 2:28
  - And so just
• 2:30
  - really proud today to
• 2:33
  - be representing the 18,000
• 2:35
  - nurses at Sutter Health
• 2:37
  - and really
• 2:38
  - developing
• 2:39
  - and providing
• 2:40
  - the amazing
• 2:41
  - opportunities that we have here at Sutter Health
• 2:44
  - for that next generation.
• 2:47
  - I I love that message and let's dive
• 2:49
  - right into that
• 2:51
  - topic that you mentioned of really
• 2:53
  - growing Sutter's nursing workforce
• 2:55
  - and creating a place where nurses want to
• 2:58
  - stay and grow and have all those opportunities.
• 3:00
  - Can you talk more about that work and
• 3:02
  - what you're thinking about in that space?
• 3:04
  - Absolutely.
• 3:06
  - You know, Mackenzie, when we stop and think
• 3:09
  - about the experience of our nursing teams,
• 3:12
  - it's the heart. They're the heart of Sutter
• 3:14
  - Health.
• 3:15
  - And we are here to really provide and
• 3:18
  - support them with opportunities to grow professionally,
• 3:22
  - lead confidently,
• 3:23
  - and build a meaningful
• 3:24
  - long term career.
• 3:26
  - And we're committed to doing that for 18,000
• 3:30
  - nurses and nearly a thousand LVNs
• 3:33
  - to pursue that meaningful career that makes a
• 3:36
  - difference in our people's lives.
• 3:38
  - We do that through supporting them at every
• 3:40
  - stage of their careers, through residency programs,
• 3:43
  - specialty training, simulation
• 3:46
  - based learning,
• 3:47
  - leadership development, and academic partnerships.
• 3:50
  - But I think the real key
• 3:53
  - is listening to our nurses.
• 3:55
  - Our nurses have amazing
• 3:57
  - ideas
• 3:58
  - and
• 3:59
  - also great feedback, and we use that to
• 4:02
  - improve the work environment
• 4:04
  - that our nurses are in.
• 4:06
  - And with shared governance, it also helps us
• 4:09
  - shape everything from those education offerings and workflow
• 4:13
  - improvements.
• 4:15
  - One that comes to mind really for us
• 4:18
  - is
• 4:18
  - nursing focus where
• 4:21
  - frontline teams helped us to identify
• 4:25
  - documentation
• 4:25
  - through the computer system and how much time
• 4:28
  - they were taking away from the patient.
• 4:31
  - And so they partnered with our
• 4:34
  - digital to help simplify documentation,
• 4:37
  - and that frontline team,
• 4:39
  - allowed us to make a
• 4:42
  - simplified documentation
• 4:43
  - that gives more time at the bedside back
• 4:47
  - to our nurses.
• 4:48
  - It saved the nurses over forty thousand hours
• 4:51
  - in
• 4:52
  - charting in over a year.
• 4:55
  - So really when we know that
• 4:57
  - if our nurses feel supported and heard
• 5:01
  - and they're empowered to grow. And we see
• 5:04
  - that reflected in the stability of our workforce
• 5:07
  - here at Sutter Health.
• 5:08
  - We've hired more than 1,100 nurses in 2025.
• 5:13
  - Our nurse turnovers
• 5:14
  - declined by 52%
• 5:16
  - since 2022,
• 5:18
  - and we have more than half of our
• 5:20
  - nurses have been with Sutter for at least
• 5:22
  - five years.
• 5:24
  - Our nursing engagement continues to increase and remains
• 5:27
  - well above national benchmarks.
• 5:29
  - And really at the end of the day,
• 5:31
  - we're here to create an environment where nurses
• 5:33
  - feel supported,
• 5:34
  - valued and empowered
• 5:36
  - to build long meaningful careers, etcetera health.
• 5:40
  - You mentioned a broad array of
• 5:42
  - recruitment and,
• 5:44
  - retainment strategies
• 5:46
  - and that initiative, 40,000
• 5:48
  - charting hours
• 5:50
  - saved in a year is so impressive. I'm
• 5:52
  - curious as you're thinking specifically about
• 5:55
  - the retention piece and growing nurses to stay
• 5:58
  - at center long term, what investments there do
• 6:01
  - you think are making the biggest difference?
