HOW DID YOU GET INTO NURSING?
My path into the field of nursing was not traditional; it was not a lifelong
dream. I was, fortunately, very healthy growing up. That was until I woke
to severe abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting one fall morning when I
was sixteen years old. Later that night, I ended up in the operating room
at Hasbro Children’s Hospital having my appendix removed! Over the
next three days, I got a firsthand look at a very different side of health
care. Then, when it came time to determine my path for college, I reflected
on my own health care experience combined with the nursing shortage
at the time. I elected to enter the nursing program at Rhode Island College.
NURSE EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
Joan Salhany, RN, BSN, MBA
Vice President Operations at Lifespan –
Gateway Healthcare, Inc
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT BEING A NURSE EXECUTIVE?
Working with nurses and other clinical staff, along with administrative
staff — all of whom are at different stages in their careers — and coaching
them into being better and greater than they thought they could be.
Sometimes even challenging them to stretch beyond the goals they set for
themselves and then watching them reach, or even go beyond, those goals.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO AN ASPIRING NURSE EXECUTIVE?
You cannot do it alone! It requires persistence, a strong sense of self and
a team of staff to help with working in a very complex matrix-like system
requiring focus on many operational, clinical, financial and human resource
goals and objectives.
NOMINATOR BUZZ
“Joan is the most approachable leader I’ve ever met. She’s calm, insightful, brilliant and kind.”
— Catherine M. Clark, Gateway Healthcare
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