Finding Your Tribe in Nurse Leadership and Innovation with Lynda Benton and Rhonda Manns: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix
Finding Your Tribe in Nurse Leadership and Innovation with Lynda Benton and Rhonda Manns: 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, Saul 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 to learn more.
Saul Marquez:
Hey everybody! Saul Marquez here and welcome back to the Outcomes Rocket. This SONSIEL series on nurse leadership has just been fantastic and I hope you have enjoyed it just as much as I have. Today, I have two amazing guests. First, I have Rhonda Månns. She’s recognized as one of LinkedIn’s leaders in nursing. She is a Registered Nurse and Certified Case Manager with a contagious passion to change the landscape of health care through innovation. With a career background in emergency nursing, rare diseases, population health, and health I.T., she decided to obtain her MBA so that she could bridge the gap between clinical care delivery and strategic business adventures. Presently, Rhonda uses her clinical background to influence agile software development teams to create digital health products and EMR platforms for complex patient populations. Her hope includes creating an equitable future for health care delivery through clinical innovation and entrepreneurship. I also have Lynda Benton joining us. She is a Senior Director of Corporate Equity for Johnson&Johnson with responsibility for leading Johnson&Johnson’s Nursing a broadly based platform grounded in the company’s one hundred and twenty-year commitment to the nursing profession and credo, focused on advocating for elevating and empowering nurses as innovative leaders who improve patient outcomes, strengthen health systems and change human health for the better. Lynda enjoys every aspect of engaging with the nursing profession. She firmly believes that to move health care forward, nurses need to be championed and supported for their impact and power to raise their voices and implement their ideas and values as transformative leaders helping to shape the future of health care, which is what we’re doing here in this 12-part series championing these amazing nurse leaders. So, Lynda, Rhonda, welcome to the podcast.
Rhonda Manns:
Hi!
Lynda Benton:
Thank you.
Saul Marquez:
It’s such a pleasure to have you both here. And one of the questions that will kick off the series with and I’d love to hear from both of you on, is what inspires your work in health care.
Rhonda Manns:
So I would say for me, my major motivation is just empowering others through health literacy to be able to live and manage their own lives independently or to the best of their ability. You know, health care really is a system. It has its own set of rules, language, culture. So I’m glad to be an integral part of that person’s journey in it around medical events.
Lynda Benton:
Yeah. In terms of what inspires me. And obviously working for Johnson&Johnson, one of the world’s largest health care companies, we always focus on a daily basis on improving human health. And when we think about how that happens, the way J&J operates is that we are always working with like-minded partners and organizations, in our case really working to support and empower the frontline health workers. There are millions around the world, but we look specifically at my work. So I’m really inspired by the nursing profession as a whole because I lead Johnson&Johnson Nursing, as you said in the intro, representing our companies one hundred twenty-year commitment to supporting and advocating for the profession. And I have to tell you, even though I’m not a nurse by background, nurses absolutely inspire me and my team and the work that we do every day. I have nothing but the deepest respect for their education, their role in patient care, how smart they are and resourceful and how innovative they are. Because I truly believe that without nurses, our health care system would absolutely fall apart.
Saul Marquez:
I totally agree with you. I totally agree with you, Lynda. The amazing contributions by nursing and nurse leaders, the nurses at the front line, the many roles that nurses play, as we’ve learned through the series, we’re indebted to the nurses in this country and around the globe. So I appreciate the passion that you bring to that. And Rhonda, I appreciate your passion for helping people understand their care, right? It’s just so critical. And so let’s talk about how your organizations are adding value to the health care ecosystem. And maybe this is one that that you kick us off with, Lynda.
