Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Nursing's Next Evolution: Patti Artley on Reshaping Healthcare Staffing | Healthcare Series

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Nursing's Next Evolution: Patti Artley on Reshaping Healthcare Staffing | Healthcare Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories, where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:18
the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their
0:21
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:25
by how they've overcome adversity.
0:27
My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and today's guest is Patty Artly,
0:31
chief nursing officer of Medical Solutions.
0:34
They are one of the nation's largest healthcare staffing
0:37
firms. Since their founding in 2001,
0:40
they have connected nurses and allied health clinicians with
0:44
hospitals and healthcare systems across the country.
0:47
They have grown thoughtfully and organically by diversifying
0:50
their service offerings and bringing like minded companies
0:53
into the fold. Patty herself brings 35 years of
0:57
nursing and clinical staffing experience, having previously
1:01
served as Chief Nursing Officer at the Medical University of
1:04
South Carolina. She is passionate about
1:07
nurturing safe, efficient healthcare environments and has
1:10
championed several quality and safety initiatives in her
1:13
leadership roles. Through her strong leadership,
1:16
she has guided teams to deliver exceptional care, driving
1:19
success and complex healthcare settings.
1:22
Her dedication to team collaboration and patient
1:25
advocacy has shaped her approach to improving healthcare systems.
1:29
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1:58
Now back to our guest today, the Chief Nursing Officer of Medical
2:01
Solutions, Patty Artley. I appreciate you making the time
2:04
to Share your story today. Thank you for having me, I
2:07
appreciate being here. So, Patty, what first drew you
2:10
into the healthcare field all those years ago?
2:13
Oh well, as you heard it was a long time ago.
2:17
I actually wanted to be a teacher.
2:19
I come from an education parents education background and wanted
2:24
to be a teacher and my skill set was more suited for both math
2:31
and science. So I decided to be a nurse.
2:35
That's actually how I became a nurse.
2:38
OK. And did you initially have a
2:41
vision of getting to the stage of what you're doing now, or did
2:45
that kind of happen more organically or even accidentally
2:48
along the way? Definitely accidentally.
2:52
I never, ever thought I would be doing this.
2:55
I never thought I'd be a chief nurse.
2:57
When I pursued my master's degree, I actually pursued it as
3:02
a clinical nurse specialist. It wasn't even in leadership.
3:06
Loved being at the bedside, loved taking care of pediatric
3:09
patients. And so that's where I thought
3:12
I'd be. It wasn't until individuals
3:14
tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to lead different
3:18
projects or different units that I fell in love with leadership.
3:24
So you started out as a pediatric nurse?
3:26
I did and. What did you really?
3:28
What was it about that that you really enjoyed?
3:31
Everything I love taking care of kids.
3:35
That was the the best part of it because it really married my
3:38
love for children, which was being wanting to be a teacher
3:43
and and really taking care of them.
3:45
They're so resilient and they bounce back.
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And I think the most challenging part is sometimes taking care of
3:52
the families when they're at their 1st.
3:55
So that was probably the most challenging part.
3:58
And when I say kids are resilient, like they bounce back
4:01
from things faster than any adult.
4:05
When I look at the pediatric oncology population, which is
4:08
one of the groups I managed and took care of, they were just
4:13
the, the, they were remarkable things that we did to them.
4:18
I will say that, you know, different procedures, different
4:21
things, and the only thing they look forward to is getting
4:24
something out of the treasure chest so, you know, and then a
4:28
hug afterwards. So it was very, very different
4:31
than taking care of adult patients.
4:35
I'm curious, obviously, you know, it's really rewarding when
4:39
you have positive outcomes, but when you're in the medical
4:41
field, that's not always the case.
4:43
How could you compartmentalize or I don't know, sort of balance
4:47
that without it having sort of take you over?
4:51
So I always told everyone I ever oriented or anyone I ever worked
4:56
with, if you ever get used to those bad events, then it's time
5:00
to leave the leave the profession or at least leave
5:04
that that area. So working in an ICU, it when we
5:09
would have codes or even when you were on a floor and you had
5:13
a bad event, you cried, you, you, you did, you did go through
5:21
the motions while you had to go through the motions.
5:23
They're very calculated and you do what you have to do.
5:27
But afterwards you have to take care of yourself and you have to
5:30
decompress. And there were times as a group,
5:32
we would, we would often just get together as a group after,
5:36
after a bad event or a serious event and you would decompress
5:41
together. So, you know, we're all in it
5:44
together. And after I had my own children,
5:47
I have to say that that was a little bit more difficult.
5:50
There were times that I'd have a child that looked like my child
5:54
or that we had a similar event and and I thought that could
5:59
have been my child and really hung on to that for a little
6:04
bit. But it's really how you create a
6:07
network that helps you decompress, helps you take care
6:11
of each other. And I was fortunate enough to
6:14
grow up in that kind of environment at Penn State
6:17
Health. And they help nurture and
6:19
develop you the. Penn State Health So you're a
6:23
Nittany Lion, is that right? I am a Nittany Lion, I graduated
6:27
from their undergrad and grad school and I am a huge football
6:32
fan. Oh, so we're recording this on
6:35
January 3rd, 2025, the first ever expanded the College
6:40
Football Playoff format. We're going to go on just a
6:42
quick tangent here because I I can see beaming from ear to ear.
6:47
Penn State has found themselves has earned the right to be in
6:50
the semi finals where their upcoming game is.
6:54
Go ahead. It's the 9th of January and we
7:00
will be playing in Miami against Notre Dame now.
7:03
Right, and if things play out well and Notre Dame wins their
7:08
next game and my alma mater wins their next game, we could have
7:11
an All Big 10 final. Ohio State versus Penn State
7:13
would be fun to see a a rematch. Yes, Ohio State had quite the
7:18
game with Oregon. We did, we did.
7:22
So we're we're optimistic and, and enjoying what's unfolded so
7:26
far. So all right, so, so back to,
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you know, being a pediatric nurse, I'm curious when you went
7:34
through those, you know, difficult and challenging times,
7:38
you know, when you were on staff, was there like a formal
7:42
behavioral support network or was it more informal where you
7:47
just kind of got together with Co workers and sort of cried
7:50
together and leaned on each other?
7:52
Well, it was informal when when it first started.
7:55
I can honestly say that we had a great pediatric ICU.
8:00
So I, I also was a maternal child float for seven years and
8:03
I absolutely loved being a maternal child float.
8:06
I was able to float in and out of different units, and in the
8:12
pediatric ICU, they actually had a formal developed program where
8:17
they would get together following the immediate
8:20
debriefing. And so everybody that was on
8:23
staff, if a code took place or something just happened, we
8:26
could call the team together to actually help support them.
