Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Cheryl Reinking, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, DipACLM, Chief Nursing Officer at El Camino Health

Transcript

Cheryl Reinking, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, DipACLM, Chief Nursing Officer at El Camino Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  The most important health care decisions don't happen
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  in isolation.
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  They happen when leaders come together.
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  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings together more than
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  3,500
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  hospital and health system executives this April in
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  Chicago.
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  With 800 speakers from Ascension,
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  Cleveland Clinic, CommonSpirit and more, the conversations get
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  real. Leaders will share how their scenario planning
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  for policy shifts, breaking through value based care
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  barriers, and building clinical teams that translate new
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  ideas into real world care.
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  Join top decision makers in the room April
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  13 through the sixteenth.
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  For the agenda and event details, visit beckers
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  hospital review dot com and click on the
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  events tab in the upper right.
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  This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  doctor Cheryl Reinking, who's the chief nursing officer
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  at El Camino Health. Cheryl, it's a pleasure
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  to have you on the podcast today. Thank
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  you for having me.
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  Now I'm excited for this conversation because we're
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  gonna be talking today about something very special
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  and important within the health care space, and
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  that's nursing development and strengthening the talent pipeline
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  for leadership in the future. El Camino Health
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  recently announced the creation of the Norma Melcor
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  nursing excellence endowment, which is a huge investment
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  that will strengthen the knowledge, skills, and professional
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  development for the nursing workforce. So we're gonna
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  be talking a bit about that endowment today
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  and how El Camino Health will be using
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  it, to build into the future. So, Cheryl,
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  first and foremost, can you talk about some
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  of the strategic challenges facing the nursing workforce
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  today?
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  Yeah. So as,
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  we know across the country,
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  nursing turnover,
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  and retention of nurses,
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  in our industry and health care is is
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  a challenge and, especially so since the pandemic.
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  And in order
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  to retain our nurses, we know we need
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  to provide,
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  programs for them to advance their knowledge,
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  to ensure they have,
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  the skills
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  to advance. And that often takes an investment
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  of,
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  teaching them new skills and providing that opportunity
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  for them to learn and grow within our
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  organization.
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  And some organizations
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  aren't able to do that financially,
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  but that's essential
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  to retain nurses. And that's certainly,
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  a workforce challenge that we have across the
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  country today.
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  Absolutely. So can you tell us a little
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  bit more about the endowment? How do you
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  see it advancing nurse education, certification,
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  and leadership with measurable results?
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  This is certainly a transformative moment
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  for us,
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  in nursing at El Camino Health, and
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  we really believe this will continue to help
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  us to strengthen,
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  the retention of our nurses,
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  develop them and empower them, to become even
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  more highly skilled than they are today, which
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  we all know directly impacts safety,
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  of our patients. And
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  we're going to be able to provide
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  additional kinds of education so that,
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  these nurses will have the opportunity at El
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  Camino Health to advance their knowledge, perhaps take
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  on a new specialty.
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  Going from a med surg nurse to a
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  critical care nurse is something that we know
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  and understand
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  that nurses, especially from,
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  Gen Zs,
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  appreciate having,
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  opportunities
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  to grow and develop in their skills and
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  knowledge.
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  And being able to offer that right here
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  on-site
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  for them to advance at El Camino Health
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  is, we know,
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  a true remarkable
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  opportunity for us to retain and develop those
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  nurses.
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  And that's really helpful to understand. I think
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  especially when you talk about having that background
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  and the ability to,
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  continue to develop and grow throughout your career,
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  really makes a big difference,
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  for for so many folks.
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  Now I know, as you mentioned, there's a
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  lot of immediate needs in the health care
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  space for,
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  nursing talent and making sure that you're filling
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  shortages as well as a need for long
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  term strategies. So how do you balance those
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  two things as you are creating the plan
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  to strengthen nursing pipeline
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  in the near as well as far term?
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  Yeah. So we we do a lot of
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  predictive analysis here at El Camino Health, and
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  we look at, where our turnover,
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  is occurring and where we may see retirements
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  happening in our organization.
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  And in looking at that, that helps us
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  to predict
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  in the longer term
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  where we might wanna focus the education for
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  our nurses and the development of our nurses
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  for our transition in specialty programs.
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  And then, of course,
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  with short term educational opportunities, we look at
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  where we may need to boost the nurses'
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  education, their knowledge deficits that they may have
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  told us about,
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  through our needs assessments of their education.
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  And so providing those kind of micro learnings
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  in the moment,
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  for, those items nurses have told us they
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  need to learn more about
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  is something we can do now in the
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  short term. Then
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  in our analysis, in our planning for the
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  long term, we will be able to create
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  these programs to ensure we have nurses
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  in the pipeline to fill those open positions
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  when we, see retirements coming in the future.
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  Got it. That's helpful to know and understand.
