SONSIEL_Kate Groff: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Hiyam Nadel:
Welcome to the SONSIEL podcast where we host interviews with the most transformational nurse scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders. Through sharing their personal journeys, we create inspiration, provide guidance, and give you actionable ideas you can use to be a catalyst for change.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Great. Welcome to the podcast. I’m really excited to invite Kate Groff to our session today and have Kate share her stories and her insights and all her wisdom with you through this podcast. So I’m Mary Lou Ackerman, I’m vice president of Innovation and Digital Health at SC Health, as well as a founding and executive board member with SONSIEL, so through all of that, the work that I do, I’m always so inspired to meet other nursing rockstars who have wonderful short stories to share with us. So, Kate, maybe you could start by telling us a little bit about you and your background.
Kate Groff:
Sure. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. My name is Kate Groff. I’ve been in nursing for coming up on 15 years now. I actually came to nursing as a second-degree student and graduated from Duke School of Nursing. And my first job straight out of nursing school was in the pediatric stem cell transplant unit at Duke Children’s Hospital. And I worked in that unit and became a charge nurse there and then went on to do my graduate work to become a nurse practitioner in pediatrics, where I then went on to specialize in pediatric critical care and pulmonary. And since that time I’ve worked in various areas of nursing, most notably clinical research as a clinical instructor and adjunct professor in operations and just various leadership roles over the years. And I currently serve as the Chief client success officer at Little Journey, which is an app designed to psychologically prepare and support children and their families throughout their healthcare journeys, whether that’s inside of a hospital or in a clinical trial.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Wow. You’ve been very busy and touched many aspects of nursing, which is really wonderful to hear. I think that’s one of the great things about our profession is that there’s many different directions we can take it and still have an incredible impact on both the patient’s journey and the healthcare providers’ journey and experiences, we provide the care to people. So what has inspired you to work in health care and sort of stay in the field of pediatrics?
Kate Groff:
Sure. So as a young adult, I really didn’t have any frame of reference for what a nurse was. I didn’t come from a long line of healthcare providers. My mom was a teacher, so certainly a helping profession and I had a lot of different interests. And people often ask me, you know, how did you start working for a startup? And I think it all goes back to having just a lot of different interests as a child. I love science, I love designing creative arts. I had an interest in business and entrepreneurship, and I really struggled to find a career that could check all those boxes. I would take those career inventories, and I always kind of came back to these helping professions, teachers, social workers, nursing. And when I went to college, I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I changed my major no less than eight times, I think was really a mentor of mine, a professor that really helped steer me towards nursing and presented it as an opportunity for me that really made sense. And I think for my friends and family it was a bit surprising. I had a fairly significant needle-phobia and a queasy stomach, so going to nursing school came as a bit of a surprise. And I really, when I started reading about it and researching about it, I really felt like it made sense for me and I had to take a leap of faith and trust my gut and really just go for it. And I think now working a startup where you have to often wear many different hats, I think it really lends itself to nurses because that’s what you do as a bedside nurse, you wear many different hats, and I’ve been able to really see myself as more of a whole person. And my love of science and love of business really makes sense in the context of the startup environment where you can use all those different skill sets and apply them into a startup. And I think there was a really interesting social media campaign started by some SONSIEL members, I think maybe a year or two ago called hashtag as a nurse.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Right.
Kate Groff:
… Really trying to spread the word about all the different things you can do with a nursing degree. Because a graduate nurse, I certainly never would have foreseen all the different opportunities that would become available to me, both at the bedside and away from the bedside. And so that campaign was really enlightening, and I really think it helped spread the word about all that nurses contribute and can continue to contribute as we move forward.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Yeah, that’s great. And that’s really a big part of the mission of SONSIEL is to really amplify the voice of nurses across the health system, whether it be to have an impact on patient care, at the system level, at the professional level, you know, all of those different levels. So I love the way you describe the different hats and just your own hats around design and passion for science and creativity and this sort of caring, caring profession that we’re in, so that’s great. Thank you for sharing that. So when you’re describing your pathway, you talked a lot, it has really been focused on the pediatric population, which is an incredibly specialized field and a very tender field. I think all nursing has tender moments, but I think specifically the pediatric experience is a little bit different in my mind. I had a son who spent some time in the hospital and at The Hospital For Sick Children, which is a world-renowned one in Toronto. And I was just, I am a nurse, but I was also amazed at the nursing in the pediatric field, you know, how compassionate it was. But it was, can you describe or share with us why you’ve stayed in that field as well?
Kate Groff:
Absolutely. So when I came out of nursing school, I really felt drawn to pediatrics, I think, like you said, because they’re a very vulnerable patient population, you can really serve as a patient advocate and really help shepherd them through the healthcare system. And so I was always drawn to kind of the most intense environments of pediatrics, pediatric stem cell transplant, critical care, the NICU, those were the areas where I really felt most passionate about. But it wasn’t a really until I had my own personal experience as a mother of a patient that really forever changed my lens. About a year ago, my youngest son, who was one and a half at the time, was hospitalized for a very common respiratory illness but ended up in critical care. And I went from wearing the white coat as a clinician to being on the patient side, much like yourself. And I think oftentimes as health care clinicians, we think we won’t end up on the other side of care. But really, we’re either going to be a patient, a spouse, a parent, a cousin. I think we’re always pulled into those situations. And so we all have skin in the game when it comes to patient experience.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Right.