8:31
So it was more regimented than any place else in the hospital
8:34
that I worked. And for those that are watching
8:36
the video version of the podcast, you'll see that Kristen
8:40
Dahl just joined us. She's the PR specialist there at
8:44
Medical Solutions. So welcome, Kristen, happy to
8:47
have you here. I'm, I'm curious to hear Patty
8:53
before, before you tell me about how the opportunity at Medical
8:56
Solutions unfolded paint a little bit of a picture for us
9:00
the the, the breadth of the service offerings that are
9:03
available there. So medical solutions, as you, as
9:07
you heard earlier, it started in in 2001 and it really was
9:12
organically formed as a, as a staffing, a temporary staffing
9:16
agency. And that's really the focus that
9:20
that it had. And then acquired a couple
9:23
different companies that also helped support and broaden the
9:26
breadth of what they were able to offer, what services they
9:30
were able to offer. And then more recently started
9:36
diversifying in the last three years, really acquiring
9:40
international companies, working on direct hire, really working
9:45
on how we support our clients a little bit differently with some
9:49
technology and with services that are not just related to
9:53
travel. You know, during COVID, there
9:56
were a lot of travel companies that started and really expanded
9:59
because that was the demand of the time.
10:02
And I don't think even being in the hospital, I don't think that
10:06
we could have ever survived COVID without travel.
10:10
And the reason I say that is because if you remember how
10:13
COVID, I'll say, popped, it popped in different areas of the
10:17
country and, and it moved rather quickly and it really started to
10:23
respond in different areas. We'd see, you know, the
10:26
epicenter and then we'd see a lot of different pockets that
10:30
formed. And we really didn't have the
10:34
capability of moving staff or moving registered nurses other
10:39
than travel in a way that could really stay ahead of that and
10:45
really be able to localize teams or be able to move nurses in
10:52
that way. And that was hard.
10:54
You know, as a nurse at a bedside where I was the, I was
10:58
the CNO of, of a hospital and health system, it was very
11:03
difficult to watch a lot of our nurses leave and move.
11:06
So I was hard pressed to say that.
11:10
I loved that because I was in the midst of really struggling
11:15
to keep our staff on on board. But it was hard when the when
11:21
the salaries were what they were during that time.
11:25
That's that's really what made the move of really expansion in
11:30
the travel industry. But as we were coming out of the
11:34
travel, you know, really starting to shrink the the
11:38
demand of travel, that's where Medical solutions started the
11:42
diversification as as have other companies.
11:47
So started out as a temporary staffing agency.
11:49
Then because of the realities of COVID and how, you know their
11:54
operates would pop in different parts of the country, you're
11:58
kind of forced into evolving the model because travel specialist,
12:04
travel nursing professionals were in demand in different
12:08
parts of the country at different times.
12:10
So you guys had to go there now as COVID kind of, you know,
12:14
started to wane, that need for travel nurses has has cut back
12:20
as well. And so now the new evolution of
12:25
medical solutions looks like what?
12:27
Well, the new evolution is more of a a full workforce solution.
12:32
So we've listened to our partners and really helped where
12:36
they have needs, whether it's a internal resource pool and
12:40
helping them develop that more technology to help with that
12:44
flexible scheduling and the and the gig kind of workforce that
12:50
our that our teams are really requiring.
12:52
And then direct hire, really helping the organizations hire
12:57
from a lot of different areas that that their human resources
13:02
or talent acquisitions can't breach.
13:06
And then last but not least, our our international program.
13:12
So we have a company that really offers a direct hire
13:17
international, which is Worldwide health, and that has
13:20
been very successful in helping organizations recruit seasoned
13:25
nurses because after we saw the evolution of COVID there, there
13:31
were a lot of new nurses joining the workforce and a lot of our
13:35
seasoned staff have left. So that international hiring
13:41
international nurses has been very, very successful.
13:45
And is when you say international, are you hiring
13:47
nurses from the States and placing them in other countries
13:50
or you're helping to hire people local to those geographies and
13:53
place them locally? Correct.
13:55
So hiring from the Philippines, from Saudi Arabia, from England,
14:00
from Canada and placing them in the United States.
14:04
I see to help fill in shortages that are here looking for highly
14:09
trained professionals outside the country and bringing them
14:11
in. And when when you do that, is
14:14
that a direct hire? Are they still employees of
14:17
medical solutions? So it's more like a a temporary
14:20
or contract worker kind of an arrangement.
14:23
Well, it's direct hire. So we, we work with the hospital
14:28
that is contracting us to look for those individuals, for them.
14:34
So registered nurses, medical technologists.
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So there's a breadth of roles that they are looking for.
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And then we help source them, we find them and bring them over.
14:45
They interview them and they make offers and they become,
14:49
once they join their team, they become their employee.
14:54
Is there still the sort of the core of the business model in
14:56
the the temporary the contract workers that is part of medical
15:00
solutions? Oh yes, that's our, that's our
15:03
biggest book of business that we still do.
15:06
These are all other things that we've evolved, other services
15:10
that we've evolved towards. Yeah.
15:12
Other things that you can layer in as you're getting feedback
15:15
from your clients on what they need.
15:18
And one of the things that I heard you say was that you moved
15:21
into the tech space. Is this like medical tech?
15:24
Is this more like software tech, like they need inside the
15:28
hospitals? Explain that for us.
15:31
Sure. So more software technology.
15:33
So we leverage what we call Matchwell and it's a company
15:37
that we purchased about 2 1/2 years ago and and they, they can
15:42
help an organization create their own internal resource
15:46
pool, hire locally and and manage that local market with
15:53
us. And these acquisitions, this has
15:55
been kind of a key part of medical solutions strategy over
15:58
the past several years, right? Correct, correct.
16:01
Can you say more about that? Yeah.
16:03
So for the during COVID as as we talked about travel was our was
16:08
our key driver. And coming out of COVID in
16:13
2022-2023, the CEO at the time really recognized that his
16:20
client, the clients that we served really needed something
16:25
more than travel and they needed other options to make their,
16:30
their staffing models whole. And that was for a variety of
16:33
reasons, some of which we just went over the fact that a lot of
16:38
new nurses left the organizations and, and were
16:43
scarce in really seasoned nurses.
16:46
And that's really one of the levers for pulling in the
16:49
international reason. The reason that they went to the
16:53
gig workforce and really match, purchase a match well was
16:56
because they wanted more flexibility.
16:58
They heard from their partners that they wanted more
17:01
flexibility. They needed a mechanism in which
17:04
to manage that staff differently.
17:07
So that's really the impetus because they truly do listen to
17:12
the, the, the individuals that this that they serve and what
17:16
are their key strategies and what are they looking for?
