My name is Rebecca M. Patton, DNP, RN, CNOR, FAAN, and I currently serve as President of the ANA-Ohio State Nurses Association and as a Trustee for Avon Hospital at the Cleveland Clinic.
I was nominated and elected to the ANA-Ohio presidency, and my path to hospital board service began when I was appointed by the city council to a Cleveland Clinic community hospital board. From there, I was appointed by the hospital board to a new Cleveland Clinic hospital, where I continue to serve today.
My knowledge and skills as a nurse are welcomed in the boardroom. As a nurse, I bring expertise in patient safety and in what is needed to achieve quality outcomes. In the context of board reports, that perspective allows me to ask the right questions. For example, when the quality director presented data on healthcare-acquired events against benchmarks, I asked how near misses were collected and reported. While the question was answered, it also opened up a much longer discussion about just culture. That conversation informed the board’s understanding and was later incorporated into future quality reports.
One of the hardest things I have had to learn in serving on boards is identifying who the decision makers are. It takes time to understand who can help me gain appointments to important committees, such as finance or budget. Too often, those committees are reserved for businessmen on the board, and nurses are overlooked. Another challenge is recognizing how different board service can be from nursing practice. Sometimes the question becomes whether we are truly making decisions in the best interest of patients and staff.
I believe nurses bring a critical perspective to governance. We see the larger context while also understanding the individual, the population, and the community. Our values—social justice, health equity, and advocacy—guide our decision-making. We also bring essential skills and knowledge that foster meaningful discussion, help navigate policy processes, and advance policies and outcomes successfully.
