Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Syl Trepanier, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Providence

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Syl Trepanier, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Providence · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  This is Scott Becker with the Beckers HealthCare
• 0:02
  podcast.
• 0:04
  I'm thrilled today to visit with a great
• 0:06
  leader.
• 0:07
  We're joined today by doctor Cyril Treponier.
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  Doctor Treponier is the chief nursing officer or
• 0:13
  executive at the Providence Health System. The Providence
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  System is one of the great systems in
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  the country,
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  incredibly committed. It's one of the largest not
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  for profit systems, but also very faith based,
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  very mission oriented,
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  great leadership in a terrific organization.
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  So thank you so much for joining us,
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  doctor Trepagnier. Can you take a moment and
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  introduce yourself and and tell us a bit
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  about the Providence system?
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  Absolutely. So thanks for having me, Scott. Syl
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  Trepagnier and I serve as the
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  chief nurse executive for Providence,
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  and as you mentioned, a faith based,
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  a mission driven, health care system based in
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  just outside of, Seattle, Washington.
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  I've been serving in this role,
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  going on close to five years now, and,
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  I've served as
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  a as a chief nurse in system and
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  regional role since the,
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  mid, like, February
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  and, been a chief nurse for over twenty
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  years now. So it's a absolute
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  pleasure and honor to be serving the nurses
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  at Providence.
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  And how many nurses are there at Providence?
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  I remember you telling me a couple years
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  ago, and I know it's a an astoundingly
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  large number. Tell us how many nurses there
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  are in the system.
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  Around 36,000.
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  I
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  mean, that is literally
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  incredible.
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  And talk about
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  what it's like to lead a team of
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  30,000
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  nurses and how you moved from nursing into
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  leadership.
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  Well, it's an absolute honor to be able
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  to serve for all of these, of these
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  voices. And and and, honestly,
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  it's
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  the best way that I can,
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  honor them is to ensure that their voices
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  are heard from the from the bedside to
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  the to the boardroom.
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  So at Providence, for instance, we very much,
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  like my other colleagues,
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  are leveraging,
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  you know, professional governance models where
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  we create spaces for nurses to bring practice,
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  issues locally.
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  And that makes audit all, you know, its
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  way up to,
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  up to me and,
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  you know, bidirectionally.
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  And so having
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  presence and showing a lot of curiosity is
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  the is the best way you can, you
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  can lead 36,000
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  nurses.
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  And and you've spent time as well at
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  Texas Tech.
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  You're from Montreal originally.
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  And and
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  and and talk for a second about,
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  you know,
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  more of a hockey fan or a football
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  fan at this point in life?
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  Well, that is an interesting question.
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  Still to this day, way much more of
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  a hockey fan than a football player.
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  That has not, that has not changed. And
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  so I'm gonna ask you the question for
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  the day, which you, of course, know the
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  answer to.
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  When people say,
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  I'm saying it incorrectly, I'm sure.
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  What are they referring to?
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  Now you have me stumped here for a
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  second.
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  Because I pronounce it so badly.
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  The Montreal
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  Canadians. But I I said it poorly, so
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  it's my fault.
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  I
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  Got it.
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  I will move on from that. But tell
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  us sort of when you look at nursing
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  today
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  and trends the last few years, what does
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  it look like today versus a couple years
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  ago? Are the shortages less acute? Are they
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  more acute? What are you watching currently in
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  terms of nursing staffing and
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  and and taking care of the nursing population?
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  You know, it's like some stuff has changed
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  so much and some
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  has not,
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  and not for not for not for the
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  good, I would, I would say.
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  I'll I'll start us off with,
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  I worry that when you when you look
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  at how we approach
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  here at the bedside,
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  although everything has changed around us,
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  that has not changed so much, and and
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  that's a huge opportunity for us. I've I've
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  been saying for the last few years, and
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  the the older I get into this profession,
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  the more affirmation I have around this statement,
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  which is the biggest risk
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  that we have in health care in general
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  and in our practice is the status quo.
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  What got us here is not gonna get
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  us there tomorrow,
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  and we have to be laser focused, and
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  we have to find the courage
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  to change our models of care so that
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  they can meet the needs of the patients
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  of tomorrow. And and that's the part that
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  I worry about the most and where we
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  need to spend a lot of our energies
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  today.
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  Thank you. And when when you look at
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  sort of,
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  the the number one issue facing nurses today
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  or the number one or two issues facing
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  nurses today, what what do you think about
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  when you think about the issues that they're
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  facing,
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  you're facing? Talk a little bit about that.
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  It's it's it's hard to narrow it down
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  to two, but I will do my best.
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  I would say one of the most important
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  is the environment in which they practice today
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  and the increased,
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  level of,
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  of violence,
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  that they,
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  that is brought
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  in our health care environments,
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  and where they practices. And and and more
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  and more,
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  it's so sad to hear and see that
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  how nurses don't feel safe,
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  in the environment. So whatever whatever all of
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  what we can do,
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  we're never gonna have great outcomes if we
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  if people don't feel safe to begin with.