17:19
And that's how we're evolving. Well, it's a very smart
17:23
strategy. You want to know what to sell,
17:26
Listen to the people who are buying.
17:27
Listen to your customers. They'll tell you.
17:30
So now that we've got a little bit of a better idea, what
17:33
Medical Solutions does tell us how the opportunity for you to
17:37
join the organization came about?
17:41
Well, that was a little by accident, actually.
17:43
I wasn't planning on leaving. I, I loved what I was doing.
17:46
I loved the fact that we were moving towards filling our
17:51
vacancies. We were evolving as an
17:53
organization. And I and I really did
17:57
appreciate where I worked. And by accident, I, I actually
18:03
answered a recruiter's phone call.
18:07
That's the honest truth. And that recruiter had tried to
18:11
contact me a couple times via e-mail and LinkedIn.
18:14
And I really during COVID CN OS were recruited on a regular
18:21
basis. I, I was getting 11:50 calls a
18:27
week during 2022 and 2023. So I ignored most of them, but I
18:36
picked this one up and shared with her that I would talk to
18:39
her in a week and a half if she wanted to send me the
18:41
information, gave her a date and time and she did it.
18:45
So she called me and just asked me to speak to the CEO and the
18:50
chief operating officer. And so I did that and I
18:55
appreciated them both and appreciated what they were
18:59
sharing with me. They answered the questions the
19:02
way that aligned to what my views were and what I was
19:07
thinking and allowed me to be innovative.
19:10
They really wanted to hire a chief nurse to be able to relate
19:13
to the chief nurses that they served and how we could design
19:19
programs and solutions together to to help them.
19:23
So I'm sorry, go ahead. I cut you off.
19:26
So that just helped me make my decision.
19:29
I've got a few follow up questions.
19:32
First of all, let's take a step back though, and most people
19:34
have heard of a CEOACOOCFO. What does a chief Nursing
19:39
Officer do? Paint that picture for us, if
19:42
you will. Sure.
19:43
So in a hospital, as a chief nurse, you're responsible for
19:47
patient satisfaction, employee engagement, quality and safety.
19:52
You're responsible to really drive the employee engagement
19:55
because nursing is by far their largest workforce.
19:58
And so those were all key strategies, key parts and
20:02
performance and really managing the staff, making sure the right
20:06
people were competent to take care of the patients that they
20:11
were serving. And so now the chief nurse in
20:16
Medical solutions, I'm really the liaison and really helping
20:20
strategize. So I spend a lot of time in
20:23
strategy with my partners that I serve.
20:28
And we have what we call Ms. PS and those Ms. PS are our
20:33
partnerships that are exclusive to working with us.
20:36
So when we have a, a partner that I work with them quarterly
20:43
and we share their, their business strategy where they're
20:47
at, how, how they are leveraging our services.
20:52
And then we talk about what are their strategies and how do we
20:56
better serve them. And and so it's really creating
21:00
those kind of strategies with them that we can help
21:04
complement. And so MSP, this is managed
21:08
service provider and this, this is basically like a, like a
21:11
preferred contract, a preferred arrangement so that you're a
21:13
preferred vendor with them. It is.
21:16
That's exactly what it is. OK, so you were being pursued
21:22
multiple times per week during COVID to be chief chief nursing
21:27
officer somewhere else kept saying, no, I'm, you know, I'm
21:30
busy, I'm happy where I am. But accidentally you end up on a
21:34
call with the CEO and CEO of Medical Solutions.
21:39
What was it that they said to you that like, you know, was
21:44
such a a big deal that had you changing your mind on all that?
21:49
Well, I, I love the fact that they said they wanted to hire a
21:52
chief nurse. They, they seem to know how to
21:54
use a chief nurse, right? So they, they first had really
21:59
decided that that was a role that they were extremely
22:02
interested in. It was going to be the first one
22:05
in in their organization and they wanted me to partner with
22:10
other organizations to be innovative, to strategize.
22:14
And I love those parts of my role.
22:17
Didn't get to practice as much in those roles during COVID
22:21
because you were really just putting out fires and responding
22:25
to, you know, crisis all the time.
22:28
So that really allowed me to, I think leverage a lot of my
22:34
strengths and the things that I love to do.
22:38
So that's that's probably the biggest thing.
22:40
And both of them were In Sync. So they both independently, two
22:45
different interviews said the same thing.
22:48
So that also resonated with me where they were looking, they
22:51
knew exactly what they were looking for.
22:53
They were in lock step and I felt like they would really give
22:57
me the liberties to help evolve the role.
23:01
You made the point a couple of times that they allowed you to
23:04
be innovative. What are some of the innovative
23:07
things that you've been able to introduce there, Patty?
23:10
Well, one of the things that we we have done is the, the
23:14
internal float pool kind of concept that resource pool and
23:18
helping our partners really understand how do they leverage
23:24
creating their own pool of individuals where they can move
23:28
them. You know, health systems have
23:29
really started to merge. Acquisitions have been at an all
23:33
time high in the last several years.
23:36
And so with multiple sites, how do they help create their own
23:41
flexibility so that they can move individuals?
23:45
Almost all hospitals have had float pools for years and
23:48
they're within the boundaries of their building, right?
23:52
So they operate within their building to create that flexible
23:55
moving of staff to where the need is.
23:59
So this really takes up a step further in really building an
24:02
infrastructure where you can move staff from one hospital to
24:06
the other, all within the same health system that allow them to
24:10
be a lot more flexible and nimble in in providing care and
24:15
in a more economical way than than doing it with travel.
24:20
We have created a lot of opportunities for our nurses to
24:25
think differently and whether it's creating succession
24:31
planning for their organization and, and how they leverage
24:36
different potential clinical ladders or career ladders that
24:42
they have. So some use it in nursing and
24:45
others use it in their laboratories or their radiology
24:48
departments. But really building an
24:51
infrastructure to invest in a person and saying, here's how
24:54
you can build your career here in our organization.
24:59
So those are a few of the things that we've done with our
25:03
partners. The other thing that we've
25:05
worked with them on is how they create a process for really
25:09
creating, when you have a good travel clinician that you're
25:13
really interested in keeping, how do you create an
25:15
infrastructure to be successful in doing that?
25:19
And you know, a lot of places say, how do you, why do you do
25:22
that? Because that's really, you know,
25:24
moving individuals into a, into a core role, but it's really
25:28
when you want to service your, your team and your team includes
25:33
your partners. That really is is what we've
25:36
evolved towards. Couple of follow-ups there for
25:40
you, Patty. So the internal float pool idea,
25:42
is this utilizing the employees of your partners, the you know,
25:49
we'll call it the hospitals that you place folks at, is it
25:52
utilizing the staff that you're placing there or combination of
25:55
the two? It it's usually a combination of
25:58
the two. We usually start up with we, we
26:01
start them up running with our own team and then we build the
26:06
infrastructure for them and then they staff it.
