Ep. 43 | Empowering Nurses Through Advocacy and Innovation with Amy Brown
In this episode of Elevate Care, Amy Brown shares her extensive journey in nursing, from her experiences as a chief nursing officer during the pandemic to her current role at the Michigan Health and Hospital Association. She discusses the critical issues of workplace violence, improving maternal health quality, and empowering nurses to advocate for policy changes. The conversation also explores the evolving role of technology in nursing and the importance of nurse engagement in advocacy at both local and federal levels.
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Timestamps
00:00 – Amy Brown's Journey in Nursing
02:59 – The Role of Keystone Center in Healthcare
06:00 – Addressing Workplace Violence in Healthcare
09:00 – Quality Initiatives in Maternal Health
12:02 – Empowering Nurses to Advocate for Change
05:14 – The Future of Nursing and Technology
18:10 – Navigating Policy and Advocacy as Nurses
About Amy Brown
Amy Brown is a seasoned nursing leader with over 20 years of experience in healthcare. As the Chief Nursing Officer for the Michigan Health and Hospital Association (MHA), she focuses on improving patient and caregiver safety, addressing workplace violence, and empowering nurses to advocate for policy changes. Amy’s career spans roles as a bedside nurse, educator, manager, and director, culminating in her leadership as a chief nursing officer during the global pandemic. At MHA, she collaborates with healthcare leaders to drive quality improvement initiatives, particularly in maternal health, and champions the integration of technology to enhance care delivery. Passionate about nurse empowerment and advocacy, Amy is dedicated to creating a safer, more equitable healthcare system for patients and providers alike.
About Nishan
Nishan Sivathasan serves as Division President of Technology and Workforce Solutions and is responsible for AMN Healthcare’s suite of technology products for workforce management and virtual care platforms that enable healthcare organizations to deliver sustainable and innovative ways for patient care. Before his current role, Mr. Sivathasan was Chief Strategy and Experience Officer at AMN Healthcare and was responsible for business strategy and M&A. He joined AMN in 2019. Before joining AMN, Mr. Sivathasan was responsible for eCommerce strategy and business development at JCPenney. Previously, he spent time at a financial technology start-up and almost 10 years at Rackspace, a globally managed cloud computing company, in executive positions that spanned strategy, product development, and marketing. Mr. Sivathasan started his career at Accenture as a management consultant and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Austin College Learn more about Nishan.
Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:00.278)
On today's episode, have Amy Brown to walk us through nurse policy and engagement opportunity. Welcome to the show, Amy.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
No, it's great to have you here. For those of you listening at home, we get the opportunity to meet with each other a little bit just before the actual show. And I've got to tell you, I'm super excited about this episode. Just really enjoyed the opportunity to meet with you ahead of time. So I think our listeners are really going to benefit from your expertise and your perspective today. So thank you for joining us, Amy. The thing I like to do is just ask people to share a little bit about their journey. So can you walk us through your career and your journey so far to get to where you are today?
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:35.032)
Sure, Yeah, so my journey started going into nursing school quite a few years ago. Started, really took care of mostly adult inpatient in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And then I moved closer to home and started working in a large 500 plus bed hospital where I was a bedside caregiver, a nurse educator, manager, director. And then on March 18th of 2020 in a parking lot, I became the chief nursing officer during a global pandemic. So.
That led me through about three and a half years I did that role and that was very, very interesting. Had a lot of ups and a lot of downs. And then in May of 2024 took on a new role where I am the first chief nursing officer for the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, which is a state organization.
That's terrific. Just curious, any key highlights or takeaways that you took from your time being a CNO during a global pandemic?
You know, I think the thing that I think about most during that time is that everyone was doing the very best that they could with everything that they knew. And I think to me, I think about going forward and how do you do your very best by showing up every day, trying to make sure that you're taking care of the patients and the staff. And that's kind of how I feel like I live with this job now. It's, you you know the right thing to do and you want to do the right thing.
Sometimes the decisions that you make are really good ones and sometimes they're not as good. But I would say that time during the pandemic, you had to be very flexible and you had to know that the decisions were the decisions and you did the very best that you could.
Speaker 1 (02:19.374)
Yeah. So when you think about your current role today with the Michigan Hospital Association, how do you think your background experiences have helped prepare you for the role that you're in today?
Well, I think when I think about my past career as a nurse and all the different positions that I held, I think each and every single position really helped lend my voice to this role that I'm in now because now I get to meet with CNOs from across the state of Michigan and I really get to help work with our organization to think about how policy affects not only the profession, but it impacts patients and our communities. And so I feel like I bring
that knowledge and that experience and all those different patients that I cared for, I bring all that with me to this job.
