Making the Leap from Nurse to Chief Nurse Executive

If you love nursing, but have set your sights on a seat at the executive table at your health care facility, there are 5 smart things you can do now to propel your nursing career to the next level.

1. Excel in Your Current Role
One of the most significant contributions you can make as a nursing executive is to bring the hands-on experience you gain while caring for patients and working alongside other nurses. In fact, that is the precise reason health care facilities are making room for nurses in the boardroom. In a recent Hospitals & Health Networks article, Memorial Healthcare System’s first chief nurse executive Maggie Hansen, R.N. emphasized this point. She says, “When you realize that three-quarters of all employees in the [health] system are nurses or on the nursing team, that their voice affects so many people, it’s important to have the CNE voice at the executive table. Nurses touch patients at every level of care and we need them at every change point [in care].”

2. Study the Business
Whether your healthcare facility is for profit or nonprofit, it still has to function as a business in order to keep its doors open to provide quality care to patients. Nurses who have an advanced degree in health care administration, business, or economics put themselves in the best position to understand both of these critical sides of health care. According to nurse practitioner and chief clinical officer of naviHealth Heather O’Sullivan, nurses with business savvy are in high demand. She says, “There is a shortage of clinicians with a business or economics background. Nurses with MBAs or other analytical experience will be sure to find positions in the coming years.”

3. Embrace Technology
Few industries benefit more from technological advancements than the medical field. Don’t shy away from using technology as much as possible to improve the quality of care you provide in your current role. We all know people who get stuck on how things “used to be” and have difficulty embracing change. Don’t let that be you. Simple things like staying on top of the latest smartphone apps that help your team communicate more efficiently can go a long way in showing yourself to be a progressive and open-minded team member.

4. Get Comfortable with Data
One of the trickiest things about working in the information age is that we’re all swimming in data. Nurses who can organize and make sense of data stand the best chance of using it effectively to improve patient care and outcomes. Chief nursing executive Jane Englebright, R.N. says this is an important responsibility for nurses in her role. “CNEs need to be able to use data in comparative ways. A good portion of the data that go into EHRs comes from nurses, and, traditionally, those data have not been consumed, sometimes because information is entered in nonstructured ways that the computer can’t assimilate. We need to codify data so they can be presented more usefully for patient care.”

5. Find a Mentor
Don’t be afraid to ask someone who already has the position you’re seeking to mentor you. While it may feel awkward to ask for such a favor, many nursing executives want to pay it forward and help other promising nurses succeed.

To learn more about how to make the transition from nurse to executive, check out The Rapidly Evolving Role of Nurse Executives.