26:10
So it's an evolution of it. Sometimes it's our staff, it it
26:15
evolves towards being more of their individual staff that are
26:19
moving between their hospitals and then often times when they
26:23
need travellers, they'll put them in the float pool just to
26:26
create that largest opportunity to move them where they need
26:30
them the most. What you're describing sounds
26:33
very customer centric, right? This is what the customer needs.
26:36
This is benefiting them, but it's probably taking away, if
26:41
I'm looking at this objectively, it's probably taking away from
26:43
your own bottom line, right? If if they were less efficient
26:47
with their labor pool, they probably need to to hire more of
26:52
your temporaries to come in. Am I thinking about that in the
26:55
right way? It's true, but in all honesty,
26:58
if you're going to be a full service provider and you really
27:01
want to be a partner, which is what I really do appreciate
27:04
about medical solutions, is that that's part of the partnership
27:09
is that it's a give and take. It's about what what you need to
27:13
do to make your your team successful.
27:17
The other thing that if it's not us, it's going to be somebody
27:19
else, right? Because honestly, travel alone
27:23
is not sustainable for organizations to rely on travel
27:27
the way they did in the past. So if it's not us, then it's
27:32
going to be somebody else that will help them.
27:36
And this goes into what you were just saying about, you know,
27:40
creating an infrastructure to help your customers be able to
27:43
keep a traveling nurse provider that, you know, they really
27:45
like. Again, that is sort of taking
27:48
away from your bottom line. But you guys are taking a much
27:51
more holistic approach and saying, hey, what's best for the
27:54
customer and if we can figure out what's best for them, things
28:00
are just going to take care of us naturally.
28:03
Correct. Yeah, and, and I, and I really
28:05
love this theme. And I've heard this from a a
28:07
number of my guests where for for some of them, it kind of
28:12
comes in a light bulb moment where they were like, you know,
28:15
whether it was for the business or for themselves individually,
28:17
they were really focused me, me, me, me, me.
28:19
Like how do I get more, more, more, more, more?
28:22
And when they eventually switched to how can I give more,
28:27
how can I deliver more value to the people that I'm interacting
28:31
with? Like the opportunity started to
28:33
flow. The, the, you know, the bottom
28:35
line improved on its own, Like it's just everybody was more In
28:39
Sync. Is that kind of how you and
28:41
medical solutions think about things?
28:44
Without a doubt. And and that's, that's when,
28:47
when you think about what I, I would say differentiates,
28:51
differentiates us that that is the way that we think it is
28:56
really around how do we provide the best value and value isn't
29:01
just about the cost, it's about the quality and how do we do it
29:05
together. Patty, tell me what the Voices
29:10
of Care survey is. Sure.
29:13
So we designed the Voices of Care survey a couple years ago,
29:16
really trying to identify what do clinicians think about, what
29:21
do they care about, what's important to them.
29:24
So we surveyed many different nurses, whether they were travel
29:31
clinicians, they were core to organizations.
29:33
We just sent out a survey. We have more than 7000 responses
29:38
to these clinicians who responded and shared with us
29:43
what's really important to them. And and that's part of the the
29:49
other piece. It's not just about what does
29:52
the client partner want, but how do we serve as the clinician in
29:58
a way that that makes or understand the role of the
30:03
clinician in a way that models and and makes our decisions
30:08
easier, right. So that we're so that we're
30:11
doing what matters. You as an as a leader.
30:15
I think, and I've learned this over the many years as you
30:18
articulated of nursing that I have there's.
30:23
A lot of wisdom in those years, Patty.
30:25
That's the only point I wanted to make there.
30:27
There is, but what I, what I have really truly learned in my
30:32
leadership opportunities is that we can work on a lot of
30:36
different things. There's never, you know, you're
30:40
never done as a leader. You are constantly working on
30:43
things, but if you're not working on the right things,
30:46
then you're really missing the mark.
30:48
And so that's the reason that as a, as a leader, I have always
30:54
found it very important to understand what's most
30:57
important, because what most might be most important in one
31:01
of our rural settings is very different than maybe a large
31:06
urban or an academic Medical Center.
31:09
And so really understanding what's important to them helps
31:14
shape our strategic plan and helps us determine what's next
31:19
and what are we working on and what do we want to work on in
31:22
the next 1-2, three years. Can you share maybe just a
31:26
couple of the key insights that you've picked up from doing the
31:29
survey? Sure.
31:31
So clinicians have really shifted their mindset on work
31:39
life balance. I think that's one of the really
31:42
big things that has come out in the last several years.
31:46
And, you know, I think they figured out that it's not just
31:51
all about your work and it's not just all about your work doesn't
31:55
define you. When I think about, you know,
31:58
I'm a Gen. Xer and I'm on that cusp and it
32:01
was my work defined me and, and what I did, you know, how I, how
32:06
I served as a member of the team really mattered.
32:09
And I'm not saying that that that has shifted, but you know,
32:13
how much, how many hours I'm willing to work and how much
32:16
overtime I'm willing to, to give you does does make a difference.
32:21
And so we have to really think and reimagine how we staff and
32:27
how we, you know, expect that. It used to be when I was a
32:31
leader at the bedside, I really depended on people to do
32:36
overtime a lot more than than they do now.
32:40
And, and I think that's the right thing to do, really
32:43
thinking through, you know, I need to provide the number of
32:47
nurses that I need to staff a unit.
32:50
And instead of thinking about it in a 75, 25 contingent kind of
32:56
model, 75% core and 25 contingent, it might be now more
33:03
85 or 90 core and, and a little bit less contingent just because
33:08
I think that's what they're expecting.
33:10
They're expecting us to, to plan differently and, and utilize
33:15
resources in a different way. So that's the first thing.
33:19
The second thing is flexibility. They want to have flexibility in
33:22
their schedules. They they are not going to work
33:26
full time nights forever. And if it works for their
33:29
schedules, but you have to offer a a blend and a mix and that's
33:36
really important. And that was not something that
33:38
we heard consistently before. Pay has always been a big paying
33:42
and pay will continue to be a big thing for for healthcare
33:47
workers. And I always say, I have three
33:50
children of my own and they're all independent now working in
33:53
the workforce. And they all say they're not
33:56
paid enough either. So I don't know that it's just
33:59
nursing, but I do believe that that is consistent and will stay
34:05
consistent in the near future. So you know, this idea of work
34:11
life balance becoming a lot more important, People not wanting to
34:14
be available for quite as much overtime?
