Nurse Impact in Big Tech with Kelly Robke & Molly McCarthy: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Saul Marquez:
Hey, Outcomes Rocket Nation, Sal Marquez here. Have you heard of SONSIEL? That’s the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Leaders. We’ve teamed up with them to put together a podcast series for Nurses Month. In this 12-part series, we’ll magnify and elevate nurse innovators’ expertise as transformation agents who contribute to health care reform and improved outcomes. Through interviews with these amazing nurse leaders and innovators, we’ll help you connect the dots in a world where nurses are significant leaders recognized for transforming health care and society. Visit outcomesrocket.health/sonsiel to learn more. That’s outcomesrocket.health/sonsiel S O N S I E L to learn more.
Saul Marquez:
Hey everybody, Saul Marquez here with the Outcomes Rocket. I want to welcome you back to the SONSIEL series on nurse leadership and innovation. It has been a blast. I hope you’ve been enjoying these interviews just as much as I have. Today, We have two amazing guests, and I want to introduce them to you. First, we’ve got Molly McCarthy. She is the National Director of US Health Provider and Plans for Microsoft. Her career journey spans twenty-seven years in the health and technology industries. She’s passionate about uniting technology, clinicians and patients to improve care delivery, safety and outcomes. Molly joined Microsoft in 2013 and was the US Chief Nursing Officer until August of 2020. Now she leads the US team of industry, clinical and technical subject matter experts that drive digital technology, innovation and transformation for health provider and payer organizations.
Saul Marquez:
Also joining us today on the podcast is Kelly Robke. Kelly is the current US Health and Chief Nursing Officer at Microsoft. Kelly has dedicated her career to the successful recognition of innovators at the intersection of health care and technology. Her passion or improving the health of patients, families and populations is fortified by a commitment to recognizing technology, acceptance and adoption at points of care along the continuum of health. They’re both doing just extraordinary work as nurse leaders across technology and health. I’m privileged to have both of them here on the podcast. So Kelly and Molly, welcome.
Kelly Robke:
Thank you so much.
Molly McCarthy:
Thank you. It’s great to be here with you today.
Saul Marquez:
Absolutely. It’s our pleasure. And wow, has this series been so much fun, educational, inspiring. And so what I want to start off with is learning more about both of you. So before Microsoft, before everything else, what is it that inspired your work in health care?
Molly McCarthy:
This is Molly. I think being in health care my entire career, I’ve always sat in the position within regardless of the role that I’ve been in, really to support clinicians and patients and ensuring that their voice is heard. So I think regardless of the setting, I’ve had a passion for championing clinicians and patients and really advocating for their needs. For example, whether I’m working in a hospital, as I started out my career in pediatrics and neonatal intensive care, or working for a technology company initially starting in medical devices, really sitting between the product and software, hardware engineering team, and the outside world of clinicians and patients, ensuring that their voices are heard as we design and develop solutions. So that’s really been a theme for me throughout my career. It’s going back to my nursing roots and advocating for those who might not have a voice.
Kelly Robke:
And Saul I would say for me, it’s a very similar path. I think nursing is such a noble profession. And what inspires me, like Molly, is service to other clinicians across the continuum of care as care evolves and support of health care transformation. It’s been a remarkable journey. I’ve been in health care now for thirty years. My definition of health care, similar to Molly, is not the traditional sense. I started off with a love of science, with a love of data, and also worked in maternal-child in high-risk obstetrics, labor, and delivery parasitology. From there I found that I just loved working in research and loved working with data as well as technology, and found a unique and compelling but equally important pathway along the pharma device and clinical research path that was so rewarding and working with clinicians, nurses, nurse leaders, as well as physicians and pharmacists and physical therapists. And the health care professionals that make health care happen are important and inspiring to me. And from that love of data, I went into technology and really was able to drive innovation at the point of care. And what has been amazing is being able to do that both at the bedside as a nurse through clinical trials and or a device innovation that impacts patient populations. And now again, at Microsoft, where we’re touching the lives of so many clinicians and clinicians collaborating with professionals and also broadening what it means to be in health care beyond the bedside, beyond the hospital, beyond the clinic, to include industry partners, organizations and associations that are all targeting, improving and advancing health.
Saul Marquez:
That’s fantastic. I really, really appreciate that background. Kelly and Molly. It’s great to know what light the fire, both of you guys. Just very passionate about what you do and great at what you do and so beyond the bedside is a common theme and the amount of avenues and areas that nursing touches is just overwhelming. Such an education campaign, the series for all of us. Talk to us a little bit about what you’re doing today. So how are you and the organization adding value to the health care ecosystem?
