Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Betty Jo Rocchio, DNP, RN, CRNA, Executive Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Advocate Health

Transcript

Betty Jo Rocchio, DNP, RN, CRNA, Executive Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Advocate Health · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
• 0:08
  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where do they go
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  - to pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - Hello everyone, and welcome to the Becker's healthcare
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  - clinical leadership podcast.
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  - I'm Mackenzie Bean, associate vice president and managing
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  - editor of Becker's Hospital Review. Today, I am
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  - very excited to be joined by doctor Betty
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  - Jo Rocchio,
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  - who is executive vice president and chief nurse
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  - executive of Advocate Health.
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  - Betty Jo, thanks for joining us on the
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  - podcast today. How are you doing?
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  - I'm doing great, Mackenzie. It's a pleasure to
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  - be with you today.
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  - Such a pleasure to have you. I know
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  - you've been doing such transformational
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  - work with innovation and your broader nursing workforce
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  - at Advocate Health. So I'm excited to dive
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  - into some of that today. But before we
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  - do, I was just hoping you could share
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  - one bit more about yourself,
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  - and your role for any listeners who might
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  - be new to hearing your expertise.
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  - Well, I joined Advocate Health about two years
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  - ago,
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  - and it has been
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  - such a great experience working in this health
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  - system.
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  - For a nurse executive,
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  - having a CEO in Jean Woods that has
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  - a vision that aligns with
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  - the way nursing's more... Moving forward in the
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  - future
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  - has been just a true gift, as I
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  - joined this organization.
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  - I love innovation.
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  - I think nurses deserve the very best lives
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  - possible both at work,
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  - and at home, and
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  - work very hard with our team of nurse
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  - leaders to make sure that we're doing the
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  - best we can to provide that.
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  - And that's exactly what I'd love to get
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  - into one bit more today on our discussion,
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  - and I imagine a lot of the innovation
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  - work that you're doing is directly tied to
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  - that. But maybe we can start off just
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  - looking at where do vacancy and turnover rates
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  - stand at Advocate Health right now compared to
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  - last year?
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  - Yes. We have a very low vacancy rate,
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  - about
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  - 2% if you just roll everything up across
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  - the enterprise.
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  - We are 70 hospitals, so that dataset is
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  - rather large.
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  - And our retention rates have been holding,
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  - great the past two years.
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  - Where are,
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  - somewhere our retention rates, our turnover rates are
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  - about 11 to 12%.
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  - So that's pretty good rolled up at that
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  - enterprise level.
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  - And lower than the national
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  - average, of course. Very impressive.
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  - So
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  - as you think about the the story behind
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  - those numbers,
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  - what do you think has made meaningful change
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  - or really moved the needle on retention?
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  - Well, at Advocate Health, we're focused in three
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  - big lanes,
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  - when you roll up our strategic plan,
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  - workforce,
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  - workflows, and work environment.
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  - And I think focusing
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  - on those three things together
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  - underneath our overall strategy of best place to
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  - care has really helped our nurses understand
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  - that wellness,
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  - isn't about actual numbers, but it's about the
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  - workload that they feel at work, which translates
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  - how they feel at home, Mackenzie.
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  - Very much so. As you mentioned, workforce, workflows,
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  - and the work environment.
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  - Within that, is there a specific
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  - example or initiative you're particularly proud of that
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  - you think really paints a picture of the
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  - broader work that you're doing at the system?
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  - Well, we're gonna talk, I think, a little
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  - bit about workforce during our podcast time, but
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  - I think giving nurses the flexibility
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  - so they can have their personal life intertwined
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  - with their work life has been very meaningful
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  - at Advocate Health.
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  - Designing a staffing and scheduling system
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  - that allows people to plan their lives as
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  - well as self schedule
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  - and flexible work hours has been really where
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  - we set in that workforce.
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  - Mhmm. In the work environment,
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  - we're really structured around innovation
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  - to make the perception of workload feel much
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  - better while nurses are at work. So things
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  - like virtual nursing,
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  - care out loud, ambient documentation,
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  - and just generally making sure
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  - that we're removing as much friction as we
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  - can from the workday.
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  - Mhmm.
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  - Absolutely.
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  - I'd love to go one bit deeper as
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  - you said into the flexible and self scheduling
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  - piece. I think flexibility
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  - has been such an important word when thinking
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  - about meeting the nursing workflow
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  - workforce where it is.
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  - How have those initiatives panned out at Advocate
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  - Health? Are you seeing some of the benefits
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  - from rolling out those types of flexible
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  - work options or self scheduling options?