34:17
Logic would tell me that this is probably at least in part,
34:20
contributing to some of the staffing shortages.
34:22
Am I right? It is, it is and it it really
34:27
challenges us to think differently about how we create
34:30
staffing models and what, what, what's important to make sure
34:36
that we're supporting them in a very different way.
34:41
It seems like this Voices of Care survey would almost be like
34:45
a a competitive advantage for you, right?
34:48
You've got such a, a large organization, it's grown both
34:52
organically as well as with acquisitions.
34:54
So you, you have a lot more data points from which to collect the
34:58
data. And you know, the more data
35:00
points you have, like the, the, the better picture you can sort
35:03
of paint for yourself on where are we, where do we need to be?
35:08
Do you think about it in that same way because you're such a,
35:10
you know, a large organization that you know that this is just
35:14
giving you even greater insights into how to better serve your
35:17
workforce? Yes, it it.
35:20
Well, that's one of the reasons why we do it right is so that we
35:23
can gain that insight, but we also share it.
35:26
I share it in multiple different forums.
35:30
So this isn't just private data for you, we have.
35:33
We have done both. We've, we've shared it in
35:36
podcasts, we've, we've done, we've, we've actually produced
35:43
some of the, some of the data that's, that we use in, in
35:47
different topics that we speak to.
35:50
We leverage that data as well towards that because I think
35:54
it's really important as an industry, you know, at the end
35:58
of the day, we have to figure out how do we help cultivate and
36:02
really grow the profession of nursing as well.
36:06
And it's not, it's not going to happen just because Medical
36:10
Solutions has this information. But how do we help across the
36:14
industry work with the data that we know and what information we
36:19
have so that we can can pull the right levers?
36:24
Patty, as the Chief nursing Officer, I'm curious, how do you
36:29
ensure whether it's travel nurses, allied professionals,
36:34
contract, you know, workers that you're placing remain just as
36:39
supported and engaged as permanent staff despite being,
36:46
you know, on the move? Yeah.
36:48
So we've put several things in place in the last several years.
36:53
So we started a traveler rest up and I love data.
36:57
So let me let me say that I love to take data and use it to help
37:02
create new programs. So we looked at our data that
37:06
was saying we were, we were. We had 2 1/2 assignments for
37:13
what was typically happening in our organization.
37:17
So an individual who set out to travel was typically travelling
37:22
with us for 2 1/2 assignments and then they were finding their
37:25
own way or whatever. But we started then dissecting
37:28
why are they leaving and said, you know what, I think we could
37:32
support them differently. So my clinical team that is a
37:36
group of registered nurses that helps with interviews and make
37:40
sure that we have competent and and clinically sound nurses on
37:46
assignment, actually started a program where we help support
37:52
the traveler on their first assignment.
37:54
So during their first assignment, making sure that we
37:57
have their questions answered, that we put an infrastructure in
38:01
place to support them with recruiters question and answer
38:07
seasoned travelers. We've been bring seasoned
38:09
travelers in and kind of give them the tool of the trade.
38:12
Right here's here's what we've learned, here's best practices
38:17
so that it it helps avoid pitfalls and it really helps
38:21
position them well for their travel assignment.
38:24
So we do that. I have a clinical, that same
38:28
clinical team also has an opportunity to really coach and
38:33
develop. If somebody's on an assignment
38:35
and they're struggling, whether it's clinically, professionally,
38:38
behaviorally, we we get involved rather quickly and, and start
38:44
that coaching and how do we help mentor them.
38:46
And then we do follow-ups afterwards to make sure they're
38:50
on the right track and that they feel supported.
38:53
And if, if they identify a gap. And there have been times where
39:00
I've then gotten involved in work with the, the leadership in
39:05
that hospital and how do we help support that team differently.
39:10
And I think about one of our groups that the one of the
39:14
partners that we've worked with and we've put about 5 or 6
39:18
different things in place that really help support them in a
39:22
very different way from individuals meeting with
39:25
travelers the moment that they get on on assignments.
39:29
So they work with them every month to meet with them and make
39:32
sure that their needs are met, making sure that they know where
39:36
their policies and procedures are.
39:38
It's just that extra step in going that extra mile.
39:43
We also share with our with our partners what the post survey
39:50
is. So we survey clinicians when
39:53
they leave their assignment. So after they finish their
39:56
assignment, they get a survey to tell us about the hospitals.
40:01
So as part of our quarterly business reviews, we do.
40:05
Share with our teams what what the clinicians say about them,
40:11
and that's the positives and maybe some of the constructive
40:15
feedback that they can learn from.
40:17
So that helps us really create an environment together.
40:21
Because I see the traveler like a secret shopper, right?
40:25
They're in your organization and they can tell you where your
40:29
works are. They can tell you exactly where
40:32
you need to work and and I'll tell you that every one of the
40:37
CN OS that I work with really appreciate that feedback because
40:42
it's an opportunity for them. Many times they already know it
40:48
it it's rare when it's a surprise.
40:50
They know that they have a problem there, but they just
40:54
haven't addressed it maybe or you know, they're coaching them
40:58
or they're working on that on that area.
41:01
But for the most part, it's not a huge surprise.
41:05
It's interesting because it seems logical to me that, you
41:10
know, having one of your travel nurses sort of, you know,
41:13
surface an issue at a place that they've just recently arrived
41:17
could create some internal tensions there.
41:20
But you're saying, and I'm sure that there's some of that that
41:23
goes on, right. But you're saying by and large,
41:26
the, the C and OS that you're working with at your clients
41:29
sites, they're they're actually happy to have somebody raise it.
41:33
They probably already knew about it, but maybe this is just
41:35
giving them the excuse or the reminder to to do something
41:40
about it to to sort of surface it to the top.
41:43
Correct. And you know, so I would say to
41:47
your first question or to your first point about sometimes it
41:50
creates that tension. So it's it's how you say what
41:54
you say, right? And I think that's one of the
41:57
things that we do when we coach. If if somebody's brought up, you
42:01
know, this person just brings up all the negatives in this
42:05
organization or is coming across this negative, that's part of
42:08
the coaching that can take place is you may identify a problem,
42:13
right? And it's how you bring up that
42:15
problem that makes or breaks the acceptance of what you're
42:19
saying. And so as part of the coaching
42:22
opportunities, it's really about how do we frame this in a way
42:26
that's going to get you the attention that you need and how
42:30
do we help them bring it up? So it's constructive and and
42:35
I'll be honest with you, when it's reframed, it's not viewed
42:39
as well. Here's Patty Artley coming and
42:42
bringing up all these problems and you know, and, and just
42:45
looking as being negative. It's really about how does she
42:48
want to make this a better organization and how, when she's
42:53
seen it in three different other organizations work in a
42:56
different way, maybe bringing up have you ever tried or I can I
43:02
can share that in another organization.
