Good news for patients at Indian River Medical Center: Vero’s hospital has a new Chief Nursing Officer that most hospitals would love to have.
Before coming to Indian River County, Margot Henderstrom spent the past three years as the Chief Nursing Officer at the 488-bed Piedmont hospital, which U.S. News and World Report tabbed as the top acute-care facility in metropolitan Atlanta. According to U.S. News and World Report’s 2015 hospital rankings, IRMC has approximately 245 beds.
“I’m leaving the place in good hands,” says outgoing CNO Lynn Hubbard. “Very, very good hands. She has a wonderful background.”
Henderstrom, who boasts a PhD and two masters degrees on her resume, has been working with Hubbard on a daily basis to “get to know” the staff, the doctors and the hospital’s administration since arriving in Vero several weeks ago. She has 30 years of nursing experience in multiple fields, including critical care, cardiology, oncology, psychiatry and systems management.
Hubbard, who held the reins of nursing operations at IRMC for almost a decade, oversaw an impressive period of growth during which the hospital’s registered nursing team grew from 425 to 641.
The importance of an excellent Chief Nursing Officer to patient well-being can hardly be overstated: According to Florida’s Jacksonville University, CNOs “are charged with ensuring that patient-care, clinical, and staffing standards are met. They advise senior management on best practices in nursing and patient care, work with healthcare leaders to establish compensation and benefit programs for nurses and are involved in nurse recruitment, training and retention.”
CNOs also help to develop new patient-care programs, plan new patient services, develop inter-departmental initiatives and promote continuing education opportunities for new and existing staff members.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health puts it bluntly: “The CNO is the executive leader for the single largest group of professionals in most healthcare organizations.” NIH continues saying, “increased cost pressures, nursing shortages and the competition for experienced nurses,” are among the many challenges faced by CNOs today.
Supporting and encouraging continuing education for the nursing staff at IRMC is clearly a key goal for Henderstrom. The Georgia native has been a professor of nursing as well as a clinical instructor in her career and says she intends to push for more educational opportunities for her staff.
One more key function that has largely fallen to CNOs in general and nursing staffs in particular is helping to reduce the number of patient re-admissions under Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.
“The doctors,” according to Hubbard, “are the captains of the ship,” but she points out it’s the nurses who see hospital patients all day, every day and says RNs are integral in preventing unnecessary re-admissions.
The hospital has also added Jana LeClair as its new director of medical services. She will help address staff operations, credentialing and regulatory compliance for IRMC. With 15 years of medical staff services, including a stint as credentialing manager for the Florida Hospital healthcare system, LeClair most recently worked with the Boston-based Greeley Company, a healthcare consulting firm specializing in efficiency, compliance, cost reduction, patient satisfaction, staff management and revenue.
Outgoing chief Hubbard, an avid boating fan and grandmother of seven boys, says she’s looking forward to spending more time on the water and to heading to football games and baseball games to see her grandsons play.