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  - Yes. We've seen a lot of,
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  - just satisfaction
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  - in the workforce,
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  - but also Mackenzie allowing nurses to work in
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  - different work environments. So
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  - ambulatory nursing,
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  - we have something called continuing health with it,
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  - which is hospital at home,
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  - home care,
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  - hospice,
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  - allowing nurses other environments if they want to
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  - work a day, say, in the inpatient setting
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  - at the bedside,
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  - maybe a virtual nurse for a day, and
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  - then working in another setting has really offered
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  - some flexibility
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  - in working in different environments of care as
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  - well. So not only just scheduling,
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  - but having the right nurse working where they
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  - want to work at the right time has
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  - really been a competitive strategy for us. Mhmm.
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  - And one that really takes advantage of the
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  - size and scale of advocate health with being
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  - able to offer so many different care settings.
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  - I wanna also ask you about,
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  - new nurse graduates. Right? I've talked with many
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  - chief nursing executives who, have been highly focused
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  - on
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  - that one
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  - year retention rate, especially with new nurse grads
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  - with the residency programs and other initiatives, and
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  - also thinking through the clinical nurse skills gap
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  - and really getting that workforce practice ready. So
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  - can you talk a bit about that? How
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  - are new graduates landing at Advocate Health, and
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  - what are you finding successful to keep them
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  - growing with the organization?
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  - Well, as you can imagine, Mackenzie, with
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  - a work environment that is,
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  - so much technology is being embedded in the
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  - everyday work,
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  - It's gonna be important that while they're in
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  - nursing school that they have exposure
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  - to practice... Practicing this way. So as part
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  - of the onboarding experience,
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  - we are taking a look at how the
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  - EHR
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  - is combining with the virtual nurse, the ambient
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  - listening,
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  - those type of things to make sure that
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  - they're ready to practice.
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  - While it may be a better environment, it's
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  - changed for them coming out of nursing school.
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  - So making sure that that onboarding experience has
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  - them prepared,
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  - for their for their career and, really, their
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  - next phase of work.
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  - So really
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  - helping the technology,
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  - training and workflows all really be integrated into
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  - their work so they can dive in and
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  - feel like they have a good flow of
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  - everything.
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  - As you're thinking through
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  - that new nurse who's walking through,
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  - the doors of an advocate health facility for
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  - the first time this year,
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  - what message would you tell them?
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  - I would tell them
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  - that it is a very bright future for
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  - nursing,
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  - not only in Abacus Health, but some promise
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  - coming,
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  - in our academic lane. We are starting to
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  - partner,
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  - even closer
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  - with the American Colleges of Nursing and those
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  - academic requirements.
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  - We understand that practice is changing,
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  - and getting nurses ready is gonna be important.
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  - So this September,
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  - we launched our first cohort in the acute
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  - care setting,
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  - with Chamberlain,
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  - and it is
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  - a three year BSN
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  - immersive experience
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  - program. So nurses are getting... Our student nurses
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  - are getting more clinical time at the bedside,
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  - immersing themselves themselves in the practice,
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  - before they get there. So all that technology
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  - is available to them in advocate
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  - so they can start practicing
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  - as,
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  - graduate nurses and feel
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  - practice ready for anything that might come their
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  - way.
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  - Yeah. Really looking to
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  - address some of those skill gaps that the
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  - industry seeing much more upstream while nurses are
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  - still in education versus
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  - their first day on the job. Is that
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  - fair to say?
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  - That is very fair to say. We want
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  - them to be practice ready,
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  - and just need some orientation
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  - during their last twelve weeks of nursing school
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  - so they
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  - feel confident and ready to practice in the
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  - environment that we have today. Mhmm.
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  - And do you mind sharing just one bit
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  - more in terms of the operations or nuts
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  - and bolts of really how, the sumo... Immersive
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  - program works?
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  - Sure. Where today,
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  - students spend time in the classroom
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  - and then time in clinicals,
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  - we're starting to blend that thinking into a
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  - learning environment
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  - where we are teaching
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  - academics while they're in,
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  - the hospital learning
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  - and vice versa while they're in, some of
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  - their academic requirements.
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  - We're starting to offer some flexibility
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  - around when and how that's offered.
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  - Just as nurses today want some flexibility, our
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  - student nurses,
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  - sometimes our second career nurses,
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  - and need some flexibility on when academics is
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  - offered and clinical. So offering clinicals on nights
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  - and weekends,
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  - to make sure that our second degree nurses
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  - that are going back to school,
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  - have that flexibility.
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  - Really
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  - meeting on where they are, where they... Wherever
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  - they are in their life or career.
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  - Betty Jo, I so appreciate you joining us
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  - on the podcast to talk through more of
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  - the retention wins that you're seeing at Advocate
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  - Health and the work that you're doing to
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  - really,
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  - have new graduate nurses
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  - not just thrive in their first year but
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  - beyond. So thank you so much for your
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  - time to speak with us. We really appreciate
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  - it.
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  - Thank you, Mackenzie. Appreciated being here.