• 6:03
  - I think we're committed to building that workplace
• 6:06
  - where everyone can just reach their full potential
• 6:08
  - and changing it. And that really came from
• 6:11
  - a commitment investing in our people.
• 6:13
  - We invest over $24,000,000
• 6:15
  - annually in education,
• 6:17
  - career growth, and leadership development.
• 6:20
  - And you stop and think about that first
• 6:22
  - day a new nurse,
• 6:23
  - That nurse residency program that we put our
• 6:26
  - neuro nurses through
• 6:28
  - allows them to first get the education of
• 6:32
  - what's gonna happen when they get out to
• 6:33
  - the floor, but it provides them that mentorship
• 6:37
  - and that peer connection with others in the
• 6:39
  - class with them.
• 6:41
  - It helps build their confidence
• 6:43
  - and their clinical skills and really their long
• 6:47
  - term career growth.
• 6:49
  - It's really fascinating when we stop and think
• 6:52
  - about that new nurse coming in.
• 6:54
  - They've just gotten the education,
• 6:56
  - but it doesn't stop there. It's a continual
• 7:00
  - education
• 7:01
  - that happens.
• 7:02
  - And at Sutter Health, we have over 7,700
• 7:05
  - clinical development courses that we deliver.
• 7:08
  - We have residency and transition programs,
• 7:11
  - leadership development, and hands on training.
• 7:14
  - Those investments
• 7:16
  - that we make
• 7:17
  - go straight to our nurses to help them
• 7:19
  - build their careers here at Sutter Health.
• 7:23
  - I know that support for new nurses, especially
• 7:25
  - in their first year on the job is
• 7:27
  - so, so crucial.
• 7:29
  - As you mentioned, I'm curious as you're thinking
• 7:32
  - about the broader
• 7:33
  - nursing workforce strategy as well, how are you
• 7:35
  - thinking through building up the nursing pipeline? Because
• 7:38
  - I know that's a crucial part of it
• 7:40
  - alongside
• 7:41
  - supporting those new nurses.
• 7:43
  - You're absolutely correct. I think really when you
• 7:45
  - look at
• 7:46
  - our nurses,
• 7:48
  - transition to practice is another area. So our
• 7:52
  - nurses wanna maybe switch from a med surgeon
• 7:55
  - potentially
• 7:56
  - go into a telemetry unit. We have transition
• 7:59
  - practice programs to help them reach the next
• 8:02
  - level. Or maybe they wanna switch out to
• 8:05
  - emergency room,
• 8:06
  - completely
• 8:07
  - different
• 8:08
  - area than where they've been. We have those
• 8:11
  - transition programs
• 8:12
  - that are available for them to grow into
• 8:15
  - that career.
• 8:17
  - I think the other area when we stop
• 8:19
  - and think about is the preceptor programs and
• 8:22
  - the mentorship and clinical education
• 8:25
  - is all about building confidence, not just for
• 8:27
  - a new nurse,
• 8:29
  - but
• 8:30
  - also for our mature nurses as they go
• 8:32
  - into a new area.
• 8:34
  - And when we stop and look at what
• 8:38
  - they gain from that, that experience, they become
• 8:42
  - the new mentor
• 8:44
  - for a new inexperienced
• 8:45
  - nurse.
• 8:46
  - And we've seen that with the support
• 8:49
  - and we continue to see our nurses grow.
• 8:54
  - That's amazing to hear.
• 8:56
  - I want to switch gears a bit from
• 8:58
  - the
• 8:59
  - retention and recruitment piece to look at workplace
• 9:02
  - safety. It's obviously a huge topic for healthcare
• 9:05
  - leaders today and we know that care team
• 9:08
  - members need to feel safe to give the
• 9:10
  - best care to
• 9:12
  - their patient populations.
• 9:13
  - How is Sutter investing in workplace safety for
• 9:16
  - nurses and beyond?
