Her Story
About Kaye
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I grew up, but after starting as a bedside nurse over 20 years ago, I found my calling in leadership. My role today is rather unique - many places have two separate people doing this job, one focused on the business and service line growth, and the other on operations and clinical work. My prior boss incepted the role of having just one person do both, to keep everybody in sync and provide one leadership vision so it's not confusing for the staff, which I thought was brilliant. I'm responsible for nursing practice in the areas I look over, quality outcomes, and the business and financial aspects of the job. My main areas of expertise are around cardiac care, heart care, for both pediatric and adults. I'm really proud that I've developed, opened, and started programs around pediatric cardiac care, providing access to care for a very special niche of patients - our congenital heart patients, pediatric patients that have heart disease upon birth. These patients can now get the care at the time they need it, when they need it, with who they need it with. Bad leaders and bad bosses actually inspired me to get into leadership - they really did not help shape the culture and practice of nursing. Now I know how much impact and influence I have in the healthcare industry, and I want to help shape the future of healthcare in general, not just nursing, making sure no patient gets left behind and that every patient has a nurse and can get care no matter what the circumstances are.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kaye
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was from a mentor at Stanford Children's Hospital, one of the chief medical officers and directors. I was at an inflection point, wondering should I do this, what should I do next, how can I grow. I realized that in executive healthcare roles, there's only a small percentage of us wanting to do it - many stay at the bedside, and getting into leadership has been hard. The opportunities were never handed to me. While many get promoted naturally, my journey was more like I really worked for it. My mentor said to me, sometimes you just need to take a step back in order to leap forward, and I did that. I've practiced that framework every time I'm ready to leap to the next step in my career. I'm trying to get to the next level now, honestly, so I'm kind of doing that again. It's good to just take a look around - it's almost like sprinting, right? You move back a little bit, and then run forward, and then leap. You can't leap from the edge without that momentum.
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