Nurse Executive Podcast

In this episode, Nick Chmielewski speaks with Anna Valdez, PhD, RN, FAEN, FAADN, professor and chair of nursing at Sonoma State University and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Emergency Nursing. They discuss executive essentials in promoting peer-reviewed publications, focusing on strategies for leaders in nonacademic medical centers. Dr. Valdez notes that utilizing writing accountability groups,...

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Jennifer Johnson, BSCN, RN, author of books including Nursing Intuition: How to Trust Your Gut, Save Your Sanity, and Survive Your Career . They discuss the importance of nurses connecting with their intuition—an essential tool for managing the high stress of the job, protecting mental health, and enhancing patient care.

In this episode, Nick Chmielewski speaks with David Wildebrandt, a partner and managing director at BRG. They discuss key findings from BRG's recent  2025 US Healthcare & Life Sciences Transactions Outlook report, including transactional evolution and industry disruptors.

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Caroline Segovia-Marquez, MBA, BSN, RN, ACM, CMAC, a managing consultant on BRG's Care Transitions team. They discuss how targeting lower case mix index (CMI) diagnostic-related groups (DRGs) can be effective to improve length of stay. Prior to admission, the team must manage all points of entry to ensure that patients are admitted appropriately and assigned the correc...

In this Nurse's Week episode, Nick Chmielewski welcomes back Katie Boston-Leary, PhD, MBA, MHA, RN, NEA-BC, senior vice president of Equity and Engagement at the American Nurses Association (ANA). They discuss ANA's recently released document regarding the principles of virtual nursing—meaning leveraging technology and tools, including artificial intelligence, to deliver quality care through commu...

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Kamela Kolander, LMSW, CCM, a consultant on BRG's Care Transitions team. They discuss how targeting specific care units prior to providing care can be an effective strategy to reduce length of stay by considering patient data, facility and patient demographics, payer and provider mix, and potential unit barriers.

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Amanda Kirkpatrick, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate dean for Research and Innovation and a Criss and Beirne Endowed Professor of Nursing, a joint appointment by Creighton University College of Nursing and CHI Health. They discuss ways to bridge gaps between universities and health systems, including building connections between faculty and nurse leaders, developing formal edu...

Nick Chmielewski speaks with David Broussard, MBA, BSN, RN, a managing consultant on BRG's Care Transitions team. They discuss how targeting provider variation can effectively improve length of stay (LOS). They review how analyzing provider variation begins with establishing trustworthy, transparent data and understanding LOS metrics, order entries, and more across service lines, providers, and ph...

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Lisa Wolf, PhD, RN, CEN, FAEN, FAAN, director of the Emergency Nurses Association's Institute for Emergency Nursing Research. They discuss a 2024 study she coauthored, " Moral courage of emergency nurses in care-limited environments : A mixed-methods study," which concluded that its subjects did not identify adherence to professional codes of ethics as the primary driv...

In this episode, Nick Chmielewski speaks with Amy Brown, MSN, RN, NE-BC, chief nursing officer at the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. They discuss association executive nursing and the benefits of professional association involvement, including fostering a sense of belonging, expanding professional networks, and developing leadership skills.

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Bryan Cote, a managing director in BRG's Healthcare Transactions & Strategy team. They discuss Bryan's white paper The Menopausal Care Market , released in September 2024. In the paper, Bryan analyzes potential health issues experienced by menopausal women and explores solutions to improve women's health and quality of life during this transitional period.

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Audrey McCollough, BSN, RN, a pediatric critical care nurse by background, entrepreneur, small business owner, and founder of PivotPath, a business that introduces nurses to career opportunities beyond bedside nursing. Audrey describes her experiences and her steps in becoming an entrepreneur, including research, leveraging resources and soft skills, and ambition. She...

In this episode, Nick Chmielewski speaks with Lowell Hardin, MSN, RN, NRP, NHDP-BC, a masters-prepared registered nurse and managing consultant on BRG's Clinical Transformation team. They discuss preparing front-line nurse leaders for success, based on Lowell's recent training of over one hundred leaders in an academic medical center. Through the training, he highlighted that in order to succeed,...