43:06
This is what they've done and and it's that ability to be able
43:11
to give that feedback in a way where it's going to be received
43:15
and and reacted to or responded. To yeah, this is such a, a, a
43:20
great reminder even for me, Patty, and probably for a lot of
43:24
the listeners as well. You know, you, you, what's the
43:27
old saying? You, you catch more flies with
43:30
honey than vinegar. And so the way that it's
43:33
presented makes a huge difference, you know, you, you.
43:37
OK, so you've got this problem. Do you come in and you just
43:40
complain and throw it on the floor and this is terrible and
43:45
you guys are awful people? Or do you reframe it as, hey,
43:49
we've noticed a challenge here, right?
43:52
We've had some other clients who ran into something similar and
43:56
we thought we might, you know, propose some solutions if you
43:59
guys are open to it, right? It's a completely different
44:02
conversation. You bring a totally different
44:05
energy to it and you're much more likely to to get some
44:08
forward motion on it. Yes, yes.
44:11
And when we know there's an issue or a situation, what I
44:15
will often do in the in the quarterly business review is
44:18
share it as best practice. So we, we want to share best
44:22
practices, you know, here are the, the, the things that we're
44:26
seeing out there with many of our partners.
44:28
We're wondering if any one of these is of interest to you and
44:32
in a way that we can come and help, right?
44:35
So, so it really is when you're in a, in a true partnership, you
44:40
look at it like they're here to help instead of they just,
44:48
they're just here with the service and it's a vendor kind
44:51
of relationship. And that's what we do not want
44:54
to create. It's just that vendor kind of
44:56
relationship. It's that partnership.
44:59
Well, which is something that we just talked about a few minutes
45:01
ago, right? You guys have taken it from, you
45:04
know, hey, what's best for us and our bottom line to how can
45:07
we best serve our customers. And so this all kind of feeds
45:11
into itself, right? So that when you come to them
45:14
with an issue or a challenge, they don't view you as strictly
45:19
transactional because you've made it clear to them that you
45:22
don't view them strictly as transactional.
45:24
And so they're more receptive to that conversation, right?
45:28
Correct. So, you know, one of the things
45:30
that we heard a lot about Deering and coming out of COVID,
45:35
particularly in the healthcare field, was burnout, right?
45:40
People were being asked to do a lot in a really scary time.
45:44
People were stretched really thin.
45:46
What does, what does all of this look like now as we're recording
45:50
this at the beginning of, of 2025?
45:52
How would you sort of taking the temperature of the healthcare
45:56
field in general, Where, where, where would you say people are?
46:00
Yeah, I think it's a lot better than when what we were talking
46:03
about in 2022-2023. You know, there are, there are a
46:08
lot of tools out there to assess burnout and and some of our
46:13
partners have used them, some of some of our partners have not.
46:17
You know, I think what's most important about burnout is that
46:21
it is it doesn't look the same. It doesn't look the same for
46:25
individual in individuals, and it certainly doesn't look the
46:29
same in units and organizations as it does in other units and
46:33
organizations. So I learned that rather quickly
46:37
through COVID. We did a burnout survey for our
46:41
own team at MUSC where I worked in different units.
46:45
We're struggling with different things.
46:48
So the IC us that we're seeing a lot of death and dying.
46:51
We're really having a lot of moral distress.
46:56
The moral distress on a Med surge unit was more related to
47:00
the fact that they couldn't meet, you know, with higher
47:04
ratios. They couldn't meet the necessary
47:07
needs of their patients. You know, they might not have
47:10
gotten a bath every day or they might not have gotten, you know,
47:13
to do the things that that they think made and, and what all of
47:18
us as nurses think makes the whole package, right.
47:22
So it's not just about dealing with the task at hand, but how
47:25
do you care for the whole person.
47:27
And So what was what they were struggling with was very
47:31
different. So you didn't have a one stop
47:33
shop for, you know how you addressed it.
47:36
That's what made it very difficult.
47:38
It was very customized and individualized and you had to
47:42
throw a lot of resources at it to make it meaningful.
47:47
Now I would say that the focus is really on the well-being of
47:52
our of our organizations and a lot more focus on that coming
47:57
out of COVID. And that is really not just the
48:00
physical, but they're mental and they're emotional and they're
48:04
financial, which I think is really important.
48:07
And that's what organizations are doing across the industry
48:12
and across all of our healthcare settings that are being very
48:17
successful in addressing them. I think the other thing and and
48:21
it goes back to what nurses say, they want to know that you're
48:24
invested in them, right? And so a lot of organizations
48:29
are going that next step to really help them develop a plan
48:35
on how they help grow them, how they help nurture them and
48:38
support them in a very different way.
48:41
So I see that in most of the organizations that I'm going in.
48:45
And I can honestly tell you that that probably was not the core
48:48
focus of many of these organizations prior to COVID.
48:54
You know, one of the questions that I, I love to ask most of my
48:57
guests is, hey, labor market's still pretty tight, hard to find
49:02
and hold on to good folks. You know, what are some
49:04
strategies that you've tried and found success with?
49:07
And I'm hearing you, you know, volunteer up, you know, some of
49:10
the things that are going on. And I'm curious, you know, as
49:14
you talk about being more focused on employees, financial,
49:18
emotional, well-being, kind of, you know, the whole picture of
49:21
the person, can you give some examples of what that kind of
49:24
looks like in a practical, real world sense?
49:28
Like what? Somebody who's working for you,
49:31
what's something that they may get from medical solutions that
49:35
they weren't accustomed to getting somewhere else?
49:37
So we have culture teams that that really are in, I'd call
49:42
them either like an engagement team that really pays attention
49:47
and their their employee LED. So they, they tell us what do,
49:52
what do we want to work on and what are we interested in, in
49:58
seeing as part of our benefit package.
50:00
So we have a well-being, one of them is a well-being impact
50:04
team. And that well-being team is
50:07
really focused on and, and our benefits are actually focused on
50:11
the physical, mental, financial and emotional well-being of our,
50:17
of our clients. And I'm sorry of our employees.
50:21
And really how do we give back to the community that's part of
50:25
that team as well. So volunteerism, we support it,
50:30
we encourage it, we pay for it. So we, we pay our teams to go
50:35
out and volunteer and pick that that service that they would
50:41
like to provide and, and we support that and we encourage it
50:46
as a team so that it is a team building environment.
50:51
We do one of the things that we're just in the process of
50:54
planning is that physical challenge.
50:56
We just did one in December with my own team and in April we're
51:01
planning it for the entire organization.