Lynda Benton:
Sure. Well, before COVID, obviously, the world looked a little bit different, but I think there’s a lot of things to be learned in the pre-COVI world. And, of course, what we’ve learned in the past year. Certainly, the US health system as a whole is greatly fraying. There’s greater patient demand, resource demand, systematic demands impacting. And, of course, all of that got worsened by the pandemic. I think it’s fair to say I think we also saw a really clear picture of this, of how nurses are really on the front line leading every day in health care. And what the listeners may not know is that nursing is actually the largest and the most trusted segment of the health care workforce. That’s 19 years running in the Gallup poll. So what we found in our research Saul that despite all of the backgrounds and the experience that nurses bring to health care, the resourcefulness, the innovative thinking, how they put patients needs first. What we have found is that the impact of nurses is often underestimated and their expertise is underutilized in health care. And as a company, we think it’s high time to change that. Because we really believe that to move health care forward and really make the transformative changes that we need to make, we know we need to make. We need nurses to play a key role in that. So at J&J we’re just things will we really are focused on elevating and advocating and empowering nurses to really drive that health care change that we know is so desperately needed today. A couple of examples of what we’re doing there, for example, is really how we’re really working to support nurses and helping to improve and hone and strengthen their innovation muscles that we know are innately part of the nursing mindset. And that’s where we do things like Nurse Hack for Health Hackathon and a quickfire challenge series, as well as another podcast that we lead with the ANA called See You Now. But it’s all about really helping nurses to lead health care information and getting them ready to do that.
Saul Marquez:
Well, those are some fantastic initiatives. And it sounds like it’s deeply embedded in the DNA of the organization of J&J this belief that nurses are making a huge difference And we need to recognize and utilize their talents more.
Lynda Benton:
Absolutely. To your point that we did say that that nursing is part of our DNA because we really believe that to really drive the change, we need to drive, nurses are going to play a critical role. There are four million nurses in the US and about one million physicians. And the nurses work in every corner of our community. So they have a huge impact in terms of how health care is delivered.
Saul Marquez:
There’s no doubt nursing is important. And so let’s talk about what makes what you do different and better than what’s available today. Rhonda, why don’t you talk to us about that?
Rhonda Manns:
I just want to just echo what Linda said about nurses being at the forefront of the transformation of health care and also just having that innovative spirit. And I just think that what makes me different and what I do different and a little bit better than what’s available today is that I have the ability to leverage my clinical knowledge in a business environment that helps my senior leaders make more well-rounded decisions for their service offerings. So you can imagine that in the development of a product, there’s already a certain amount of uncertainty that exists in product development. So not fully understanding the other impacts and nuances could significantly impact the product success or the outcome of the development. Being that nurse, being that clinical thought leader there at the table has been so good, it just allows me to speak into areas where business gaps or missing requirements may exist otherwise.
Saul Marquez:
Thank you, Rhonda. Yeah, a lot of these business requirements or maybe workflow nuances can mean adoption or not. And so this knowledge that you bring to the table is super valuable.
Rhonda Manns:
Yes. And this is why I speak and advocate for my passion about having nurses at the table in non-traditional spaces. I think so often the public perception of nurses is just almost limited to the bedside care of a patient in a patient care environment. But, you know, nursing science and nursing education really embraces and really pushes forward strategic thinking, critical thinking, analysis, identifying problem-solving problems. I think overall just there is a need to really understand that nurses provide extraordinary value in the business system or in non-traditional roles where we haven’t seen nurses before.
Saul Marquez:
I totally agree, Rhonda. And it’s been a theme through this series that we are underutilizing nurse talent and this perception of nurses are at the bedside and that’s it. I mean, if you listen to this series, folks, which I know you have, that false belief is now out the window. So I’m excited about the opportunity that this country that the world has to take advantage of the amazing talent that nurses provide. And so on that point, what do you believe people need to know that maybe they don’t know about the role of nursing and improving outcomes and business?
Lynda Benton:
Yeah, I think one of the key things that comes to mind for me, even when I when I’m talking with my own friends and family about what I do in the nursing profession, I think people still have a very limited understanding of really the depth and breadth of what nurses bring to health care. And I think sometimes, unfortunately, that’s just further reinforced when you look at some of the television shows and movies that are out there that might portray nurses in a certain way. It always kind of irritates me when I see that, because I know that there’s so much more to nursing than gets portrayed out there sometimes in the public eye. And when I think about you mentioned just a moment ago, I mean, a lot of people also think about nurses just working in hospitals at bedside, which, of course, is a huge role that nurses do play. But nurses are, like I said, in every corner of every community, They’re in research, they’re in informatics, they work in public health, and they care for our kids and our school mental health crisis management. There’s so much more to what nurses bring to health care than people are ever aware of. And I think if people were more aware of the impact they were having, nurses would be more routinely included in higher-level health care conversations that are happening every day that even to this day, nurses are sometimes still not invited to be at that table.