Molly McCarthy:
I will start with that question and have Kelly please fill in anything that I may have forgotten. You know, I’ve been at Microsoft for almost eight years and just seen tremendous growth in our industry around the adoption of technology. And I think it goes without saying we’ve seen that acceleration take place over the past 12 to 15 months with the onset of COVID-19. And I think initially going into a technology role, one might think it’s all about the tech and the gadgets. But I really want to convey the message that, you know, at Microsoft, we’re really about the technology obviously, but more so about the people and the process of technology and making that change and transition through technology to enable our clinicians almost to the point where technology works seamlessly in the background. And I think specifically for Microsoft right now over the past 12 months, some work that I’m personally really proud of, that we’ve contributed to is it’s not just the technology, but how we’ve added value for the clinicians and patients. And I’d like to give you a couple of examples. The first one is through the work we were doing with SONSIEL and Johnson and Johnson and dev op, and that’s with our Nurse Pack For Health. The goal of that program. It started a year ago together and it was done virtually to bring together clinicians, nurses with developers to ideate and create minimum viable product really related to the current market conditions. Specifically, for example, last May we were looking at remote patient monitoring in the hospital, remote patient monitoring in the home, resilience in our workforce, looking at nurse transfer hand off and huddle, all very important, I think, in the COVID 19 pandemic. So, again, getting nurses in at the onset of design and development, we did that over a weekend and that’s been a continuing series. And Kelly is actually running the one coming up in May, May 14th to 16th.
Molly McCarthy:
Some of the other work we’ve done is really beyond just the technology but extending the capabilities, for example, of our Azure Health. And we’re working with the American Nurses Association to create stress self-assessment checker as part of their well-being initiative. So if you go to the ANA website and you look up their well-being initiative, you can go there. They have many different tools and resources, one of which is the Azure Health pack that is the framework for a series of questions that were designed by the ANC and their partners and looked at nurses’ well-being. So you can go through a series of questions and it provides feedback to you and points you to some resources. So those are just two examples. And the other one that I don’t want to forget to mention is beyond just the technology working with our clinicians to really understand what artificial intelligence means in this day and age. I think that’s a buzzword. But to that point, as I mentioned, it’s beyond just the technology. It’s the people in the process and the behavior change. And so part of that is education. And so we spent time with the American Hospital Association creating a course called AI in health care, leading through change. It’s a continuing education course that is free to nurses, physicians, hospital administrators that really takes them through the foundations of what artificial intelligence means for health care. So those, again, just a few examples of the work that we’re doing really beyond the traditional what you might think of when you think about Microsoft. And Kelly, I invite you to add anything to that you’ve seen here where you’ve been more recently.
Kelly Robke:
Sure. Two quick things on that. And Saul, back to your original question around the value that we add to the ecosystem. I recently joined Microsoft six months ago from one of our customers who is a global health product company, and I was working in medication management. I was actually a customer of Microsoft, along with several other leaders. We were developing a product that allowed for signals to be detected through descriptive analytics and later advancing towards predictive analytics and being able to show where there might need to be further investigation around narcotic inventory management. Diversion is a problem in US hospitals. So not only did we have a chance to see first hand how Microsoft complements efforts already underway in the health care ecosystem, but also how Microsoft is advancing health towards the transformation that we talk about and we seek in ways that allow the customer to be engaged in some of those factors that allow us to step from descriptive to predictive analytics in pursuit of what Molly was just describing around A.I., but also how Microsoft could be just an amazing technology partner. And I witnessed that firsthand. The second thing I would say to Molly’s description is in looking at the ecosystem framework, health care is constantly changing. What is cutting edge today may very well give way to further advancements and momentum in discovery and treatment and processes and automation. And if we look at the pandemic, we’ve had a lot of discovery, as well as a re-found passion for innovation in health care. And I think one of the things that were uncovered in the pandemic and what we experienced was around health equity disparities in health problems with health access that have been longstanding. But the pandemic showed another light on it. And it’s very important to have operational data in steps and reports resulting from that, that if we’re really going to address health equity issues, Microsoft offers an incredible suite of capabilities that allow us to engage with patients in a way that’s meaningful and resonates with them and also get them the support or the interaction or the engagement that is so essential to what we’re seeing in the patient centered care evolution that’s occurring, but also in looking at populations and how populations can inform individual health. The analytics really gives us that capability to continue to advance health care as we should not only for individual patients in the best possible plan of care but also for the populations that are served by the health system, by various elements of care, and also helps to enable some of the partnerships that I mentioned earlier around pharma device, academic, and associations.
