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

Transcript

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

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