Nurse to lead New Jersey hospital as CEO

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Formerly serving as both COO and chief nurse executive, a nurse will be the new CEO and president of Chilton Memorial Hospital a 256-bed community hospital in Pequannock, N.J.

Friday, November 21, 2003

By CAROLYN FEIBEL

SPECIAL TO THE RECORD

Bergen Record

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MTAmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY0NTQzMjkmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXky

A nurse will be the new chief executive officer and president of Chilton Memorial Hospital in Pequannock. Deborah K. Zastocki, 51, will take over Feb. 1 from James J. Doyle Jr.,who is resigning after 13 years in the post.

Zastocki will be the fourth CEO for the 256-bed community hospital. She spent three years as chief operating officer and chief nurse executive. After her arrival in 1990, Zastocki helped slash turnover and vacancy rates among nurses, and offered classes and tuition aid to nurses seeking advanced degrees and certifications.

Nurses lead at least nine hospitals in New Jersey, and they hold high-level administrative positions in many more, according to the New Jersey Hospital Association. Zastocki hopes her promotion will help change the stereotype of nurses as just bedside caregivers and encourage people to enter a profession plagued by staffing shortages.

"I believe nurses have a holistic approach to health, and they appreciate both the illness and wellness phases of health care," Zastocki said. "I think hospitals find their [nurses'] broad scope of health care enables them to be very effective in guiding the future direction of hospitals."

Zastocki teaches a graduate course in nursing administration at William Paterson University and has written two books on home-care issues.

She will oversee the expansion of four programs at Chilton: bariatric surgery, sleep disorders, orthopedics, and gerontology. The hospital is focusing on serving the growing number of seniors in its service area, which bridges Morris and Passaic counties.

The hospital's operating budget next year will be $124 million, Zastocki said. After financial losses in 2000, it has managed to break even in recent years.

Doyle, 54, will continue to work part-time for Chilton as a fund-raiser and lobbyist.

Andrea Aughenbaugh,chief executive of the New Jersey State Nurses Association, said the number of nurses leading hospitals has been rising. In the 1950s and 1960s, some Catholic hospitals were led by nuns with nursing backgrounds, but there was a shift toward executives with business backgrounds, Aughenbaugh said.

Now nurses are stepping again into those roles, usually armed with advanced degrees in administration or business.

Zastocki has two master's degrees from Columbia University in nursing education and community health education.

No one knows exactly how many nurses lead U.S. hospitals. The American Association of Nurse Executives said about 133, or 3 percent of its membership, held top leadership posts. Zastocki's closest peer is Patricia Peterson,a nurse and CEO of St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic.

E-mail: [email protected]

[Geeg]

I hope that this situation is different, but from what I have seen, nurse CEO"s behave like all other management and cut nsg postions to save $$ so they can get bonuses, etc.

[Pretzlgl]

Exactly. Ours is still focused on the almighty bottom line. The latest and greatest cost saving measure to come from our CEO - only change linens on beds when they are "highly" soiled, and patients don't need more than one blanket - because "layering blankets does not create added warmth". Can you believe that???

[Geeg]

I have been at hospitals pushing that linen rationing too. I kept changing them daily and PRN in a show of passsive resistance. I figured if anyone called me on it, I would say: "Well it is in the hamper all covered with stool, you can fish it out if you want to see it!"

[callacodebrown]

I agree that top level management is usually a bunch of people that are far removed from the bedside---including nurses that have worked their way there. But I do believe that once a nurse--always a nurse. I would rather have a nurse there who has at least been in our shoes (even if it was decades ago) than some professional number crunching, golf-playing CEO.