Saul Marquez:
Thank you both for that. And clearly, Microsoft, through the work both of you are doing and in the broader team, you guys are at a huge value to the ecosystem and through thought leadership, through the hackathon, which, by the way, everybody that I’ve talked to about that hackathon just can’t stop talking about how great it was. So if you’re listening to this podcast right now, that hackathon is coming up. So in the show notes, we’ll leave a link to that so you can learn more for you to be a participant contributor. Just a phenomenal opportunity that Microsoft and SONSIEL, JNJ are leading there. And so the opportunities for folks to learn more are huge. And I’m just having a blast with this series. You guys are doing things differently and better, without a doubt. One question that I want to focus on here is what do you believe people need to know that maybe they don’t know About the role of nursing in improving health outcomes in business?
Kelly Robke:
Well, I think people need to appreciate that nurses are the largest group of clinicians in the US health care workforce right now. There are over four million nurses. Nurses outnumber physicians four to one. They outnumber pharmacists eight to one. So the power of nursing as a profession, as care providers, and as leaders in health care is quite obvious. Gallup has ranked nurses the most trusted profession in the US, and there’s a reason for this. First of all, nurses provide care. They’re the leaders of care at the point of care execution. They also serve as a powerful advocate for patients and their family as they journey through their health experience. But I think with numbers and with very critical and essential responsibilities of a nurse, nurses have the opportunity to take the lead in driving the positive change and keeping the momentum in innovation in health care, being at the bedside, being where care decisions are made, interacting with so many clinicians and coordinating that care really puts us in a unique and compelling position to drive positive change through innovation in health care. And I think we’re starting to see that through the efforts of sale, through what we’ve seen, the positive outcomes of the hack in terms of novel innovations, of pertinent and critical services and solutions to real-world problems. I think nurses cover the waterfront in terms of simple and elegant solutions to everyday problems, as well as understanding the complexities that occur across the continuum of health, which, as I mentioned before, are no longer just the hospital, but also areas of care outside of the four walls of the hospital, beyond traditional clinics, community health centers, urgent care centers or even community-based emergency rooms that are popping up. But also, as the definitions of health and well-being continue to change, we’ll see new areas there and nurses will be not only best positioned to understand those care needs, but also leading those changes as we look towards the future. Molly, do you have anything to add?
Molly McCarthy:
Yeah, I think a really great point, Kelly, and you’ve covered a lot there. The only thing I might add, I think when we think about nursing from a professional standpoint and how we are educated, it’s really preventative and thinking about how we can optimize health. And so that’s just a natural place for us to go. So when you ask about improving health outcomes, education and prevention are probably at the top of the list of things that we do know, how we deliver that education in prevention, I think through technology that can change and grow and make a bigger impact and is more scalable with technology, quite frankly. But I think that in general, nurses are incredibly flexible and agile. And as we see technology become more and more part of the health care delivery process and system and where the term virtual health will just be synonymous with health because it’s no longer going to need to be called virtual health, I think that’s an area where nursing can really stand up and lead. And I think that, quite frankly, we are if you think about driving health care and outcomes more positive, that can be done out in the community, as Kelly mentioned. And I think we’re going to see more and more remote patient monitoring in the home and keeping the patient and bringing the care for the patient where they are, which is the home. So I look forward to the evolution of the profession and the continued growth and our role in contributing.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you both for that. And you know, the numbers I hadn’t heard of those numbers, the ones that you led with Kelly, just the ratio. Nurse to pharmacists, nurse to physician ratios, just very overwhelming. And again, the one that I have heard that keeps coming up is 50 percent of all health care encounters are with the nurse. You know, I’m getting my second COVID shot, and again, another nurse greeting me there and all of us. So just such an important role in the delivery and also innovation. And so I’d love to just ask both of you an example of when you saw your nursing team provide a great solution to a problem.
