FALL 2 0 0 5 A PUBLICATION OF THE VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NURSING Nurse Administrators Who Make a Difference F ALL 2 0 0 5 35 Connelly Foundation Celebrates 50th Anniversary Mark your calendar! OFFICE OF THE DEAN M. LOUISE FITZPATRICK Spring 2006 COLLEGE OF NURSING ST. MARY’S HALL March 14 Graduate Program Open House November 28, 2005 March 15 Health and Human Mrs. Josephine C. Mandeville Values Lecture Series: President and CEO Heifer International Connelly Foundation One Tower Bridge, Suite 1450 Initiatives W. Conshohocken, PA 19428 March 26 Nursing Alumni Dear Mrs. Mandeville, Society Graduation Tea All of us in the College of Nursing, Villanova University extendth Anniversary warm congratulations of the Connelly to the officers, staff and members of the Connelly family on this 50 March 30 Research Symposium Foundation. The vision and legacy of John and Josephine Connelly, their investment in Catholic values and April 22 College of Nursing the Foundation’s ongoing concern for others affect the lives of so many through your support of Annual Mass & Alumni education, health care and social services. Awards Ceremony The College of Nursing and its students are privileged to benefit each day from the generosity and commitment of the Connelly Foundation and your thoughtful encouragement of our work. April 23 Undergraduate informa- It is with deep appreciation that we congratulate the Connelly Foundation and all who make its tion session for high mission live as an exemplar of faith, vision and courage. school juniors Sincerely, May 20 College of Nursing Convocation, Baccalaureate Mass M. Louise Fitzpatrick May 21 Graduation Connelly Endowed Dean and Professor -1690 (610) 519-4909 FAX (610) 519-7997 800 LANCASTER AVENUE VILLANOVA PENNSYLVANIaEmail: [email protected] 19085 VILLANOVA NURSING Vol. 25 No. 1 Fall 2005 On the Cover: Editorial Board Features In her three years as neonatal ICU Ann Barrow McKenzie ’86 B.S.N., nurse manager at Baystate Medical ’91 M.S.N., R.N., Editor Nurse Administrators Who Make a Difference .......... 2 Center in Springfield, Mass., Tyonne Marcia Costello, Ph.D., R.D. D. Hinson ’01 M.S.N., R.N. guided Elizabeth Dowell, Ph.D., R.N. 12 Essential Ways to Grow Leadership Skills .......... 8 her unit to significant recognition. Lori Hallahan, B.S.N., R.N. She’s one of six College of Nursing Susan Leighton Big Dream. Bigger Impact. ................................ 10 alumni whom we salute in this issue Carol Toussie Weingarten, Ph.D., R.N. The “Best Role Models” Led Her to Teaching ....... 33 for their leadership that creates a M. Louise Fitzpatrick, Ed.D., R.N., culture of care. FAAN, Ex officio Four Nursing Leaders on the Main Line ... Back Cover Our thanks to this issue’s authors: Published by the Villanova University College of Nursing, St. Mary Hall, ■ Ann Barrow McKenzie ’86 B.S.N., Villanova, PA 19085-1690. Departments ’91 M.S.N., R.N., coordinator of Perspectives ...................................................... 1 college relations Produced in cooperation with the ■ Marcia Costello, Ph.D., R.D., Alumni Magazine Consortium, based Programs for Future Leaders ............................... 14 assistant professor at The Johns Hopkins University. ■ Elizabeth Dowdell, Ph.D., R.N., AMC editor: Donna Shoemaker Faculty Focus .................................................. 17 assistant professor Designer: Janel Kiley Standard class postage paid at College News .................................................. 22 Villanova, PA 19085-1690. Alumni News .................................................. 29 Perspectives Dear Alumni and Friends of the College of Nursing: mong our alumni are many who provide administrative educated and credentialed professional nurses to little more leadership in hospitals and health agencies as vice than distributors of medications. Technologically-based Apresidents for patient care, directors of nursing operations, which have so many positive attributes, also services, associate hospital or agency administrators, chief create a robotic atmosphere that forces knowledge workers executive officers of health systems and nurse managers. Theirs into patterns that can restrict their exercise of professional is a formidable and critical assignment. As administrators, they judgment, autonomy and creativity. are well aware of the factors that drive contemporary health My opinions are not intended to be severe and hypercritical, care. Chief among these are the changing nor are they universals. Our faculty, political climate; economics; the supply, who with our students are immersed in demand, distribution and variety of health- A New Building for the this “real world” each week, as well as care personnel; the impact of technology College of Nursing those who practice in it daily, know the on patient care; the management of care situation only too well. Some of us are systems; and the demographics of our We are delighted to announce that old enough to recall a time when the society. At the heart of the matter is the “Villanova University will pursue the system, despite its imperfections, was daunting challenge of delivering high- construction of a new building for less fractured. quality care, structuring a safe patient the College of Nursing, central to Those who administer and manage environment and assuring that the campus, near the St. Augustine health-care agencies and systems may recipient of care is the priority, despite the Center for the Liberal Arts. not always be able to extend their constraints that compromise providing the We are confident that the plan will influence beyond their own sphere of ideal health-care delivery system. be implemented with expediency. responsibility, despite a desire to do so. Recently, I was a patient. The This is an historic event in the However, many have the vision, the contrast between last summer and my history of the College of Nursing. unrelenting drive and the commitment illness experience of 13 years ago was — M. Louise Fitzpatrick, Ed.D., R.N. FAAN,” to keep the focus on the patient and to Connelly Endowed Dean and Professor eye-opening. Although care was quite face overwhelming challenges. Many good, the number of staff categories has nurse administrators are attempting to proliferated and the identity and roles of various caregivers create a culture of caring within a technologically and cost- was sometimes a point of confusion for me. Multitasking was driven environment. This culture of caring is essential for the considerable. Another difference, especially among nursing welfare of patients, as well as for the legions of dedicated direct staff, was the larger number of part-time staff or those who caregivers whom these nurse administrators lead. work 12-hour shifts several days each week. In this issue of Villanova Nursing, we pay special tribute to I was fortunate to be hospitalized in a well-respected those nurse administrators. Their leadership is truly the voice local health-care system. I was glad to be known by some of advocacy for patients, for those who deliver patient care and staff and to know how to be my own advocate—despite the for those who promote quality health care while working to distance that has transpired between my intimate knowledge advance health-care reform. of clinical practice and what I do each day as a dean. I had no complaints about my caregivers or their knowledge, attitude or competence. They had a genuine desire to do a good job, cared about patients, and were current and intelligent clinicians. What is clear to me is that the American health-care system is fractured and constrained. Often, professional caregivers cannot practice as they wish or should. An industrial model, M. Louise Fitzpatrick, Ed.D., R.N., FAAN still evident in some hospitals, can relegate even highly Connelly Endowed Dean and Professor Perspectives F ALL 2 0 0 5 1 Nurse Administrators Who Make a Difference Meet six savvy administrators who inspire those around them. These Villanovans all have high levels of responsibility in settings that span neonatal to geriatric, hospitals to nonprofits, New York to Texas. ’91 M.S.N., R.N. ’86 B.S.N., By Marcia Costello, Ph.D., R.D. and Ann Barrow McKenzie 2 V ILLANOVA N URSING oday’s health-care arena requires creative, risk-taking leaders who are willing to take hold of the challenges and lead their organization and its people toward the Tfuture with their visionary changes. Nurse leaders educated at Villanova University’s College of Nursing understand that it is all about the people—the people whom they lead and the people for whom they care. These six leading nurse administrators embody this philoso- phy. We highlight here their careers, commitment and strategies for success. Energy Unleashed at Lighthouse International Tara A. Cortes ’67 B.S.N., Ph.D., R.N. While at Mount Sinai, Dr. Cortes became knows the challenges of running an organi- one of 15 nurses in the country selected as zation. She has been in academic, service a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse and nonprofit sectors, most recently as the Fellow. During her three-year fellowship, former senior vice president and chief nurs- through networking, acquiring a background ing officer (CNO) of Patient Care Operations in policy, developing communications skills at Bridgeport Hospital, Yale-New Haven and obtaining the key skill of using commu- Health System in Bridgeport, Conn. Dr. nity resources to her advantage, she gained Cortes remains a clinical professor at Yale valuable experience that she now channels University School of Nursing and, as of into Lighthouse. June, serves as president and chief execu- When a search firm called in 2002 to tive officer (CEO) of Lighthouse Interna- offer her a position at Bridgeport Hospital, tional, a nonprofit resource worldwide on Dr. Cortes did some self-examination and vision impairment and vision rehabilita- concluded that she felt she could “release the tion. Lighthouse, based in New York City, energy there.” Over the next three years at celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.