51:03
So that we do platform and you log your success and you do it
51:10
in teams. And really it's that opportunity
51:13
to take care of yourself and know that it's important for us
51:18
that you take care of yourself. And we offer flexible PTO for
51:24
our teams and really encourage them to use it and how how they
51:29
take care of themselves. And, and I think a really strong
51:34
benefit package that supports that mental well-being.
51:37
And knowing that you know, taking care of yourself and
51:40
taking care of your family is really important for for you to
51:44
come to work every day is your best self.
51:47
Lots of really interesting and impressive things that you
51:50
brought up there. One that kind of jumped out to
51:52
me is the community involvement and you actually pay your
51:56
employees to go volunteer somewhere else.
52:00
Patty, this isn't adding to your bottom line.
52:03
This has taken money from it. Like walk, walk me through that
52:07
thought process. Sure.
52:09
So organ. So groups like my clinical team
52:13
or credentialing team or any one of the teams in the organization
52:18
pick up, pick up program that they're passionate about.
52:23
For me personally, I've been on the board of Ronald McDonald
52:26
House for years. And so we would give back to the
52:30
Ronald McDonald House. One of the things that we did
52:33
last year was we went out and we wrapped presents for kids in an
52:39
underserved area where it was really an opportunity for us to
52:44
build a team. So our entire, you know,
52:46
leadership team divided in half. Half of us went to do that and
52:50
half went to another to a food shelter.
52:54
So really what's important to to us to make sure that we're
52:59
taking care of the community as well that we serve.
53:03
And I think, you know, you can nickel and dime or you can
53:06
really determine that what, what's important is that you're
53:10
taking care of the people that you're serving.
53:13
And as a leader, that's the reason that I love medical
53:16
solutions and why I want to work here.
53:19
You know, we've had our, we've had our fair share of problems
53:23
as an organization, right? Our, our book of business has
53:27
had a downturn, but we still stay true to making sure that
53:31
we're supporting our partners, the people that work for us each
53:37
and every day and our clinicians that we're putting on
53:39
assignment. So there, there are a lot of, I
53:45
think ways that you can, that you can choose to deal with
53:48
that. But as long as you have a a
53:51
balance and a blend and you're you're moving with the right
53:55
intentions, I think you weather them rather well.
53:59
I like that. Patty, I want to shift gears for
54:01
a moment and invite you to talk about a serious challenge that
54:06
you've overcome, either personal professional combination of the
54:10
two, what that was like going through it, maybe some lessons
54:13
that you learned going through the other side of it.
54:17
I think the worst professional was probably during COVID.
54:23
We, we had a lot of our staff leave, as did most, most
54:30
hospitals, whether it was to the, the retirement left, the
54:35
profession, travel industry, they had to take care of
54:40
children at home and couldn't straddle 12 hour shifts and try
54:44
to be home schooling children. We, you know, it, healthcare had
54:49
a lot of that. And the other competing factor
54:54
was we had so many unknowns about the disease and the
54:57
disease process. And as a leader, I felt like we
55:01
did whack a mole kind of leadership, right?
55:04
So we were in constant react mode.
55:07
And that for me was a huge internal struggle because I
55:11
really like to be proactive. Look at data.
55:13
There's no time to look at data during COVID.
55:15
Somebody else is deciphering data for you and, and, and
55:19
telling you what to do. And sometimes that changed four
55:23
times in a day. You know, different, different
55:28
messages would come out or different mandates would come
55:31
out from different governing bodies.
55:33
And it was, it was very difficult during that time to
55:38
get through and navigate those. One of the things that I really
55:42
learned during that time because we, we became insular and
55:47
isolated and we reacted all the time.
55:50
And it was when we got back to that, going back to our basics
55:54
and leader rounding and getting on the units and really
55:59
understanding the challenges and the infrastructure, we always
56:02
knew that was the most important part.
56:05
But it was really difficult when you're trying to stand up units,
56:09
staff units, do all of those things that don't allow you to
56:12
be strategic and proactive. And so really it, it unders, it
56:19
really underscored for me the importance of being present, the
56:25
importance of understanding what your team needs and focusing on
56:29
the right things. And so that's one of the, from a
56:33
personal, I mean from a professional struggle, that's
56:36
probably I think one of the biggest, the biggest challenges
56:43
I had and the biggest leadership challenges that I had by far.
56:47
What what did you find was a good coping mechanism?
56:54
How did you get through those challenging times?
56:57
Was there a support network of other chief nursing officers?
57:01
Was, you know, do you have a, a great partner at home?
57:04
Did you know I, I don't know, like what what was your sort of
57:07
escape or go to? Yeah.
57:10
So honestly, I was the president of South Carolina organization
57:14
of nurse leaders as well. So that was at the same time.
57:18
And we pulled all the chief nurses across the state of South
57:22
Carolina together to do best practices and lessons learned
57:27
and a great partner with the South Carolina Hospital
57:31
Association. They stood it up knowing that
57:34
there was no way that any of the Cnos could stand up that kind of
57:38
thing during, you know, the fires that we were working on.
57:41
So I, I had a great partner there and she was just
57:47
compassionate and helpful. And the fact that you recognize
57:51
that all of us were in it together, we were sharing best
57:55
practices, we moved from competitors to collaborators and
58:01
really stopped thinking about how do we compete for business.
58:05
Cause honestly, none of us wanted the amount of business
58:07
that we had. To be completely honest, I would
58:11
have given away a lot of my units to anybody.
58:14
But I think just knowing that we're all in it together and
58:19
that we were collaborative and sharing best practice, this was
58:22
probably my best support through all of that.
58:26
I had a great leadership team, absolutely phenomenal leadership
58:30
team that I worked with at the time, both, both as my, you
58:35
know, my day-to-day COO partner, my chief medical officer
58:41
partner, my CEO. They, they were just phenomenal.
58:45
And we're, we're great to work with.
58:48
But my leadership team that worked with me through all of
58:53
that was, was supportive, was understanding, caring,
58:59
compassionate and, and truly I couldn't have been prouder of
59:03
them. So I think those were my my
59:07
biggest resources and my biggest supports.
59:11
That's great. What kind of future innovations
59:15
can we look forward to? You're an innovative person.
59:18
You've already implemented a lot of really neat things there.
59:21
What are some things that are coming down the road?
59:25
So I, I think we're really going to be looking at how do we help
59:28
support with virtual right now. So how do we think about
59:34
providing care in a very different way and looking at
59:38
what is, what is the, the partnership or what are the
59:43
platforms that we can help support?