Kelly Robke:
Can I put my name next to that question? That’s right. So I think that when you say your nursing team, I think that I’m not sure what that means because we are in a nontraditional setting in big tech. So I wouldn’t say we have a huge nursing team per se. But I think one thing that stands out to me is the work that our clinicians at Microsoft and in concert with our customer success unit, those are the individuals really responsible for ensuring that our customers understand the technology and know how to use it. For example, they would do the quote-unquote in service. I think that one area is just communication and collaboration that has been a challenge and still is. And so I went to a large teaching university and along with the account team and customer success, and this is a few years ago, looking for ways for them to better communicate. And specifically the nurses at the time, the nurses were communicating with one another. For example, trading shifts via Facebook messaging or via texting or via email, so many different ways to communicate and collaborate. And they actually standardize their platform on the teams’ technology to enable those processes to happen more easily. So, for example, the communication one to one, a nurse manager out to the entire unit, as well as the ability to collaborate, for example, on policies and procedures, working on a shared document through Team, everything’s in one place. They’re not necessarily emailing around multiple versions of the latest policy on central line dressing changes. So for example, so I’ve seen surprise to me the successful usage and implementation of our technology beyond I.T. but out to our front line health heroes, the nurses, the physicians. And that’s taking some time. And that’s like I mentioned previously, it’s not just about that technology, but the people in the process. So truly understanding the nursing workflows, I think that is something where our team does understand that because we’ve walked in their shoes before, it might have been. A while since I put those shoes on, but being able to speak the same language and so that’s one example where the communication and collaboration and what we’ve done with teams, especially over the past 12 months, quickly getting people up with virtual visits has been something that’s a pleasure to be part of. I know that a lot of people on our team feel like they’ve been the first responders to the first responders, so to speak. When it comes to tech, which has been really rewarding for many of my colleagues.
Molly McCarthy:
I would just add, first of all, I would just want to acknowledge the nurses on our team that have been doing vaccinations and being the face of nursing, as you mentioned, Saul, including Molly. So, I mean, it’s just amazing how our team has stepped in and once a nurse, always a nurse. And then from there, I would just I mean, your question was around an example of when a nursing team provides us with a great solution. Nursing teams obviously have nurses on them. But I think the cool thing about nurses is they know when and whom to engage in order to accomplish a goal. And SONSIEL has done such an amazing job of kind of this cross clinical collaboration on behalf of nurses as an organization, but more specifically with the Nurse for health. That’s coming up in May 14th and 16th. I mean, establishing that channel to learn about innovation, to network with peers that are equally passionate about innovation and really identify areas that are pertinent to driving positive force and evolution towards change that benefits patients and then being able to work with software developers and with business planning experts and with marketers and others that come to the table on behalf of nursing and the excellence and the quality of care and the compassion that nursing shows so that we can advance our service to our patients and to the health facilities that we operate in and among. But I think some and Nurse Haak is just an exceptional example of a great solution, and they continue to push the needle and provide something bigger and better every time.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, that’s fantastic. Thank you both for that. Yeah, I’ve heard of some of the solutions that have come out of this and just extraordinary. And to Molly’s point, it’s about people and about process. I mean, nurses know the process so well. They know the ins and outs. They know the facts. There’s just an opportunity with nursing. If you’re not currently leveraging nursing in your ideation, your product development, your viability testing, my gosh, you’re missing out. So if you haven’t gotten that point through this series, I hope this is cementing it. And so I’m really encouraged by what I hear, what I see. And I know you are, too. So let’s talk about setbacks. We all have them. What’s one of the biggest ones that you’ve experienced and a key learning that came out of it?
Kelly Robke:
Well, for me, one of the biggest setbacks is, you know, the solution to a problem or as a nurse, you are aware of multiple scenarios that could be evaluated to improve something that just is of benefit to you and your colleagues or a benefit to patients or all of the above. I think one of the challenges that I’ve experienced was when I first entered into nursing, I could articulate and advocate for clinical considerations and changes. But in order to give a lift to those recommendations and suggestions, for me it was very important to balance my clinical acumen with skills that allowed me to speak the language of finance, to speak the language of operations, to be able to demonstrate scale and scenarios. And the key learning from that is don’t ever stop learning. I mean, and that’s that’s kind of running parallel to the theme of health care evolution. We have to evolve with health care. We have to challenge ourselves with our skills. We have to be comfortable and confident in that ambiguity and uncertainty. Don’t get me wrong. So I was not in any way, shape or form relishing the thought of financial accounting or microfinance. But it was important to me. And in order to do what I wanted to do, which was innovate, which was provide services to clinicians across the continuum of care on a scale beyond that of just an individual patient encounter. But I think being able to know what you don’t know and get those skills and constantly challenge yourself towards refining those skills, expanding those skills and being open to learning is part of the obligation of being an innovator and a health care leader.
Molly McCarthy:
Just being curious and willing to say. I’ve never done that before. Let me try especially thinking about the hackathon. I think that’s an important characteristic to keep in mind. And at Microsoft, we have adopted this terminology of learning it all rather than know it all. So just constantly questioning and seeking better ways through coorpetition, so to speak. Competition and cooperation.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, no, that’s fantastic. And yet, you know, there’s so much that we don’t know. And just being open to the learnings and not letting yourself get held behind by what could seem like a wall is really a great call to action here. If you’re a nurse leader listening to this, hopefully, you are finding some inspiration in the work that is currently being done and the work that is evolving so quickly to include nurses at the center of a lot of what happens in health care beyond the bedside. This is exciting and I’m enjoying this so much. But what are you both excited about today? What are you most excited about?
