Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Stacey Conklin, CNO of Montefiore Nyack Hospital

Transcript

Stacey Conklin, CNO of Montefiore Nyack Hospital · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Becker's healthcare clinical leadership podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm Mariah Taylor, assistant editor, and I'm thrilled
• 0:06
  to be speaking with Stacy Conklin, chief nursing
• 0:09
  officer at Montefiore Nyack Hospital.
• 0:11
  Thank you so much for joining me, Stacy.
• 0:13
  I'm really excited to learn more about how
• 0:15
  you're strategizing the use of AI in clinical
• 0:18
  care. But before we get into that, I'd
• 0:20
  love for you to introduce yourself and tell
• 0:22
  us a little bit more about your background.
• 0:24
  Thank you so much, Mariah. It is great
• 0:27
  to be here. I'm super excited to speak
• 0:29
  with you,
• 0:30
  about AI.
• 0:32
  As you mentioned, I'm the chief nursing officer
• 0:34
  at Montefiore Nyack Hospital.
• 0:36
  Prior to that, I was a chief nursing
• 0:39
  officer at a very similar size organization in
• 0:41
  Long Island, New York,
• 0:43
  and that was,
• 0:45
  not too long ago. I started here in
• 0:47
  February
• 0:48
  2026.
• 0:49
  And prior to my role as a chief
• 0:52
  nursing officer, I worked in information technology,
• 0:55
  for several years,
• 0:57
  and I was actually a chief information officer
• 0:59
  at a hospital on Long Island.
• 1:01
  So bringing,
• 1:03
  all of my informatics skills,
• 1:05
  together with my nursing skills here to Montefiore
• 1:08
  Nyack Hospital and to speak with you about
• 1:11
  how AI can impact an organization and health
• 1:14
  care in general,
• 1:16
  is very near and dear to me, so
• 1:17
  I'm really excited to be here and looking
• 1:19
  forward to our talk.
• 1:22
  Yes. And we're excited to have you here.
• 1:24
  I know you have quite the background both
• 1:26
  in information technology
• 1:28
  and nursing, which puts you in a pretty
• 1:30
  unique position to speak on AI and how
• 1:33
  to make it work,
• 1:34
  especially when it comes to smaller hospitals. So
• 1:38
  I think as many leaders know when you're
• 1:39
  at a large health system,
• 1:41
  there are entire AI governance teams, innovation labs,
• 1:44
  dedicated budgets, a lot of resources that you
• 1:47
  can put into AI. But you're working if
• 1:49
  you're working at a smaller community hospital or
• 1:53
  facility, you often don't have those kinds of
• 1:55
  resources.
• 1:56
  So
• 1:57
  rather than framing that as a disadvantage,
• 2:00
  how are you using your resource constraints to
• 2:02
  actually focus a sharper, more disciplined approach to
• 2:05
  AI?
• 2:07
  Sure. That's a great question. And,
• 2:10
  you know, I I thought about this a
• 2:11
  little bit. And many community hospitals nowadays
• 2:15
  are part of large health systems as we
• 2:18
  are here at Montefiore Nyack health system. I
• 2:20
  mean, not Montefiore Nyack hospital,
• 2:22
  and we are part of the Montefiore health
• 2:25
  system.
• 2:25
  So, actually, we do follow a similar path.
• 2:29
  We have a governance process here as well,
• 2:33
  and the governance structure is set by the
• 2:35
  health system with input from all hospitals. And
• 2:38
  most large health systems
• 2:40
  have similar
• 2:42
  processes,
• 2:43
  and I would I would argue that coming
• 2:45
  from a smaller hospital as well, governance is
• 2:48
  key.
• 2:49
  For here at Montefiore Nyack, the executives at
• 2:52
  each site weigh in
• 2:54
  on what may be most important, and then
• 2:56
  the governance group uses this information to determine
• 3:00
  where to make the investments.
• 3:01
  Where is where is health care going.
• 3:04
  When speaking about nursing, how can AI or
• 3:07
  technology
• 3:08
  improve the care that we provide to our
• 3:10
  patients, improve patient outcomes, decrease workload?
• 3:13
  So there's a lot of different,
• 3:16
  I guess, strategies that you can look at
• 3:19
  and figure out as an organization what's most
• 3:21
  important to you, what's most important to your
• 3:24
  community, and the staff that you're serving.
• 3:26
  Since coming, to Montefiore NIACC, I have been
• 3:29
  learning a lot about this process, specifically how
• 3:32
  nursing fits into the governance structure.
