ABRN-Summer14

Closing Perspectives
Every nurse a leader
After years of advocating for a nursing
voice at the decision-making tables,
results are signaling a resurgence of
visible nursing leadership. In the past
year, Alberta Health has appointed
three women leaders with a background
in registered nursing to senior positions
as part of its reorganization. In May,
Vickie Kaminski assumed the role of
president and CEO of Alberta Health
Services and Valerie Grdisa as senior
nursing advisor, a new position created
in the organization. Back in September,
former RN Janet Davidson assumed
the role of Deputy Minister.
I personally look forward to working
with these individuals to improve patient
care by strengthening connections
between senior decision-makers and those
of you practising in direct patient care,
administration, education or research.
I know that it’s hard enough to keep up
with the constant change and launching
of new initiatives; I can barely keep up.
I am not suggesting these changes
guarantee the results you’d like to see.
Independent studies into organizational
change by the Harvard Business School,
the London School of Economics and
other think-tanks show that over
70 per cent of change initiatives
do not deliver the desired results. Why?
The most common cause is linked to
insufficient focus on people. If any
transformational change is to succeed
in health care, an emphasis on engaging
the largest group of health-care providers
in the health system, registered nurses,
is essential.
In her interview with Alberta RN,
(p. 17) Janet Davidson indicates that
nurses at the patient level should be
the voice of patient-centred care, and
I couldn’t agree more. RNs are hearing,
and seeing at close range, how patients
are affected by weaknesses in our system
of health care and are the ones most
suited to the role of advocate for
patient-centred care and defining
what it looks like. My hope is that we
succeed in establishing a clear line of
communication between nurse leaders
in formal roles and those in informal
leadership roles who share a similar
vision for quality, evidence-based
practice, and patient-centred care.
As CARNA CEO, I can advocate for
mechanisms to engage nurses, but
only you can seize the opportunities
presented to you to participate in
making change happen.
Being a leader does not mean
acquiring a formal role such as CEO,
senior nursing office or deputy minister.
Many leadership skills and nursing skills
are not so different: an enquiring mind
and a willingness to ask and not tell.
Imagine visible nursing leadership
in formal roles as the tree, and the
thousands of nurse leaders like you
in your own practice setting as the
root system that sustains the tree.
In this issue, we highlight a healthy
sample of that root system. Leadership
qualities are demonstrated by award
and scholarship recipients, new members
of provincial council, specialty practice
nurses seeking to expand their professional
network and entire units adopting
new strategies in the care of patients
with dementia. A long-time committee
volunteer is a leader, the members
of a family of nurses spanning three
generations who support one another
are leaders, and so are the nurses
courageous enough to publicly share
their point of view in a letter to the
editor of their association’s magazine.
Janet suggests that leaders are
courageous. How about you? Are you
willing to take risks by asking questions,
not settling for status quo and sharing
your ideas to improve patient care?
It’s not easy to keep at it when others
don’t hear or don’t seem to want to hear.
I implore you to not give up, for the sake
of your patients, your co-workers and
our profession, and to nurture your
own sense of professional pride.
While these changes from the outside
are welcome and help position our
profession for success, the uncertainty
about where all of these changes are
headed is unsettling. Each of us can
play a vital role in helping realize the
key drivers of nursing leaders: improving
the patient experience, promoting
quality care and managing costs.
Of course, nurses can’t do it alone.
CARNA has a role, as do government,
employers and professional associations.
We have to work together. How will you
be impacted by the changes to realize
these objectives? I can’t say for sure,
but I do encourage you to engage in
the process to ensure your voice, and
that of your patients are heard. RN
Mary-Anne Robinson, MSA, BN, RN
Chief Executive Officer
780.453.0509 or
1.800.252.9392, ext. 509
mrobinson@nurses.ab.ca
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Alberta RN Summer 2014 Volume 70 No 2
www.nurses.ab.ca