Rhonda Manns:
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly, Linda. And I’d like to follow up to say that nurses are well-positioned to contribute to things like health care strategy, new initiatives and leadership, particularly because nursing science is actually built on the nursing process, which contains assessment coming to a conclusion, planning for that positive outcome implementation and then re-evaluating those interventions. And so when you look at it from that lens, it isn’t very much different from business systems or any other framework, to be quite honest. I think just that to your point, the public view of nurses is just the care of that bedside care companion, obviously made worse by media sitcom shows and things of that nature. I mean, the constant critical thinking that a nurse has to take upon themselves every day, every hour of the day, inpatient patient care environments. I mean, let’s be real. No two patients are identical. You can have two people present with the same clinical problem, but their course of action takes a totally different path only because of a lot of other dynamics that may be going on. And so, to your point, the value of nurses and the ability and skills of nursing is so much further, is so much wider and deeper than I think we can really appreciate. But luckily and also unfortunately, 2020 has given us a really close view on what nurses do, how important they are to the health care system, how needy they are, and how we have to protect and also mbrace this culture that continues to protect nurses and elevate the profession.
Lynda Benton:
Rhonda, I couldn’t agree more with what you just said. I think about what happened in the last year, the pandemic, and as horrific as it has been on so many levels with some of the outcomes that we have seen in the US and around the world, I would have to say that one area that has been a positive spotlight from my perspective is just how nurses have really been able to step into the spotlight, take on the challenges, provide that care lead, find new solution, doing all the things that nurses do. And they’re doing it because they know that’s what they’re there to do, that they’re to care for the patients. The nurses in this past year, from my perspective, have had an amazing opportunity, which they have taken to really step into this care, take on the leadership role that they’re destined to have and really drive a different been a transformational year for the profession.
Saul Marquez:
I totally agree with you both. And you think about who you get your COVID shot from and who your kids see at school, who’s on the other end of that line when you are calling for mental health check-ins, nurses. Everywhere. And so there’s so much that we have to appreciate here. And, you know, I love stories and I love hearing about those stories where nurses shine. Can you give us an example, Rhonda, of a time when you saw your nursing team provide a great solution to a problem?
Rhonda Manns:
Yes, certainly so. Not too many years ago, I was an assistant nurse manager of an ER and the department set some goals to try to reduce the door to needle time for stroke patients. And just for those who May not understand what needle time is, needle time is the point in time when TPA, which is a clotbuster that’s given through an IV to reach the vessel that’s blocked, is given or delivered an emergent situation because we know, of course, that time is the brain. So as the minutes are going on, there’s a loss of brain tissue function and increased disability. Presently that time metric is set at 60 minutes and that’s from door to needle time. So in this case, the nursing leadership developed a pilot with several events could occur at the same time to try to reduce travel time and waste and to give a conceptual give more detail of what that is. We were able to actually get that time down, that number down under 60 minutes to about 19 minutes. And why that’s extraordinary is because within 19 minutes we developed the program or a process that we were able to register the patient, obtain labs, travel to the city department, obtain a head C.T. with and without contrast, have a neurologic visit, and a neurologist standing in the CAT scan room so that he can give his medical interpretation and then we can proceed with treatment 19 minutes, all because nurses said, let’s look at how we can shave off minutes here, distance here. How can we relocate processes to where the patient is? How do we start things earlier? I mean, and really what this comes down to is positive patient outcomes and better recovery for the patients. So that’s a story in particular that I’m really quite proud of and something that comes right to mind.
Saul Marquez:
Wow. 19 minutes. And there’s so much involved in that 19 minutes. It’s incredible. Congratulations.
Rhonda Manns:
Yes. Thank you.
Lynda Benton:
I love that, Rhonda. That’s awesome.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah. And just think about all the people that are now benefiting from that.
Rhonda Manns:
Absolutely. I mean, at the time, you know, living in the stroke belt, which is the lower southeast region of the United States, where you will see catastrophic and frequent episodes of severe strokes on things of that nature due to a variety of either preconditions or just environmental situations that people are facing in the southeast. That made a tremendous difference. Especially when you think that you can save the life or restore function for someone who might be as young as thirty-eight, having a significant stroke. It’s just amazing.
Saul Marquez:
It is amazing and kudos. Just incredible and appreciate you sharing that one. With every when there comes the setbacks and challenges. How about that? Do you have any setbacks you’ve experienced and a key learning that came out of it?