Sure. So when we met previously, you told me about your work with Keystone. Can you tell our listeners a little bit more about Keystone and your work there?
Sure. So the MHA Keystone Center really started in, I think, 2020 or 2003. It's the safety and quality arm of our state association. And the goal really is thinking about how do we continuously improve patient and caregiver safety and quality for all of our communities in the state of Michigan. And actually, it's reached beyond Michigan into the national scene.
Speaker 2 (03:40.864)
And so this part of the organization really works with hospitals and thinking about what they're working on and what we can do to offer performance improvement sprints or any type of looking at what we can do better to improve quality for patients. And we've been focusing more on what we can do better to improve safety for the caregivers at the hospital.
So when you think about safety and improving those for caregivers, are there any key themes or opportunities that are top of mind for you as you think about the balance of this year and into next year?
Yeah, so I'm very passionate about addressing workplace violence. you know, I've been a nurse for over 20 years and I know that it's been part of my, in my different roles, I've experienced violent patients and I've had that happen to me and I've also been a manager or a director or CNO and have had to sit with nurses or other healthcare workers that have been victims of violence. And so to me, it's very personal.
And we at MHA Keystone Center are really thinking about how we can partner with other organizations, including the hospitals, to do everything that we can to reduce that overall violence in health care so that people aren't afraid to go to work and they really feel supported if in fact something does happen when they're at work.
Yeah, just personally, feel like following the pandemic, the prevalence of people maybe questioning healthcare givers and, you know, possibly creating more violence is actually maybe increased a little bit from my perspective. Is that something that you're seeing on your end a little bit too, or going to change?
Speaker 2 (05:27.882)
It's really hard to know if I believe yes, it has increased. It is hard to know if it has increased because for years people never reported it. So it was always kind of part of your job. And so I don't know, but it does feel like more and more people are experiencing more violent outbursts either verbally or physically from patients.
And then you mentioned quality is also a big area of focus. So from a quality perspective, what are some key areas that you're focused on there?
So the Keystone Center does a lot of work in maternal health space. So really thinking about what we can do to improve care for moms and babies throughout the state of Michigan. And so we work with a couple of different, many different organizations, but one of them is MyAIM, which looks at different bundles. So really looking at for women, how do we help them with hypertension or high blood pressure, or if they have any type of bleeding episode while they're in the hospital.
So those are some of the evidence and sepsis, that's the other one. Those are really some of the key quality initiatives that we're working on addressing. So hopefully that we will improve the overall mortality for women and babies.
So the work that you're doing, how are you positioning nurses to have a bigger, more influential voice in influencing quality and safety measures going forward? Are there any tips or suggestions you would have for nurses that are looking to have a bigger voice there than they currently do across the U.S. and maybe even within MHA? Any tips you would have there?
Speaker 2 (07:03.662)
I'd say the first thing is ask questions because a lot of the times we do things the same because that's how we always did them. And even I remember from my training as a nurse, you you would listen to the lungs a certain way or you'd listen to the abdomen a certain way. you know, sometimes it's worth asking, why do we do it this way? Because sometimes it's just because we've always done it. I think quality improvement is the perfect opportunity to say, you know, I've noticed this.
know, why. And the more questions you ask, then that kind of leads to that scientific process of saying, you know, that's a great question. Let's find out more. And it really leads down the path of delving into the outcomes and saying, how could we make this better? Or what could we do differently?
Sure. Is there anything you could specifically point to as far as input you've recently received from a nurse in your time with MHA that's maybe influenced a specific outcome from a quality or safety outcome?
Probably a lot. would say, I think the thing that I think of mostly is when we think about falls. So falls in hospitals is something that happens quite frequently. Sometimes they are injurious falls and sometimes it's just that a patient fell. And so one of the things that I've learned is one of the hospitals that is a member of ours has been doing a lot of different things to address falls and prevent
injury and they are piloting these new socks that alert patients, that alert the staff that they are, that the patient is getting up out of bed. And so that sounds like something simple, but that's something where I'm able to then take to other hospitals and say, you know, have you thought about this? Because sometimes, currently a lot of hospitals use bed alarms, but sometimes people forget to set the bed alarms or other things like that.
Speaker 2 (09:00.962)
I would say that's something when I go out and do the visits, I'm always asking them about what they're doing to improve quality. And the more I learn, then that's the great thing about my job is I'm able to spread that to a lot of men or many other hospitals.
Yeah, I may need to look into those socks for my kids so I can make sure I know what they're up to, you know. So one of the things that we talked about previously were just cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. How do you see these things sort of impacting the workforce and nurses specifically going forward?