• 3:34
  I've been asked to be part of of
• 3:36
  quite a few,
• 3:38
  information technology meetings, and one of them being
• 3:40
  a governance meeting.
• 3:42
  So I do think,
• 3:43
  you're right
• 3:44
  that,
• 3:45
  it can be harder and more challenging perhaps,
• 3:49
  for a smaller community hospital.
• 3:52
  But in this instance,
• 3:53
  most of those nowadays are part of a
• 3:55
  larger organization, and they tend to fit into
• 3:58
  the structure in one way or another.
• 4:01
  Absolutely.
• 4:02
  Now I know a lot of hospitals right
• 4:04
  now are wrestling with the question of, do
• 4:07
  they build, do they buy, do they wait?
• 4:09
  Where does your organization land on that spectrum,
• 4:12
  and how has your answer changed as AI
• 4:15
  has matured over the last eighteen months?
• 4:17
  Sure.
• 4:18
  That's also a great question.
• 4:20
  I think, technology is evolving
• 4:23
  way faster than any of us can really
• 4:25
  keep up with,
• 4:27
  which is why a strong governance model is
• 4:29
  key.
• 4:30
  And I do think that,
• 4:34
  having
• 4:35
  experts
• 4:36
  really looking at
• 4:38
  what's already out there,
• 4:41
  what we're looking what problems we're looking to
• 4:43
  solve. Do we need an app? Do we
• 4:45
  need,
• 4:47
  a lot
• 4:48
  of, more information,
• 4:50
  and more tools to improve documentation?
• 4:54
  It really does depend
• 4:56
  on what the strategy of the organization is.
• 4:59
  I think from my, limited exposure here at
• 5:03
  Montefiore NIACC,
• 5:05
  being here just a few months, I can
• 5:07
  say that they are looking at that right
• 5:10
  now
• 5:11
  to decide,
• 5:12
  again, what where we want to focus
• 5:15
  as well as what's most important.
• 5:18
  And there is a
• 5:20
  large group,
• 5:22
  at Montefiore Health System that does build a
• 5:25
  lot of
• 5:27
  applications and
• 5:28
  provides us with a lot of data reporting
• 5:31
  and,
• 5:33
  our ability to drill down on the information
• 5:35
  that we have at our fingertips
• 5:38
  allows us to really make
• 5:40
  quality
• 5:41
  and, patient experience
• 5:43
  top of mind,
• 5:44
  for
• 5:45
  the executives
• 5:46
  all the way down to,
• 5:48
  managers and staff.
• 5:50
  So
• 5:51
  we are employing some AI technology now in
• 5:54
  partnership with our EMR vendor.
• 5:57
  So a lot of partnerships and joint ventures
• 6:00
  are probably the answer to this where some
• 6:03
  are building, some are buying.
• 6:05
  And I think waiting generally,
• 6:08
  works when you work with technology vendors that
• 6:11
  are piloting other,
• 6:13
  technologies
• 6:14
  and watching how they do
• 6:17
  what they do and tweaking it. Because sometimes
• 6:20
  going first has benefits, and it also has
• 6:22
  a little bit of risk because you are
• 6:25
  responsible for
• 6:28
  working out the kinks prior to the next
• 6:30
  person.
• 6:31
  So I think,
• 6:32
  I think it's probably a combination of all
• 6:36
  that everybody is looking at. And I think
• 6:38
  this organization,
• 6:40
  at Montefiore
• 6:41
  is doing a little bit of all three
• 6:43
  of those.
• 6:45
  Excellent.
• 6:46
  And now we all know AI can do,
• 6:48
  like, a thousand, a 100,000 different functions and
• 6:52
  options.
• 6:53
  So what are the AI capabilities that you're
• 6:55
  most focused on either building or acquiring?
• 6:59
  So right now, I can say I'll speak
• 7:02
  specifically for nursing on this.
• 7:04
  We actually are rolling out just a little
• 7:06
  bit of AI right now to really help
• 7:09
  decrease the workload,
• 7:10
  for the nursing staff
• 7:12
  and really help us tell the patient's story.
• 7:16
  And I think that's working out really well.
• 7:18
  I've been on the unit with the staff
• 7:21
  as we're rolling this out, and, really, it's
• 7:23
  summarizing
• 7:24
  all of the input that the staff have
• 7:27
  have
• 7:28
  made into the medical record about their patient
• 7:31
  and giving us a summary at the end
• 7:33
  of their shift
• 7:34
  stating all the things that went on with
• 7:37
  the patient for the day.
