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This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by doctor
Cyrille Troipenier,
who is the chief nursing officer for Providence.
Doctor Troipenier, it's a pleasure to have you
on the podcast today.
Thank you so much for having me.
Now I I'm really looking forward to our
conversation because I know that Providence has so
much going on. And truly, you you, are
running such a a great organization and and
overseeing the commissions there who have the patience
always in mind. So I'm looking forward to
diving in. But before we, get started, can
you tell us a little bit more about
Providence and what makes it unique?
Absolutely.
Providence is a faith based organization. It's based
in Renton, Washington,
and we
serve communities in seven different states.
We go from Texas, New Mexico to California,
Oregon, Washington, Montana, and the great state of
Alaska.
Probably what makes it very unique is is
our,
is a component of our mission and mission.
We we are a mission driven organization.
We are dedicated to serve the poor, and
and the vulnerable,
but but it's the how we go about,
doing that.
I've been with the organization
for, for eight years, and what I would,
what I would say is that what's unique
about
Providence is how
everyone chooses
to show up,
in a way that really brings our values
to, to life.
You get to practice and work side by
side with colleagues that are showing up with,
with with compassion, for instance.
And that translates
into creating,
very important,
sacred encounters,
whether,
it's how we care for one another and,
most importantly, how we care for our patients.
And I think that that's what makes us
unique.
The other thing that I would say,
is, just to give a perspective in addition
to the
the areas that we cover,
it's,
depending on on on any given day, it's
somewhere around a 13,
a 14,000
caregivers across,
across all of these, the territories that I
just described.
And amongst those, they are 38,000
nurses.
We serve
roughly 20,000,000
patient visit,
across the 51
acute care hospitals that we have and over
a thousand clinics.
Another thing that's important to note is we
have,
14 of our hospitals are magnet designated. Four
of them are pathway to,
pathway to excellence designation.
And,
more than half of our hospitals
and soon,
to be even more of them are,
PTAP,
accredited. And PTAP is the designation
where
our program of residency
to transition to practice for nurses
are accredited,
by a national organization.
That's amazing to hear and truly a testament
to the great work that you're doing at
Providence and the quality of care that you
provide.
I'm curious. Could you tell us about a
project or initiative that you're most proud of
from the last year? What did you do,
and and what were the results?
You know, one project that I might,
I might bring forward
is is the ongoing work that we are
doing in creating,
creating new models of care to meet the
needs of our patients and,
affectionately called internally as our cocaring model, which
is a model that we are building
with nurses for nurses. And in this particular,
with the intent
of making sure that we meet the needs
of our patients, obviously, but we also but
and that we address
the looming,
and and well, the current
pressures that we're finding
and,
with nurses and the our ability to recruit
and retain
and the fact that we are gonna have
even more of a challenge,
in, in the future.
I so to that end, in collaboration
with nurses developing this,
this new way of approaching the work
is is demonstrating that over time
first, I'll I have to acknowledge that at
the onset, it's really hard. It's it's hard
work.
We're
we're you know, nurses are invited to to
see their work very differently, so it's hard.
And it takes a while to start to
see the outcome.
But what's happening over time is people as
people
feel more comfortable in a new way of
practicing,
we're seeing a safer environment
for
our patients to receive care, a safer environment
for nurses to give care,
so quality of care outcomes
are,
are better.
And
we're actually accomplishing
the nurses themselves are accomplishing what we
aim to do to begin with, which is
to retain
nurses in the environment. So to that end,
what's happening in in places where we're
practicing that way,
we're recognizing that we are able to retain
nurses way much more
than any other units that are not practicing
in this model and more specifically,
the the first year turnover. What that tells
us is that nurses who are
invited to join us and who are practicing
in this new environment and have chosen to
chosen that environment as well
are staying way much more longer significantly
longer
than on any other units.
And, and we're we're pretty excited about that
and continuing that journey with everyone.
And that's great to hear. You know? And
what a unique opportunity
to bring on,
and strengthen your clinical teams and then help
the nurses,
be able to achieve what they want to
achieve and and really add to the the
broader nursing team. So that's great to hear.
And, you know, I I wanted to know
as well, in thinking about the future, what
are some of the growth opportunities that you
see for you and your teams over the
next twelve months or so? You know, I'm
gonna answer that question, and I just wanna
add something about cocaring that I just thought
about. The other the other beauty of this
is that we're we a component of it
is is is nurses who are able to
practice virtually.
We're now able to offer
a different role and different opportunities
for nurses who
would have otherwise
left the profession a little bit earlier than
they,
than they should,
because it's a different way of working. It's
not as challenging physically.
And that is also something that we all
need to be thinking about is how do
we keep people engaged in the workforce
longer because we're simply not going to have
enough. I wanted to make sure that I
that I that I call that out.
And to your question about, you know, big
growth opportunity that I see in the next
twelve months,
I'm,
hearing this
question I'm choosing to hear this question about
how
the biggest growth opportunity
from a development
perspective on what
what do teams and leaders need to be
thinking about,
so that
so that we're experienced as the best leader
that we can be because, quite frankly, in
today's environment,
what people need the most is inspiration. What
people need the most is hope.