Rhonda Manns:
Yes. So this is not something that I’ve ever discussed publicly or outside of my private circles. But in 2017 I lost my mother due to a medical error that took place in a surgical procedure. And I’ll be honest that it left me with a deep wound and a scar, but it also left me with the desire and a passion to really see health care done right. So in about a year in 2018, I had heard about a managerial restructuring and my name was on the chopping block. So I left and after that, I felt like I just couldn’t catch a break. I mean I did some work as an I.T. contractor that ended abruptly. I’d taken another role as a consultant that ended. I landed another role. I felt like I was using just five percent of my brain ninety-five percent of the time. And I was just really frustrated. I was frustrated. I was feeling hopeless. I really felt like my best days were behind me. So after a series of events that led me to Rebecca Love, who you may know was the president of SONSIEL which is a society of neuroscientists, innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders, I got connected with the Johnson and Johnson hackathon where my whole spirit was renewed. I mean, in fact, that that’s actually where I met Ms. Lynda Benton, who’s here with us on the podcast today. And I’ll be happy to say, like, my outlook changed because I found a tribe of people who embrace change and dare to go after it. There is something particularly isolating when you have this novel idea and you have such a deep passion in your life, but you don’t see others doing it. So being able to just be a part of that community, to be embraced and empowered and then given the supplies and the tools of design, thinking and innovation and community and camaraderie and, you know, and all these things, it completely changed my mindset. And so now in the nine to five job that I have where I work with the agile software development team to create digital health products, it’s such a testament to those efforts to the sponsors, to the people who made that happen, because it just changed my life. That exposure to the group, to the processes, to the event just changed my life. And so the takeaway to that is just to the clinicians were burned out who are frustrated, who are discouraged to know that they have more in their heart to do, but they just don’t know how to get there. Please take hope. There is a tribe out there for you. There is a community and a group of people who can just help you kind of get to that next step so that you can take the next step and then get to your final destination. And that’s something that I believe wholeheartedly.
Lynda Benton:
I clearly remember meeting you at the hackathon at the beginning of the weekend, I think, where you were just kind of figuring it all out and wandering around and meeting people like so many were and at the end of the weekend and you were one of those people I told you this before, that you clearly stay in my brain two years later in terms of being one of the most exciting highlights for me of the weekend in terms of really seeing the impact of the hackathon had on you, but also so many other nurses as well. Because to your point, I think people found their tribe. They found that there were other nurses out there like them that were looking to problem solve and really tackle some of the biggest challenges that people were facing in health care. And maybe they were working in environments that weren’t as supportive or is focused on supporting your innovation. And I think we started a movement that weekend. It was a highlight of my career as well.
Saul Marquez:
Wow.
Rhonda Manns:
I absolutely agree.
Saul Marquez:
That’s amazing. Thank you both for that. It’s fantastic to hear, Rhonda. I could hear it in your voice going from that challenge of losing your mom to the career challenges to finding your tribe. You gave me goosebumps. And it’s certainly a beautiful thing. And I can tell you, having spoken to both of you to all the nurse leaders. Rebecca, we had her on the podcast several months ago. And this is kind of how the idea happened of we should do this right, this 12 part series. And I know that all of you are creating a beautiful movement, a movement where nurses will be heard and a movement where it’s going to be impossible not to listen, because all of the amazing ideas that are creating positive change, they’re big. So I’m excited to be part of it. I’m excited to be a small part of what you guys are creating here through this series. And the listeners get to be be part of that ride, too. So really, what are you both most excited about today?
Lynda Benton:
I would say I feel like we’re at a tipping point as it relates to the nursing profession and the whole field of health care. And I know that was a popular phrase a few years ago, but that’s what came to mind to me today, is we were thinking about this. I mentioned this a few minutes ago. So it feels like in the past year, given what nurses have gone through and how they’ve led through the pandemic, there’s been an incredibly strong, positive spotlight on the nursing profession, and I know that I think the health care community as a whole is taking notice. So what I’m really excited about is being able to really learn from what’s happened over the past year within the nursing profession, within the health care system, and really think about how we can take the learnings in the last year to drive momentum in terms of what health care is gonna look like moving forward. So many amazing things happened in the past year that were nurse led. And this is not the time to be taking a step back and going back to the old ways that things used to be done, because nurses, I think, finally were enabled because barriers came down. There was just urgent needs. Nurses were able to do the things that we know they’re able to do and really step up and lead. And that’s what I’m most excited about, coming out of this pandemic. Again, as horrific as it has been, the silver lining for me is where nursing can go from here to really continue to improve health care.
