Former nurse now a leader for HCA

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

former nurse now a leader for hca

richmond times dispatch, march 9, 2004

few women in the hospital industry have risen as high in the executive ranks as marilyn tavenner, who, as president of hca inc.'s outpatient-services group, is one of four group presidents at the nation's biggest hospital company.

[pickledpepperRN]

former nurse now a leader for hca

richmond times dispatch, march 9, 2004

few women in the hospital industry have risen as high in the executive ranks as marilyn tavenner, who, as president of hca inc.'s outpatient-services group, is one of four group presidents at the nation's biggest hospital company.

i hope she can be good for the company.

experience has made me much more sceptical than i used to be. hca has not created trust in many of its past actions.

[Owney]

I am happy for any minority who rises to the top. I would be happier still if the headline read, "NURSE" instead of former nurse.

My friend Bob worked as an IRS auditor for ten years before he went to nursing school. After rising to middle management, he went back to school and got his MBA. For several years he worked in health care management for a major manufacturing firm, rising all the way to the top and then being "down sized" out. Bob now runs a successful tax accounting business and does my taxes at a very good rate. I see Bob in January every year, and like boy-nurses will do, we always talk about the sorry state of nursing. One of the things that got Bob bounced out was his life-long committment to nursing. One of the first things Bob tells any stranger is that he is a Nurse.

I have known nurses who have been quite successful in health care. Most of them went into the office, hung up their scrubs and proceeded to worry only about the bottom line. As soon as most bosses are put on profit sharing, their concern for staff nurses vanishes. I do know of one or two exceptions. One of them rose to director of nurses at my hospital. During her tenure she saw to it that we had a Nursing Practice Council that met once a month. After 30 some-odd years she was downsized (walked out of the hospital by 2 armed security guards). She went back to college and got a pHd in nursing. While she was in school she sued her former employer and her settlement consisted of an appointment as the first female Vice-President (Nursing) of the biggest medical center in town. I think she keeps her license up. I know that she would never allow anyone to refer to her as a "former" nurse.

I keep a little book on my desk, "How to Succeed in Business Without Lying, Cheating or Stealing", by Jack Nadel. If anyone could convince me that this gal got anywhere in the health care industry without doing anything dishonest, it might make me respect her. In today's world I doubt that this is even the remotest possibility.

This is a new post, and I hope we hear from bedside nurses who work in her system. Even more welcome would be input from former peers who would enlighten us that she made it to the top without stepping on the heads of those around her.

I read the entire article. It tells an impressive success story, but says little if anything about, "Nursing--the Real Health Care Crisis", Reader's Digest, 2003. If she allows the press to refer to her as a "former" nurse, is she telling nurses that the only way to succeed is to get out?