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  And I think, you know, really interesting to
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  look at those needs assessments and, the micro
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  learnings that come out of them. What have
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  you seen or or started to do based
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  on what you're hearing from your nursing staff
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  that they'd like to learn more about or
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  how they upscale? What are topics are are
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  are they most interested and curious about when
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  you are are laying out of programs like
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  this?
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  Yes. It often depends on the specialty
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  that the nurses are in. And,
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  there are a few overarching,
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  however,
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  types of education that we've been providing our
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  nurses in the short term, such as learning
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  deescalation. Escalation.
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  We all know
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  that workplace violence is a concern across our
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  industry, and we've recently put hundreds and hundreds
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  of our nurses through
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  training to learn motivational interviewing, to learn trauma
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  informed care so that they're more equipped to
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  learn trauma informed care so that they're more
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  equipped
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  to actually be able to perform de escalation
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  in the moment.
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  And,
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  that has,
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  made a huge difference. And we believe that
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  investing in our nurses to
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  feel equipped
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  to, work in those kinds of challenging situations
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  helps them learn more invested
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  in ensuring that they remain safe safe in
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  the workplace.
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  And, Evan, that's such a great example. Again,
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  so timely and important,
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  to have in your back pocket no matter,
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  you know, what area of nursing you're working
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  in.
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  Now what should health care executives know about
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  the link between nursing and professional growth as
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  well as organizational performance? What are some of
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  the common misconceptions you often see, and how
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  do you overcome them?
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  Yes. It's so clear that,
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  well prepared nurses and highly skilled nurses have
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  a direct link to quality outcomes.
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  However, I wouldn't
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  cover this topic fully if I didn't also
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  touch on
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  how important the nurse leaders, the clinical nurse
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  leaders at the unit level are and also
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  ensuring that the nurses at the bedside
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  are equipped
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  and educated
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  and trained to perform bedside care at the
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  highest level. And those nurse leaders,
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  they are a very hardworking group,
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  and they have some of the toughest jobs
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  in the whole health care system.
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  And we wanna ensure with this endowment, we're
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  also helping our nurse leaders,
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  to upskill
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  in leadership capabilities,
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  so that they can lead the nurses at
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  the bedside
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  who need to deliver at the highest level,
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  compassionate, high quality care.
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  That makes a lot of sense. And and
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  it's really helpful to understand. I think some
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  of those groups,
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  you know, like you said, can sometimes,
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  not have exactly
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  the attention that they need, but certainly are
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  critical in order to make sure the organization
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  is running smoothly and patients are getting the
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  care and development they need. I think before
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  we wrap up here, I wanted to ask,
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  how should health systems
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  think about and redesign nursing career pathways to
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  stay resilient and innovative over the next decade?
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  Yes. I think what we've learned is that
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  we need to listen to our nurses and
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  listen to what they want, for the future.
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  Our nurses coming out of nursing school right
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  now have great,
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  ideas,
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  and,
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  they,
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  wanna grow and develop in their careers. And
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  what we've learned is that nurses
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  who are just graduating
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  want all kinds of flexible career paths.
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  They want an opportunity
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  to grow rapidly in the clinical setting, but
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  they also may wanna become educators. They may
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  wanna become advanced practice nurses. So we have
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  to be prepared
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  for that and be
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  flexible. And we ourselves have to be resilient
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  in being able to,
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  develop these programs that meet their needs so
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  that they'll stay,
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  in our organization
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  and,
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  provide the highest level of quality care.
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  And we've looked at a few different opportunities
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  for our nurses, of course,
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  in developing,
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  unique programs for
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  our transitions where we've had,
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  nurses,
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  go into all kinds of different specialties
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  like labor and delivery,
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  cardiac cath lab, emergency department,
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  the operating room.
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  And,
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  it's really allowed nurses who are,
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  just outside their new grad period to to
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  know there's something ahead for them, to know
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  that I have opportunities to grow and develop
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  at this organization,
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  and that helps them remain with us.
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  The other thing that's been interesting is that
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  our float pool, which is typically
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  an area that nurses,
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  kind of enter an organization in and then
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  decide to specialize
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  and transfer out of the float pool into
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  a single unit,
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  we've learned that if we provide opportunities to
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  grow and develop skill sets within
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  the float pool for the nurses who are
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  in the float pool to learn
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  new
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  clinical skills that they're able to float to
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  different units, a multitude of units, they stay
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  in the float pool, and that allows us
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  a lot more flexibility.
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  And it meets everyone's need.
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  Excellent. Cheryl, thank you so much for joining
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  us on the podcast today. This has been
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  a a really great conversation. I learned a
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  lot about the nursing pool right now, the
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  nursing field, and exactly how, you're learning and
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  growing and developing, the next generation of nursing
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  leaders. So I appreciate your time today and
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  look forward to connecting with you again soon.
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  Thank you very much for the opportunity.