Kelly Robke:
There’s so much to be excited about. I am super excited to be in healthcare at this point in time, simply because I think the way we innovate, the way we collaborate across teams and among teams is at the really critical and amazing pivot point because with the advent of technology and the continued use of technology and health care, it really allows us to be interconnected and share ideas and work from the same evidence. And really fast forward how and why and when and where we deliver care. I’m also excited about the renewed attention to health equity. Like I said before, addressing access to care, addressing literacy of health care, getting patients and their families engaged in decision making can only serve to the benefit of patients. And then I’m super excited about where nursing is going. That nursing is seizing a seat at the table in terms of driving health care change. But there’s a lot to be excited about and thankful for in health care and nursing innovation right now. And I’m so excited to play a small part in it.
Molly McCarthy:
There is just a lot. I think for me it’s the promise. And looking at the past year and knowing that as a health system in the United States specifically can quickly pivot to make change was something that was very rewarding to see and to be part of having been in tech for a long time. Even the concept of a virtual visit wasn’t necessarily easily digestible by different clinicians. And so making that pivot over the past year keeps me incredibly motivated and up at night to continue to improve our system and also to bring along the next generation of nurses and to Let them know that really anything is possible in terms of where they want to take their career, whether that’s outside the four walls of the hospital, whether that’s in academia, whether that’s in the hospital. Just being able to write that script, I think is a message. I want to make sure that that we convey to many of the audience out there today and to the nurses today as well.
Saul Marquez:
That’s fantastic. Yeah. And both of you are a fine example of that passing on the torch, just creating those pathways for success for future leaders. And so I love that it all has kind of come together here in this way. And I thank you both for your thoughts and inspiration now that you’ve shared. Let’s conclude it. Give us a closing thought, something we should all be thinking about as we part ways here. And then the best place where the listeners can reach out with you or get to learn more about what Microsoft is up to.
Molly McCarthy:
One closing thought that I have to dovetail on what I was just speaking about in terms of thinking about where you want to go in your career is just as we continue our journey in health care, I encourage everyone to be a mentor to those up and comers or even encouraging those who you might feel, for example, want to come to the hack or they want to apply for a position on a committee, but might not have the confidence or knowledge that they think they need to be part of their next career. So I just encourage everyone to be a mentor to our younger workforce. The second piece is, I would say the best way to get in touch with me is to we can connect on Linkedin or Twitter. My Twitter handle is MSFT acronym for Microsoft. @MSFTMollyRN. Then, of course, If you really want to connect with us soon, join the hack because we’ll be there all weekend. Kelly?
Kelly Robke:
Thanks, Molly. I think for the nursing community, the message that I have is in pursuing innovation, innovation as a process. And I think ideating and feasibility testing are very important. But I think as you go forward with innovation, please keep in mind that the implementation of that innovative concept into reality is equally important. And that includes how you educate, how you inform, how you communicate, and ultimately drive acceptance of something that could be amazing for patient care or patient outcomes. Let’s balance that equation. And then for individual nurses, similar to what Molly is saying, I think to be mindful of your colleagues throughout the continuum of nursing practice. For example, there are folks coming into nursing that I think even being a nurse for 30 years. I remember what it was like to work on my first assignment on my first shift and rely upon my colleagues and my preceptors. I think nurses that have been in nursing for a while, there’s so much to learn from them. And together is how we really strengthen and fortify what we do for patients. So I think just be mindful of asking for a mentor. If you’re new to nursing or you’re new to innovation, don’t be afraid to solicit and identify potential mentors outside of the traditional realms of nursing that are nursing advocates. A lot of my mentors are pharmacists and physicians and engineers, and they give me a perspective that is just invaluable, but it’s also very nursing-centric and as a result of that, focused on positive patient outcomes. And in order to get in touch with me, you can also reach out to me on Linkedin and you can find me on Twitter as well. I am on Twitter as RobkeKellyRN one word, so I look forward to connecting with your audience.
Saul Marquez:
Outstanding. Kelly, Molly, thank you both. This has been a fantastic time together and we’ve pulled a lot of insights and looking forward to sharing this with the world. So thank you so much for what you do.
Kelly Robke:
Thank you, Saul.
Molly McCarthy:
Thank you for having us.
Saul Marquez:
Thanks for tuning in to the SONSIEL school nurse leadership series. For the Show notes and to learn more about how you could have nurses join your mission, Visit us at outcomesrocket.health/sonsiel. That’s outcomesrocket.health/sonsiel.
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