In the season 4 premiere, Nick Chmielewski speaks with Bill Orrell, MBA, BSN, RN, a managing director and member of BRG's Clinical Transformation Team. They summarize 2024 in terms of performance improvement and project work and outcomes within BRG; discuss what they anticipate for 2025; and review industry trends around medical care, including inpatient care, ambulatory services, and change manag...

In this episode, Nick Chmielewski welcomes back Noreen Hudson, MSN, RN, BRG's Nursing team lead for perioperative services. This episode continues a series that started in season two reviewing the various departments comprising the perioperative services division. They focus on the evaluation process of pre-anesthesia screening as well as pre-anesthesia testing (PAT), also referred to as pre-admis...

Nick Chmielewski speaks with James Ballinghoff, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, chief nurse executive (CNE) of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. James shares his perspective on healthy work environments, including fostering transparent communication with leadership, advocating for nursing staff through resource allocation and competency evaluation, and promoting shared and effective decision-mak...

In this episode, Nick Chmielewski speaks with Katie Boston-Leary, PhD, MBA, MHA, RN, NEA-BC, senior vice president of Equity and Engagement at the American Nurses Association. They discuss the need and urgency to redraw and redesign care delivery models. Dr. Boston-Leary proposes a tribrid approach combining technology and artificial intelligence with an integrated strategy for enhanced patient an...

In this episode, Nick Chmielewski welcomes back to the podcast Terry M. Foster, MSN, RN, CPEN, CCRN, TCRN, CEN, FAEN, clinical nurse specialist at St. Elizabeth Healthcare and 2023 president of the Emergency Nurses Association. Terry reflects on the care he received during a life-threatening ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a heart attack caused by blockage of a coronary artery, in Nove...

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Brandon Wubben, MD and Cory Wittrock, MD, physicians from the University of Iowa's Department of Emergency Medicine. They discuss their recent article in JACEP Open , "The Impact of Emergency Department Overcrowding and Patient Boarding on Resident Point-of-Care Ultrasound Education." The article reviews how the effect of e mergency department (ED) crowding on resident...

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Danielle McCamey , DNP, ACNP-BC, FCCP, assistant dean for Strategic Partnerships at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She is also the founder, chief executive officer, and president of DNPs of Color, a nonprofit nursing organization whose mission is to increase diversity in doctoral studies, clinical practice, and leadership for nurses. DNP, short for Doctor of Nurs...

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Lauren Bruwer, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC, PCCN, clinical nurse specialist at the Cleveland Clinic's Digestive Disease Institute, Center for Human Nutrition. With her team having successfully launched a new service line for patients with enteral access devices, Lauren talks about addressing the needs of unique patient populations—specifically tube management and enteral nutri...

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Terry M. Foster, MSN, RN, CPEN, CCRN, TCRN, CEN, FAEN, clinical nurse specialist at St. Elizabeth Healthcare and 2023 president of the Emergency Nurses Association. They discuss the importance of using humor appropriately and effectively to help reduce stress, create a positive environment, and establish relationships with both coworkers and patients.

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Noreen Hudson, MSN, RN, BRG's Nursing team lead for perioperative services. They continue a discussion from season 2 of the podcast by reviewing the various departments comprising perioperative services. They delve into the processes and functions of the Preoperative Unit, also known as "pre-op," including assessments and measures completed prior to surgery.

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Alison Harmon, MSN, RN, CEN, director of Nursing for the Department of Emergency Medicine and Transport Services and director of Nursing for the Crisis Stabilization Unit at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. They discuss a recent collaborative performance improvement project that yielded nearly $3 million in additional revenue by reducing emergency department...

Nick Chmielewski speaks with Andrew Agwunobi, MD, MBA, chief executive officer at UConn Health. They discuss Dr. Agwunobi's 2019 book An Insider's Guide to Working with Healthcare Consultants , which offers his personal healthcare executive and consultant perspective on hiring and effectively utilizing consultants in the field. He elaborates on choosing the right consultant, negotiating price, and...