• 9:18
  - Yeah. Safety and security of the teams and
• 9:21
  - our patients are top priority at Sutter. We
• 9:23
  - evaluate
• 9:24
  - security risk. We actively take steps to improve
• 9:27
  - safety for everyone who works or receives care
• 9:30
  - at our sites.
• 9:32
  - We've invested $45,000,000
• 9:34
  - in security technology and resources
• 9:36
  - to provide
• 9:37
  - a higher level of security in all of
• 9:39
  - our locations.
• 9:41
  - You stop and think,
• 9:43
  - this includes our large system security team,
• 9:47
  - etcetera.
• 9:48
  - Now more than a thousand members strong and
• 9:50
  - growing.
• 9:52
  - It's committed to providing a safe environment
• 9:55
  - across all our Sutter locations, but it's also
• 9:57
  - their partners
• 9:59
  - with our nurses
• 10:00
  - and our care teams
• 10:02
  - so that we're all one Sutter
• 10:05
  - as we look at the safety in in
• 10:07
  - the system.
• 10:09
  - I think the other area I'd be remiss
• 10:11
  - if I didn't call out is our,
• 10:14
  - frontline
• 10:15
  - health care teams.
• 10:17
  - In their shared governance meetings, they actually bring
• 10:20
  - different items to our teams if there's a
• 10:23
  - problem so that we can address it.
• 10:26
  - And I couldn't stop the, the podcast without
• 10:29
  - saying something about our canine
• 10:32
  - dog team that we have.
• 10:34
  - And they're here and they're here because they
• 10:37
  - are able to elevate any risk of acute
• 10:40
  - cure sites that we might have and provide
• 10:42
  - that threat detection
• 10:44
  - and another added layer of security.
• 10:47
  - And so really looking across the continuum
• 10:51
  - of ensuring that our patients and our people
• 10:54
  - are safe.
• 10:56
  - We've spent a lot of time today
• 10:58
  - talking about
• 10:59
  - new nurses
• 11:00
  - and,
• 11:01
  - you know, building up the pipeline of the
• 11:04
  - nursing workforce, but let's hone in and think
• 11:06
  - through I mean, there's a new nurse who's
• 11:08
  - starting at Sutter on his or her first
• 11:10
  - day.
• 11:11
  - What advice would you give that person?
• 11:14
  - Oh,
• 11:15
  - first part of all, I would say is
• 11:18
  - you pick the right career.
• 11:20
  - And
• 11:22
  - it's one of the most
• 11:24
  - meaningful
• 11:26
  - and impactful
• 11:27
  - professions
• 11:28
  - with an opportunity
• 11:30
  - for you to make a difference
• 11:32
  - in patients' lives every day.
• 11:35
  - I don't know a lot of professions that
• 11:37
  - do that.
• 11:38
  - And have grace.
• 11:40
  - It's a journey.
• 11:42
  - Stay curious.
• 11:43
  - Keep learning.
• 11:45
  - Seek out mentors who can help you, guide
• 11:48
  - you as you grow.
• 11:50
  - Nursing offers different career paths, including bedside care,
• 11:55
  - specialty practice, education,
• 11:58
  - thinking about leadership,
• 12:00
  - research, and innovation.
• 12:02
  - Just remember, you don't have to know today
• 12:06
  - what your
• 12:08
  - end journey will be because it's a journey.
• 12:11
  - It doesn't have to be mapped out.
• 12:13
  - Nursing opens doors
• 12:15
  - to opportunities
• 12:16
  - you may not even know exist yet,
• 12:19
  - and I'm excited
• 12:21
  - for you to start.
• 12:23
  - I think that's such a great message to
• 12:26
  - end on and just remember how much
• 12:29
  - diversity and excitement there is in in a
• 12:32
  - career in nursing. So, Kat, thank you so
• 12:34
  - much for taking the time to join us
• 12:36
  - on the podcast and share a little bit
• 12:37
  - more about your work etcetera. We so appreciate
• 12:39
  - it.
• 12:40
  - Absolutely. And thank you so much for having
• 12:42
  - me. I feel very honored to have been
• 12:44
  - able to
• 12:46
  - speak to the nurses.
• 12:47
  - The honor is all ours. So thank you
• 12:49
  - again, Kat.