• 7:39
  And what that does is it helps the
• 7:42
  nurse summarize
• 7:43
  the the events for their entire shift, and
• 7:46
  it also helps tell the story to those
• 7:49
  that are coming behind that nurse either as
• 7:52
  the next nurse or as a physician that's
• 7:54
  trying to understand what happened with the patient.
• 7:56
  It could be a consultant. It could be,
• 7:59
  the physical therapist.
• 8:00
  So it's really incorporating
• 8:02
  the entire shift, and it does take into
• 8:05
  account the plan of care for the patient
• 8:07
  and, helps us understand
• 8:10
  how that patient is progressing, throughout the shift.
• 8:13
  And when you take those reports,
• 8:15
  each shift, shift by shift, and you put
• 8:17
  them all together, that that summary
• 8:19
  tells the entire story of the patient's journey
• 8:22
  while they're here at the hospital
• 8:24
  and really helps everybody
• 8:26
  understand
• 8:27
  what the patient's needs are,
• 8:29
  and and really improve the outcomes and the
• 8:31
  care that we're providing to our patients. So
• 8:34
  so, really, I think focusing on improving outcomes
• 8:38
  for our patients as well as
• 8:41
  decreasing workload,
• 8:42
  for the staff that are providing that care,
• 8:45
  whether it's helping to summarize,
• 8:47
  information or bringing up information based on the
• 8:50
  patient's diagnosis.
• 8:52
  So there are there are tools at your
• 8:54
  fingertips to help you
• 8:57
  provide better care and at a in a
• 8:59
  more timely manner so that you're more efficient
• 9:01
  and you can actually spend more time with
• 9:04
  the patient taking care of them than you
• 9:06
  are documenting, summarizing, or looking up information.
• 9:10
  Absolutely.
• 9:11
  That's a very cool way to be using
• 9:13
  AI.
• 9:14
  Now as you've been rolling out that tool,
• 9:16
  what has the frontline nurse buy in looked
• 9:19
  like? And is it easier to get nurses
• 9:22
  onboard with AI?
• 9:25
  I think there's,
• 9:27
  reluctance in some instances,
• 9:29
  and I think rightfully so. Right? There's a
• 9:32
  lot of things about AI
• 9:34
  that people are still learning and people are
• 9:36
  concerned about.
• 9:38
  Even when we rolled out this, this new,
• 9:41
  technology,
• 9:42
  with summarizing, sometimes it doesn't summarize everything exactly
• 9:46
  the way you would like it to or
• 9:48
  something doesn't make sense at all. That happens.
• 9:50
  Anybody that uses chat GPT can can attest
• 9:54
  to that. So I do think that,
• 9:57
  as long as
• 9:59
  you are involving
• 10:00
  the people that are doing the work
• 10:03
  in the process and
• 10:05
  they are part of the planning, the implementation,
• 10:08
  the evaluation,
• 10:10
  and the, perhaps, you know, rework of the
• 10:12
  process.
• 10:14
  I think it it it's super important. And
• 10:16
  that's one of the things that I've learned
• 10:18
  throughout my career,
• 10:19
  both as a nurse leader as well as
• 10:21
  in my IT,
• 10:23
  when I had my IT hat on.
• 10:25
  So I have been out there, as I
• 10:27
  had mentioned.
• 10:28
  Literally, I put scrubs on, and I went
• 10:31
  out. And I I've shadowed almost every unit
• 10:33
  here
• 10:34
  at Montefiore Nyack
• 10:36
  and really talking to the staff about what
• 10:40
  the concerns are around any of the AI
• 10:43
  as well as,
• 10:45
  helping them understand how it could be helpful.
• 10:48
  And I think there's a mix, but the
• 10:51
  majority of the staff here,
• 10:53
  they come to work every day,
• 10:56
  really excited about,
• 10:58
  the changes that are happening.
• 10:59
  They are enjoying this this new AI that
• 11:02
  we've rolled out.
• 11:04
  And I think if organizations
• 11:06
  keep in mind that the staff has to
• 11:08
  be part of the entire process, the frontline
• 11:11
  workers, whatever,
• 11:12
  field you're in,
• 11:14
  they will always be much more successful in
• 11:16
  implementing any type of new technology.
• 11:20
  Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining
• 11:22
  me today and sharing more about your strategic
• 11:24
  thinking behind AI. This has been such an
• 11:27
  informative discussion.
• 11:29
  Thank you so much for having me. I
• 11:31
  really appreciate the opportunity, and, I thank you
• 11:34
  very much for,
• 11:36
  bringing this topic up and and exploring it
• 11:39
  a little more with me. Thanks so much,
• 11:41
  Mariah.
• 11:42
  Of course.