Kate Groff:
And for me, that role reversal really changed my lens on pediatric patient experience and how every touchpoint of, of an organization will affect that person or that child’s experience in the hospital. And so when I came out of that experience, I really wanted to enter a different field, and that’s when I started looking up how do I get involved in patient experience? How do I get more involved in pediatric care, and how do we better support children and their families, both before they come to the hospital and when they’re in the hospital. And that’s when I came upon SONSIEL and really saw this network of nurses who have already been in that field for many, many years. And I was blown away by the diversity of expertise within the group and really felt like these are my people, this is the context that I want to work in, and so I felt more emboldened to really go after what I was thinking about every day. Every day I kept thinking, this is what I want to do with my life, this is how I’m going to align passion with profession. And it just, when I met with the team at Little Journey and saw the work that they were trying to do in pediatrics, I really felt like all of those worlds came together and it made sense in the context of my experience, both as a clinician but also as a mother of a child who was in critical care.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Mmhmm. Nice. Yeah, I can, I can really relate to that. When with my son being in the hospital and maybe a mom but a nurse, and just looking at the creative ways they were able to provide care and really focused on his experience. He was five at the time and really alleviating fear and managing care needs. And it was interesting, one day I was down, went downstairs as we pretty much lived, I did live at the hospital the whole time he was there. I went downstairs to get a coffee and in the lineup a lady came and she was dressed very professionally and she introduced herself as the, she was like the client experience, the senior VP of patient experience. And this is where she talked to parents. She would go in the coffee lines in the morning and just get some feedback on how was the night, how is your child doing, how was the experience? And she said, because I know you’re, you’re so busy and this is, now I know it’s a good time that I can talk to you because you’re standing in line kind of thing. So, yeah, it was, I thought even that, even at that level they were being very creative. So that’s where I sort of sparked my thinking around we can really start to do things differently. You know, they have done it quite differently and quite successfully. And we need to start thinking and looking at things through a different lens. So, yeah, very good. So what’s been some of the biggest challenges that you faced in your journey?
Kate Groff:
Sure. So I think in pediatrics there’s a significant gap in innovative health solutions focused on the unique needs of pediatric patients and their families. And you know, there’s several issues with that. One obviously is that pediatrics is a smaller market, so there’s not as much incentive for developers and investors to go into that space. But the other thing is that designing for pediatrics, that can be challenging because, you know, I say this over and over again, but children are not small adults. They go through unique developmental phases that we have to pay attention to when designing for them. And we also have to make a solution that works not just for the child, but for everyone that surrounds that child. So parents, grandparents, siblings, but most importantly, I think we have to realize that as we are involved in pediatrics, those children will not always be children. And so we play a role in really setting them up for adulthood and for a lifetime of positive health outcomes.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Yeah, so true, so true. So with some of those challenges you’ve had, what kind of unique approaches have you been able to sort of focus in on to address some of those?
Kate Groff:
So I think the most important thing that we’ve learned through our work with Little Journey and just through my work as a clinician is that you have to co-design solutions with patients, with families and with providers. We can’t design solutions for them, they’re just not going to succeed. And so we really value the patient’s voice and speaking with actual children, actual parents really valuing their input and what they bring to the table, and the same with providers. You know, we have all worked at the bedside, we know that when new technologies enter a room, if … doesn’t like it, it gets shoved into a drawer and ignored. And so we have to get that buy-in from clinicians, and what’s unique about our team is that we’re made up of pediatric experts. So our founder is a pediatrician, we have pediatricians on our staff, pediatric nurses, and we’re all really passionate about making sure that everything we do is evidence-based and that it really makes sense in the context of a children’s hospital or in a clinical trial and is really what is going to best serve the patients and the families.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Right, yeah. One of the challenges you talked about was around funding and investments because of the very specific population. Is there, has there been any success or opportunities sort of working with those types of groups to fund sort of the social impact you’re having?
Kate Groff:
Sure. So I think we’re getting traction in this area. There’s more and more people showing interest in patient experience, in pediatrics and how that plays out for better financial implications for health care organizations. And so we’re seeing more traction in the pediatric space, it’s just lagging behind compared to adults. But I think people are starting to listen, I think as nurses, we really can form a collective voice to speak up for patients and families and to show how much this is needed. And the more people that add to the conversation as groups like SONSIEL get involved, we can really have a broader impact and make sure that we are advocating for patients and families.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Yeah, I agree. And I love the way you sort of frame, framed it up around the more we invest now, positions them, you know, well to live a healthy lifestyle as they get older and become adults. And it’s so true, that we do that for a bunch of other things sports and education, all the other social determinants. But this one could be quite significant. Good.