In the midst and in the middle
of
chaos,
it's very challenging
to be in health care, in health care
today. So so that's what I'm that's what
I'm choosing to to hear, and and what
I what I'd like to offer
is that the biggest opportunities that anyone may
have in order
to to thrive in their environment and for
their people to thrive as well is our
ability to to grow into that. And
in the middle of the chaos that we
find ourselves in, I I would say that
it's important that we,
I'm gonna call it sticking to our knitting,
that we stay
super focused.
And to that end, staying true to the
organization's vision and mission is very important. We
have to stay focused
on our strategic tactics or initiatives
that are aimed at delivering on that overall,
vision and mission, if you will.
We have to continuously keep our goals in
front of us so that we stay focused,
so that we can execute.
I I would say
also the importance of surrounding ourselves with people
who can fill our cup, not drain our
cup.
We oftentimes talk about the importance
of self care,
and it's oftentimes
I find,
underestimated.
And I would say that in order to
grow,
we have to take this very seriously.
We have to take this seriously for ourselves
and for our teams.
I would say it's very important to be
kind and generous
and to offer ourselves
and others,
grace.
Nobody knows
everything.
Assume good intent.
Give let's give each other some grace,
and let's, let's seek new knowledge
and embracing the unknown because we know we
have so much
unknown out there, and we need to be,
we need to be building,
a new future
that's inspired
by the learning of the past.
And at the same time,
that it's gonna look,
it's it has to look very different.
So it's all about how
the best
way I find and the best growth opportunity
I find for teams
is in the leader themselves to continue to
grow
because everyone deserves to experience us at our
best
starting with us.
I love that. What an inspiring message to
send to your teams in truly embracing some
of the,
the unknowns and then knowing how to support
each other through it and and really grow
as teammates, as professionals, and as caregivers.
And you alluded to it a little bit
in your last response, but I know there's
a lot of challenges
right now within the health care space, with
some of that uncertainty, with different dynamics. I
know many organizations are experiencing workforce shortages and,
you know, trying to figure out how to
expand their capacity and ability to care for,
all patients in their communities.
What challenges do you really anticipate continuing over
the next, year or two, and and how
are you working today to make sure you're
able to meet those challenges of the future?
Definitely, the the economics of health care are,
have been challenging, and,
they are likely to get even more, challenging
for us.
And and a component of that, as you
just described, is is the workforce,
the supply and demand.
Because
of the economics,
we need to be thinking and reconsidering
how we approach the work. And we also
have to approach the work differently anyway because
we're never going to have enough. I have
I have such clarity around the fact that
it doesn't matter how good we are at
hiring and recruiting nurses.
We're simply never going to have enough if
we keep on working the way we work
right now.
One of the reason why we are with
nurses and for nurses developing
a new model of care because we're simply
never going to have enough.
I would also suggest
that the biggest risk
that we have in health care that any
organization has,
is the status quo.
This notion
that if we keep on doing things the
way we do them, we're just going to
be fine. This is just yet one more
fill in the blank,
is a very, very dangerous
proposition
in in my mind.
So that requires for us to
be questioning
and challenging,
and it's and that's good.
Everything that we do and why we do
it and how we do it,
that is
how I believe we are going to be
able to meet,
those two big challenges.
That makes a lot of sense. And just
really paying attention to the patients as you
mentioned in in,
you know, being ready to face whatever happens
ahead.
Before we wrap up here, I have one
more question.
What is the number one thing that you're
doing right now to set Providence up for
success in the future?
The number one thing that we're doing is
to ensure that we can recruit and retain,
nurses, and we are revisiting how we approach
the work. I would, go back
to what I highlighted earlier on, you know,
the cocaring model that we are developing within,
within Providence
with nurses and for nurses is part of
the solution.
And we're spending a fair amount of time
with nurses on that today.
We're also
and in this in the spirit of
creating a place where people want to
receive care and give care and that it's,
you know, at in a safe way, we
also have to,
as we think about how they approach the
work and we approach the work, what are
the tools that we have and the processes
that we have in place that we need
to reconsider,
in some cases, remove, in some cases, completely
redesign
that are just not they're no they're not
value added.
We, we are very good,
in our practice in
in adding components to our work, but we're
really, really bad about removing,
things that,
we've just been doing it just because we've
been doing it for all these years. And
I think it's,
it's important for us to
to reconsider that
and to be asking ourselves,
what technology
exists today that could supplement,
my work? What are the things that I,
I don't need to do anymore?
And to that end, I might, have a
bit of a call to action as I'm
answering this question for you. And what are
those things?
I'm gonna stick to the nursing profession for,
for a minute here. And what are those
things that whether you
you're asking yourself to do as a practicing
nurse or that you are a leader and
you're expecting your nurses to do that really
honestly
requires a nurse to do? We can't be
in this space where we're saying nurses need
to practice at the top of their license
and in another breath, tell ourselves
or tell nurses, and you need to be
all things to all people. That just doesn't
work.
Number one, the math don't work. We're never
going to have enough. Number two,
you can't practice the top of your license
if you are
holding on to tasks,
that can be done by unlicensed individual.
So it's an it's an amazing opportunity for
us right now to be thinking about
how can we
show up as a team and leverage the
entire health care team and let go
of things that others can do so that
we can better serve,
better serve our patients, and
we can find joy back in the practice
of doing whatever it is that you're doing
in health care.
That makes so much sense, and I really
love the sentiment.
Doctor Treponier, thank you so much for joining
us on the podcast today. This has been
such a fun and inspiring conversation, and I
look forward to connecting with you again soon.
Thanks for the opportunity.