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  And and, you know, we're talking about nurses
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  today, but that's really for all clinicians.
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  So, that's a priority.
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  Safety for our patients is as equally as
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  important as safety for our caregivers, our nurses,
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  and the like. So so I wanna call
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  out,
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  safety as a as a number one priority
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  for everyone.
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  The other priority,
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  which still remains to this day, is,
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  and and I'll say, like, workforce and
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  from a large perspective, I'm thinking of,
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  yes, recruitment,
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  retention,
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  and all that, is very important.
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  And you and I know, that it looks
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  very different today than it did,
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  a few years ago. I mean, certainly, the
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  pandemic has changed, has changed everything, and it's
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  changed
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  how we need to engage with, with our
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  nurses. So the the priority,
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  quite frankly, is to identify the
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  the the best models,
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  that where we can
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  best leverage,
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  nurses for their, for their knowledge and their
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  expertise.
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  And so finding finding them and making sure
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  that you have the right, to and retain
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  them. And I believe that the best way
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  we can retain them is to actually work
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  very closely with them to change how they
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  practice
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  and how we, how we want them to,
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  to be leveraged in today's environment.
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  Thank you. And and and looking forward or
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  or maybe take one step back. You've got
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  tremendous leadership at Providence.
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  I take it that leadership today
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  between Eric
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  that that must be between Eric Glaxler and
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  the entire team must be very supportive
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  of the nursing part of the system. So
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  it's such an important part of the system.
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  And how important is that that support from
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  leadership,
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  including yourself,
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  to having a great nurse culture and and
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  and great community?
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  Oh, it's huge. It's it's it's very important.
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  We are so very grateful
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  for Eric's leadership
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  and his and and how he values
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  the clinicians
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  in his entire organization.
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  I, for one, am very grateful that as
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  he,
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  took the helm of our system and re
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  redefined,
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  his, you know, his his leadership team and
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  who he feel is important to to be
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  around him, every day to
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  to to guide and,
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  you know, and the likes. He's he surrounds
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  himself with,
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  with clinicians, and, his top two clinicians
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  of, you know, nursing and physicians are very
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  important,
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  to him.
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  And I'm grateful for that, and our profession
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  is very grateful for that because we
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  we we find that
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  we're able to better align ourselves with those
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  who,
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  who touch our patients every day, and we
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  have to be
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  laser focused,
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  on that because that's, you know, that's, I
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  mean, that's our mission in life. Right? That's
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  that's our whole intent of why we exist
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  is to
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  is to care for people at their most
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  vulnerable moment. So he's,
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  he's a great, leader and a great partner,
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  and,
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  and that allows us to to be more,
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  effective in what we do every day.
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  That's fantastic. And and
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  so as we head into this next year,
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  what are you most focused on and excited
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  about?
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  So I am most,
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  focused on making sure that we keep our
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  environment,
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  safe for nurses and for our patients.
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  And what I am really most excited about
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  is is technology
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  and
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  AI, and we have such great opportunities,
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  in in health care. And and
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  with nursing itself,
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  there is clear opportunity to leverage, for instance,
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  like ambient list listening, virtual care, robots, wearables.
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  There's so much
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  rapid advancement and technology
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  that will help support the practice of, of
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  nurses, and and I'm excited to lean, lean
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  into that space.
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  Thank you. And and so
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  you've got the coolest name of anybody to
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  get to interview, so Trippanyay.
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  So I can't I I don't know where
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  to go with that question, but here is
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  the next question. Besides having an incredibly cool
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  name, what advice do you give to emerging
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  leaders who who want to have great leadership
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  careers as well as great nursing careers? What
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  advice would you give to an emerging leader?
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  I would give them,
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  the following advice. I would say
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  lean in with tons of curiosity.
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  Curiosity and leadership is one of the one
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  of the most important,
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  traits,
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  because you,
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  you learn a lot
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  and you also,
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  you also develop, you know, relationships,
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  as you learn your way through. I would
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  also
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  remind aspiring,
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  leaders that
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  showing up with presence
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  and intent
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  and,
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  being vulnerable
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  where it makes sense, today,
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  is also extremely,
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  extremely important.
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  We don't know everything. You never know everything.
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  And that's why I started with showing up
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  with lots of curiosity because
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  leveraging
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  the the power of those around you is
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  is how the team, gets to be successful.
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  Thank you very, very much. So I I
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  love following the Providence system,
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  doctor Treponier. I I love the system. I
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  love following it. I love getting a chance
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  to visit with you. It's it's an uncommon
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  pleasure.
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  You're the only person from Montreal I got
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  to talk to today. And and I say
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  that jokingly, but I just it's true. But
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  I actually love visiting with you. Thank you
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  so much for joining us today, on on
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  the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. What a pleasure.
• 11:51
  Thanks for having me.