Cynthia Danner was named Rhode Island Hospital’s new senior vice president and chief nursing officer in early September.
Danner, a longtime nurse, has held nursing leadership and teaching roles for more than 20 years in Georgia and Florida. Her move to Providence comes after she served as associate chief nursing officer at Northeast Georgia Medical Center.
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PBN: Do you have any priorities as you settle in at Rhode Island Hospital?
DANNER: Applying Lifespan’s shared values of compassion, accountability, respect and excellence my first month has involved absorbing and assessing everything I can regarding the organization, as well as meeting with executive leadership and nursing staff alike. At this juncture, my top three priorities include employee engagement, patient experience and process flow – how patients are admitted to the hospital, assigned to rooms and ultimately discharged. As such, I have prioritized maximizing time on the floors to become familiar with the physical facility, visualizing where each of the units are located and how they’re staffed, engaging with our staff on the front line, and even conversing with patients. I think I have managed to visit almost every unit at least once now, and I plan to continue being out and about on a regular basis.
PBN: Have you had a chance to meet with many of the nurses at Rhode Island Hospital, and if so, what sorts of issues are they sharing with you?
DANNER: These past four weeks I have spent as much time as possible rounding on the floors, which provided a valuable opportunity to meet and interact with the nursing staff. I have also formally connected on several occasions with groups of nurse managers, as well as the president and vice president of the United Nurses and Allied Professionals Local 5098, and am looking forward to my introductory meeting with the leadership of the General Teamsters Local 251 in the very near future.
Building strong working relationships based on trust and mutual respect is one of my highest priorities, and I believe active listening and seeking constructive feedback are both critical aspects of that effort. I have also offered to share my past experience and perspectives whenever appropriate. So far, I have not encountered any significant concerns, but going forward I plan to maintain a high level of engagement and accessibility so that any emerging challenges are identified and managed as quickly and competently as possible.
PBN: You were part of a COVID-19 contingency action team charged with making numerous changes quickly, as your previous hospital in Georgia began treating waves of patients infected with the virus. How do you plan to put that experience to work here?
DANNER: Even before our patient census began to surge, a tremendous amount of close collaboration between each of the functional areas of our health care system was critically important to the contingency planning process. My understanding is that Lifespan, including Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital, exercised a similar process in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
In Georgia, we closely collaborated with state health officials and the Department of Homeland Security to stand up a mobile medical unit that significantly increased our overflow capacity, and converted a 52-bed medical/surgical unit to an ICU in a matter of days. Additionally, we redeployed medical-surgical nurses as “pandemic partners” with intensive care unit nurses to expand our critical care capabilities, and adjusted scheduling to effectively double our acute virus patient-caregiver headcount. As a regional medical center serving roughly 800,000 people in more than 18 counties across northeast Georgia, we proactively engaged with community leadership to provide virus testing and masks to vulnerable populations. I’m eager to add value to the Lifespan team in any way possible and expect that we will continue to employ best practices from our collective experiences.
PBN: What was the most valuable thing you learned while managing a large team of nurses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic?
DANNER: Early on as our knowledge base regarding the pandemic seemed to grow daily, it became imperative to implement new delivery methodologies capable of effectively communicating new, constantly evolving protocols and processes based on CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance to reach 100% of the staff in a timely manner.
Beyond the ongoing requirement to care for critically ill patients under stressful conditions, it became equally important to monitor staff morale. Expanded hours, personal protective equipment shortages, staff reassignments, an overall sense of vulnerability, isolation and a concern for individual well-being contributed to psychological distress such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, as well as fear for family, friends and co-workers. As such, purposeful leadership at every level was required to ensure clear, regular and honest communication was delivered in a consistent manner, as was elevated visibility, plus ensuring access to psychological and safety needs, including peer/team support.
PBN: You’ve spent years working in the South; have you experienced any culture shock during your first few weeks in Rhode Island?
DANNER: In fact, my transition to Providence so far has been quite enlivening – the people, the food, the history, the scenery – everything has been thoroughly enjoyable! I grew up in Virginia, but then went on to live and work across the country at health care institutions in Colorado, California, Florida, and most recently Georgia. Looking back, these diverse experiences have definitely broadened my perspective, so I am genuinely excited to be here in New England and am looking forward to experiencing all the rich history and culture the area has to offer.
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.