Kate Groff:
Yeah. Absolutely.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
So what do you what are you most excited about then, in the space of innovation, nursing and science?
Kate Groff:
Yeah, I mean, I think there’s a lot of things to be excited about. I’m really excited to see all the different people that are really starting to focus on pediatrics and what we can bring to the table with pediatrics. You know, right now we’re working with the Lego Foundation, working on innovative solutions for Neurodiverse children and really helping that particularly vulnerable patient population thrive in the healthcare environment and really support those families. And I think getting the attention of large corporations like that who really see a benefit and value and investing in pediatrics, it’s exciting to see that. It’s exciting to partner with other startups, other groups that are really passionate about patient experience and want to see these initiatives get off the ground. We’re really excited about this focus on immersive play and how do you bring play into the hospital and into the patient’s home to help educate them and support them in preparation for procedures and surgeries and everything that a child may experience once they enter those doors, we can really bring the fun and the joy and really engage them and hearing families come back to us and recount their experience of using technology to bring more play into the hospital is just incredibly rewarding because children don’t communicate in the same way. They really use play to build their illness narratives and really use the coping strategies to help them become more resilient and to help them better deal with the inevitable stressors that they’re going to experience inside of a hospital.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Right. Well, interesting that you’re working with Lego on that. They, I’m, years ago was certified as a Lego serious play designer instructor, I guess, and so they do that now. They have this whole field of business on Lego serious play and how it helps in design. So it’s a, it’s an interesting concept too. So I can see taking that same concept into other experiences as well. Yeah, Small world.
Kate Groff:
Yeah. Absolutely.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
So where do you see yourself five years from now?
Kate Groff:
So I really am excited to work at a startup and see the growth and the expansion of what we can do and how much we can support children. And I think there’s so much more that we can do and there’s so much more that patients want to see. You know, we often talk to people about what we’re doing and they’re surprised that there’s not more support and psychological support system for patients coming into the hospital. And I think we can apply it not just in children’s hospitals but in research organizations when they’re going through clinical trials. We’ve gotten a lot of interest from primary care offices because certainly something as simple as a lead check or a blood draw, those things don’t seem particularly traumatic, it’s cumulative. And if we can give children a better outlook on their healthcare experiences and empower them in their care, that will pay dividends over a lifetime. And so I think the possibilities are endless. As far as where we can go. When I’m also excited about is just my work with SONSIEL and being able to have not just a national voice, but working as a group to collectively have an international voice, to really represent nursing in pediatrics and show the value in nursing expertise and how we can impact pediatrics on a global scale.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Right. Yeah, I think it’s always important to have really strong partnerships and relationships and build out that network. And the more vocal we can be and the more that we can connect and collaborate just makes all of us stronger and offers a better experience to better outcomes across the board. So yeah, really interesting story. Kate, thank you for sharing that with us. I think, is there any sort of last words of wisdom you’d like to leave with our audience today?
Kate Groff:
Sure. I think, you know, after going through the experience with my son being in critical care, I found that every day I was thinking about the same thing that I wanted to work in innovation, I wanted to work in patient experience, and I think that we can really use our painful life experiences, our traumas. And when we overcome them, we develop resilience and we really can find clues as to how we can align our passion with our profession. And so if you’re a nurse working at the bedside, I have many that reach out to me and you’re feeling burnout and you have these nagging thoughts about things you could be working on either at the bedside or away from the bedside, I would just encourage you to reach out to network with groups like SONSIEL, reach out to people like me who are more than happy to talk to you, because as nurses, we’re called to heal, and there’s just so much work to be done both at the bedside and away from the bedside.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I’m not sure if you’re joining us next weekend in Niagara where SONSIEL is having this think conference. And so, we’re all excited, first time in three years to be getting back together in person, it’s going to be such a great weekend. Are you joining us?
Kate Groff:
Unfortunately, I will not be able to be joining next weekend, but I look forward to having more in-person events. I love the virtual events, but it’s always impactful to meet people in person, so I’m looking forward to it.
Mary Lou Ackerman:
Yeah, we’re really, we’re really excited about this one. And then hopefully, I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to be at any of the hackathons, but if you. There was one in-person and then the rest have been virtual, but that, they’ve all been good, but that in-person one is so powerful. So we’re hoping to do another in-person one next year, which draws a big crowd as well and great networking. So thank you so much. You had so much great things to share with us around. And I love the the combining your passion and your profession as a real way to be inspired and energized to go out and do the right thing, the right thing that’s for you, the right thing that’s for the health system with patients you serve and families. So thank you, Kate, for giving us your time today. Really appreciate it.
Kate Groff:
Thank you for having me!
Hiyam Nadel:
Thanks for tuning in to the SONSIEL podcast. If today’s podcast inspired you, we invite you to join our tribe or support our mission by visiting us at SONSIEL.org. That’s S O N S I E L.org.
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