CNO Statement

When I joined UH in December of 2019, I would never have predicted that just a few months later, we would be faced with a global pandemic. Our UH Nursing team members stepped up to the challenge and cared for patients and their families without missing a beat, even in an uncertain world where we learned new things about the COVID-19 virus every day.

Fast-forward three years to 2023 and I observed the same unwavering compassion and expert clinical knowledge in every department as I rounded on the floors as the new Chief Nursing Officer of UH Cleveland Medical Center. Later that same year, we completed our conversion to a new Electronic Health Record system (Epic).

This nearly year-long project essentially replaced the ‘central nervous system’ of our hospitals, which required an incredible amount of collaboration, dedication and support from our nursing staff. Once again, their ability to handle complex situations with grace and strength impressed me. We embraced this new technology that enables us to advance patient care and safety, increase access for patients, improve the provider and caregiver experience, and enhance our delivery of personalized, kind and compassionate care.

Our nursing team also embraced a new model of care delivery: the Care Team of Tomorrow. Developed through brainstorming sessions with a wide variety of individuals from many disciplines, including nursing, the Care Team of Tomorrow’s goal was to surround the patient with the best possible group of people, completely focused on the patient’s needs.

We piloted this model in a handful of locations in late 2022, and in 2023, began to implement it on a broader scale. Because of the new roles developed in the Care Team of Tomorrow, nurses were able to devote more of their time to complex medical patient care, knowing they could rely on people like Multi-Skilled Technicians to ensure patient vital signs were recorded on schedule.

At every turn, I have been proud to see the nurses at UH Cleveland Medical Center embody our UH Nursing Vision: Empower. Advocate. Innovate to achieve excellence in human caring.