Yeah, so that's a great question. Definitely top of mind for myself and many others right now. You know, we will always need nurses. There's been a shortage of nurses for quite some time and we will continue to need nurses. However, with impending cuts to Medicaid, there are many rural hospitals that are very dependent on Medicaid funding. And without the funding, they may be faced to close their doors. And so a nurse could find
definitely could find another job, but how disappointing and how hurtful that would be for the community for them to lose their hospital and for that nurse then to have to seek employment at a different organization. So I think the impact is greater for the community specifically than it is the impact for the nurse. But I think for us nurses, we need to consider, you know, many times we work where we live because we want to try to improve
health for our community. And so if you're not able to do that in the community in which you live, you know, that's very disappointing and so scary to think about what will happen in those communities.
Speaker 1 (10:41.43)
Absolutely. So just given that backdrop and perspective, do you have any suggestions or guidance for nurses as they navigate this shifting or changing landscape? Thanks for them to keep in mind as they think about options and what they may or may not be able to do.
I think most definitely people underestimate the power of their voice. And as nurses, I think our elected officials are counting on all of us to go to our elected officials and explain to them what will happen if they make these cuts to Medicaid. So now is a great time for all nurses to say to your elected officials, this is the impact. If you cut this funds, know, 970,000 children in Michigan.
will may lose their coverage. So those are, that's an important voice for nurses to be able to, especially since nurses have been the most trusted profession for years. So I think now is our time to go to our elected officials and say, this is important to me because I care for our community and I don't want to see people that either children or even elderly people, people with mental health, those are the people that are most impacted by Medicaid.
And by cutting those services, it'll be very harmful for the communities in which we live.
Yeah. Just me personally, from my experiences, feel like nurses in recent years seem to have a more elevated platform where folks are seeking their voice, seeking their perspective. Whether it's a health tech conference that's literally has sections focused on nursing specifically. Is that something you're seeing kind of increasing across the board from your perspective versus maybe prior or recent years?
Speaker 2 (12:26.06)
Yeah, and I kind of think social media has a little bit to do with that. There are some really great nurses out there that are doing a really good job elevating the voice of the profession on social media on all the different platforms. And I think that helps get kind of the word out to say, hey, we are nurses and we don't just provide care in the hospital. We do a lot of other things. And so here are all the ways in which nurses care for the community.
care for patients or contribute to society. And it's very much the scientific field. Sometimes people don't think of it like that, but it very much is. And so I think that's where we just are able to share what nurses can do in so many different ways than we have in the past.
It's been pretty powerful. I was at an event or a conference where you had an IT or a technology leader talk about how they're starting to bring healthcare professionals, specifically nurses, into their innovation centers to co-create. And what you're starting to see is folks are trying to broaden the perspectives of everybody. for example, if you're trying to solve for telehealth situations in a given hospital or clinic, they're teaching nurses about concepts like packet loss.
So hey, things that can't always be fully transmitted. So how do you actually co-create and work through that solution? it's interesting, not only are nurses' voices being elevated, but I think they're also trying to stretch nurses to give them broader perspective. So as they sort of show up in these forums or areas where they can lend their voice, they can do so with a broader perspective in mind, if you will. So it's been really cool and interesting, unique to see from my perspective.
curious if you're seeing that kind of more broadly from your perspective too.
Speaker 2 (14:14.274)
Yeah, I would agree. think we as nurses want to be involved in all those conversations, especially with technology, AI. I mean, we don't want it to be something that is told that you must do it this way. We want to help in figuring out how to do it in that way. I think all of us are excited about the future of technology and how it can help us in our current jobs. But we just want to be part of it so that people aren't just coming to us and saying,
you know, here's the product. Because oftentimes what you'll find is, as a person who doesn't know about healthcare and you talk to others that do know or have worked in it, oftentimes it's just us asking questions and it kind of the inventor or the person creating the content is like, that's a good question. I never thought about that. So one of my examples is when I was a manager, we were building a unit and I had to meet with the construction crew all the time.
oftentimes we would walk out of the meetings together and the construction crew would say like, I didn't think about that. And so I think it's just a really great thing. think all people want to be involved in decisions that greatly impact the work that they're doing.
Yeah, perspective matters. so you think about policy specifically, there's certainly the role that you're in, the role that you play across MHA, but in many ways it feels like a pivotal moment for nurses to have a bigger, larger voice in shaping policy and outcomes. Is that something that you're seeing?
Yes, I agree. think AONL, American Organization of Nurse Leaders, does a really nice job at really helping nurse leaders understand the importance of advocacy. And so there's a lot of other platforms that are kind of growing to say how, because it's really not something that we're taught in school per se with regards to how to advocate and how to even speak to elected officials. I think more schools are incorporating that into their curriculum.