59:46
You know, nursing's really provided care in the same way
59:49
since the 70s, and we have to think about that differently if
59:53
we're going to be successful. And nurses are going to continue
59:56
to turn at the bedside unless they feel like what the work
1:00:00
they're doing is allowing them to practice at the top of their
1:00:03
license. So I think that that virtual
1:00:07
care is going to be paramount to being able to provide care in a
1:00:13
different way. So I think that's one of the
1:00:16
things that that. I know that we are we are
1:00:20
looking at and how we create care in a different way.
1:00:25
And is that through providing that care through some of your
1:00:28
partners doing it sort of more as like a a home baked model or
1:00:33
not sure yet still sort of exploring?
1:00:35
We're, we're vetting that out right now.
1:00:37
Right now, we support our, our teams that have virtual nursing
1:00:42
right now through through placing travellers in that, in
1:00:46
their, in their systems. But expanding on that to make
1:00:51
sure that all areas, especially, you know, some of the smaller
1:00:55
rural areas, how do we, how do we help support them in a
1:00:59
different way because, you know, they have very minimal and
1:01:02
limited resources and how do we help provide that care?
1:01:08
The same person who is the registered nurse does just about
1:01:12
everything. And some of these rural they're,
1:01:15
they're, you know, cleaning the rooms and they're serving the
1:01:18
meals and doing, you know, everything from soups to nuts.
1:01:23
And so how do we help really elevate them and give them some
1:01:26
extra support? That'd be interesting to see how
1:01:30
that unfolds for you. I just have one more question
1:01:33
for you, Patty. But before I ask it, I want to
1:01:35
do 2 things. Everyone listening today, I know
1:01:38
that you like today's content. Patty's been amazing.
1:01:41
Please hit the like Share subscribe button on your
1:01:43
favorite podcast app. Patty, I also want to let people
1:01:46
know the best way to get in touch with you.
1:01:47
What would that be? So we can, we can provide with
1:01:52
you medicalsolutions.com. So Kristen, who's on, who's on
1:01:57
the call and not showing her face right now, but Kristen
1:02:01
actually manages that that website.
1:02:05
We have a team that manages that website.
1:02:07
And anytime anything comes through that's clinically based,
1:02:11
it comes to me so that I can help and and help navigate.
1:02:17
Great. And it's a super easy website to
1:02:19
remember and spell medicalsolutions.com.
1:02:22
Check it out everybody. So last question for you, Patty,
1:02:26
whether you think about the the medical solutions business or
1:02:31
your larger industry as a whole, I'm curious what you see being
1:02:36
the big changes that are coming in the next couple of years?
1:02:40
Yeah. So I think we will continue to
1:02:44
see organizations whether they are staffing organizations or
1:02:48
whether they are hospitals continue to acquire at a large
1:02:53
rate. I really think that it's
1:02:55
necessary and and something that is is inevitable.
1:03:02
I think that you will continue to see diversification of of the
1:03:08
services that are provided in the industry as well As for
1:03:16
hospitals and health systems. They have to be innovative and
1:03:19
and they have to be creative in the way they provide care.
1:03:24
You know, healthcare reform continues to make payment
1:03:29
strategies and reimbursement strategies very difficult for
1:03:33
organizations. So This is why that innovation,
1:03:37
I think, and partnership and collaboration is necessary to
1:03:42
make them stay afloat. Why do you think that the the
1:03:47
mergers, the acquisitions are so necessary?
1:03:53
At this time, access to care. So I, I think that if we're
1:03:57
going to continue to provide access to care in a lot of our
1:04:00
smaller areas and throughout the states, I think about the states
1:04:04
that we serve and even the state I live in, I live in Charleston,
1:04:07
SC where it's a little more populated, but the rest of the
1:04:11
state has a lot of access to care challenges.
1:04:18
And if we don't support and acquire and partner with some of
1:04:22
those smaller hospitals and some of the, the, the, the areas
1:04:28
would just not have access to care.
1:04:31
And it's so critical during this time.
1:04:34
I think the virtual platform, which is why one of the things
1:04:37
that is important to me, we, we were able to provide access to
1:04:42
care through telemedicine throughout the state.
1:04:46
And we converted that during COVID and it continues
1:04:49
throughout the state and throughout all the school
1:04:52
districts in South Carolina even today because there's just not
1:04:58
other options. And so it's going to be being
1:05:00
creative, providing care in different ways.
1:05:04
I think that virtual platform, the AI technology that's out
1:05:08
there and really helping leverage those different
1:05:12
technologies to help provide the care is required for access.
1:05:16
Where do you see AI fitting in or how is it currently fitting
1:05:20
in for what you guys are doing? Sure.
1:05:23
It helps us create it pulls data elements from multiple areas.
1:05:27
So when I was the chief nurse at a hospital system, we leveraged
1:05:31
it in our early warning symptoms and it, IT systems and it was
1:05:35
really pulling data elements that, you know, I, I might not
1:05:40
all put together right away. And I think that's critical,
1:05:44
especially as we have newer nurses at the bedside, really
1:05:48
helping them alert them that this might be a problem.
1:05:51
So that's where hospitals are using it.
1:05:53
They're using AI to help pull data elements from the
1:05:57
monitoring systems into the, into the technology.
1:06:02
That's their documentation system to help them make better
1:06:05
decisions. You know, it's really
1:06:08
proactively helping you schedule.
1:06:13
What does the data look like for your last three, three years?
1:06:18
How do you use OR utilization data to help you make decisions
1:06:23
about how to staff an OR, or when does staff the, the
1:06:28
organizations that are supporting that, you know, the
1:06:31
inpatient units, the pack use all of those areas that support
1:06:35
operating rooms. So it, it really does allow us
1:06:40
to leverage data in a very different way and help us make
1:06:46
decisions. We at the end of the day, it's
1:06:48
not going to solve, it's not going to take my place.
1:06:52
It's going to help me make better decisions and and
1:06:56
hopefully better patient outcomes, better staff outcomes
1:07:00
because of it. Well, that's exciting to hear.
1:07:03
This isn't an AI. Maybe it'll happen kind of
1:07:08
scenario somewhere down the road, possibly in the future.
1:07:11
This is what I'm hearing you say is here's how we're already
1:07:14
using it right now and here's how it's helping us improve and
1:07:18
yeah, allowing you to be more effective at your job, allowing
1:07:21
you to support your employees better and ultimately delivering
1:07:24
better patient care, which is the ultimate goal at the end of
1:07:27
the day, right? It's.
1:07:28
Agreed. Yeah.
1:07:30
Well, Patty, I want to thank you for being such an amazing guest.
1:07:34
I appreciate you sharing both your time and your story with us
1:07:37
today. Thank you.
1:07:38
Thank you. Appreciate it.
1:07:40
Well, folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired
1:07:43
Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us
1:07:45
today.