Rhonda Manns:
Oh, I agree. I agree. I definitely I’m very much excited about seeing that momentum continue for nurses as we continue to elevate the public perception of nurses and their contribution specifically for nurse-led innovation but health care overall, I think my part of my role in this is just to continue to help, to mentor and lead in support of the nurses, find their niche. How to help them make those career transitions into areas of influence and value might be a little bit, you know, non-traditional, so to speak. But I’m very much excited about the Johnson and Johnson Soulsville hackathon in the community that we have there for the fact that so many different nurses across the United States and globally join in on this event. So they are exposed to other specialties and maybe disciplines that you might not realize exist. I think as a nurse in the nursing profession, I think that we can do better to expose our current member population. I think that we can do a better job of exposing our current nursing professionals to different areas of nursing so that they can become revitalized and invigorated with new things. Health care. It’s endless. There’s never going to be a day where you completely learn all the things health care continuously evolves is always something new to learn and to capture and to embark on. And so I am excited about, to Lynda’s point, just keeping this theme going. We cannot go back. We’ve got to go forward. You know, we’re here. You have to hear us. Just help us continue to do the right things for patients in the community.
Saul Marquez:
Thank you, Rhonda. Thank you, Linda. Yeah, it’s certainly exciting times. And so we are here at the end of our time today. I just want to say thank you to you both for sharing the experiences that you’ve had and also the perspective that we all need to continue being open-minded in the way that we approach the work in health care with nurses. Any closing thoughts or things that we should be thinking about? And also, the best way that listeners could get in touch with you would be a great way to close off.
Rhonda Manns:
So one closing thought is a person I want to say thank you Saul much for this opportunity and Linda, for joining in on this session. I think that just even having this platform where we can expose multiple health care executives to the power of nursing and innovation and the things that Johnson and Johnson and SONSIEL doing is just going to be powerful in itself. And I think that I really just want to encourage health care executives and organizational leaders to really consider step back and consider the skill set and the power that a nurse could provide in your business segment. I know it’s such a hard-fought that, you know, hey, what am I going to do with a nurse? I mean, we don’t have the need and I’m being completely facetious here, but we don’t have a need for blood pressures in the boardroom. But I’m telling you that the nursing thinking pattern and a process only drive your organization to higher heights faster. And that’s what I believe. For anybody who wants to get in contact with me, They’ll be some show notes with a link here. But also you can find me on LinkedIn, Rhonda J. Manns M A N N S and I’d love to connect with you.
Saul Marquez:
Thank you, Rhonda. Really appreciate that. And Linda, any closing thoughts?
Lynda Benton:
Yeah. And again, thanks to you as well for having us on the podcast today. And Rhonda. You know, I love always getting the opportunity to sit and talk with you. So this has been a lot of fun for me. In terms of any closing off and how to where I’m ending the conversation today, for me, it really remains front and center to echo what Rhonda just said is that I really think that we are at an incredibly important time right now. And I think there is a lot of people out there, whether it’s for your general person living and working wherever they are living and working or you’ve got people working in health care. I think we have a golden opportunity right now to really think about how we are working with and supporting the nursing workforce. And when you think about the fact that we know that their expertise is really underutilized, how can we do a better job of really tapping into all that they bring involving them in conversations at an earlier point in time, making sure that their voices are represented on the various boards and committees that exist pretty much in any community where nurses are working and really ensuring that we are listening to what nurses have to say. Because, again, I think of the future of our health care system and the success really depends upon that. And similar to Rhonda, I am all over LinkedIn so I would love to meet up with some of the listeners on LinkedIn. Linda Benson, you can find me. And just first, change in nursing. You’ll be sure to find me there. But thanks again for the time today, Saul,
Saul Marquez:
Outstanding Linda. Rhonda, thank you both. And listeners, hope you enjoyed today and another opportunity for you to consider the power of nursing in your organization and community. Thank you guys so much.
Rhonda Manns:
Thanks, Saul.
Lynda Benton:
Thank you.
Saul Marquez:
Thanks for tuning in to the SONSIEL 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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