Speaker 2 (16:16.834)
But it's something that I think we need help with. what we're seeing now is, you know, I think nurses are saying, hey, by doing this or by changing this policy or doing something that's going to impact how we provide care is not right. And so we need to be there. And I'm hopeful that even with everything that's going on in the state and federal governments, I really think it is our time as nurses to come together and
We don't always agree on everything as a profession, but I think this is something where we can agree that any of these cuts to Medicaid are harmful and how do we gather around as a profession and say, you know, this is something that's very important to nursing.
We're just at a critical, pivotal time, right? All these changes, they impact care, but without having the nurse's perspective, you don't understand what the unintended consequences end up being, right? And I think the nurses I've had a chance to engage to, they just have a very beautiful perspective is maybe the way I would frame it, right? Because you're delivering care, you're almost a voice for the patient in addition to the profession and ultimately the community, right? And so-
They're kind of the single person that can actually share that kind of cleanly and eloquently, but that's just my perspective on it.
I would agree with you on that.
Speaker 1 (17:43.734)
Yeah. So I think it's hard for people to think about using your voice, right? Advocating for policy changes. And there's kind of the local area and then there's the federal level. Any suggestions you would have for nurses? You talked about, you know, now in nursing school, they're covering how to do some of these things. But for those that maybe weren't a part of those programs when they went through their programs previously, any suggestions or tips and tricks you would offer?
for nurses about how to use their voice at a federal or local level.
I think the first thing people think of is federal level. And I think I would say that that's not wrong, but I think the best thing that you can do is start at your very local elections. You know, who is your mayor? Who is your city council person? Who's on your school board? And then to just keep kind of looking at further, who's elected official in your state? What district are you in? And when are there coffee hours? And so I've been trying to do that as well.
And so one of the things is that you can write letters, you can write emails to your people that represent you from your own district. And they don't look at what hospital you work in, they look at where you live. Excuse me. And so I think being able to say, hey, I live in this area and this is, if I vote this certain way, it's going to care to the patients in this hospital setting.
And so I really think that's the first place. And it's really easy if you even Google, like, you know, who are my local elected officials, it usually says put your address in and then it connects you. So it's not hard. And then I think just going and just kind of keep thinking about, is there a local organization? So in our state, we are part of AONL, it's called Michigan Organization of Nurse Leaders. And so we are an affiliate of AONL, but we have our own advocacy team. We have a bill tracker.
Speaker 2 (19:38.926)
I'm part of that organization. Our advocacy day is on September 17th. So that's where I'm saying that I think there's something that you can do to start getting involved, and that's what I would recommend.
Terrific. What gives you hope about the future of nursing and nurse led innovation?
I think what gives me hope for nursing is truly all the different technologies that are coming about. I do think it's scary for some people, especially when you hear things like that nursing or doctors will be replaced by technology. I do not see that as something that will happen. I think it's going to augment the care that we provide. I think before some of the comments you talked about, I think the services that nurses provide
No technology can replace. You can't replace listening with your full presence, holding someone's hand. And those are the types of things that if nurses could do more of because the technology made documentation easier or made vitals, getting someone's vitals easier, I would be all for that. And I think that's super exciting. I also have a daughter who just started nursing school. And so my hope for her
is that when she is able to go into full practice after she's completed school, you know, that she will be able to do it in a way that eases the burden of documentation. Maybe that we've been able to address some of the workplace violence so she doesn't have to be faced with that. Those are the things I think that truly gives me hope is that there's people like myself and many, many others that are actively out there trying to make things better for
Speaker 2 (21:27.672)
the next generation of nurses.
That was terrific. I couldn't agree more with you that technology will not replace nurses and doctors because technology will never replace care and compassion. at the core, that's what healthcare is really all about. So I've really enjoyed our time together. Where can our listeners go to learn more from you about some of the work that you're doing and efforts that you're leading?
So there's a lot of information at our website, so the Michigan Health and Hospital Association website. And then also my email is always available, which is abrowne at mha.org.
Awesome. Well, thank you, Amy. Really appreciate your time today. Just and our listeners at home, I think they'll enjoy it too. So we look forward to keeping in touch with you and we'll be in touch soon. Have a great day.
Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for joining us today on Elevate Care. If you found this episode valuable, please consider sharing it with a colleague and subscribing to our show on your favorite podcast platform. You can learn more about this episode and our show on our website at amnhelfcare.com and follow us on social media to stay updated on new episodes and the ever-changing world of healthcare.
