EP 14: Creating Connections: Nurse Leadership and Workplace Culture

Empowering employees is more than a buzzword, it’s a foundation stone for a thriving organization.

In this episode, Emily Chase, the Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at the University of Chicago Medical Center, explores the critical importance of empowering employees through shared governance and the profound impact authentic leadership can have on creating a positive work environment. She dives deep into some strategies that can shift an entire organization’s culture towards a positive and productive environment. Emily shares how the successful implementation of these has improved patient outcomes and helped to expand a thriving culture across different care centers. She also touches on the tools and practices that support leaders in their journey, like the insightful “The First 90 Days,” and recommends the use of audiobooks to keep one’s brain nourished and decompressed during long commutes.

Join us and unpack what it truly means to foster a professional and respectful work culture that resonates with the mission, vision, and values of an organization.

About Emily Chase:

Emily Chase, PhD, RN, NE-BC, FACHE, is Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer for the University of Chicago Medical Center. In the role of SVP, she has oversight of inpatient operations of the medical center including pharmacy, laboratory, and respiratory care services.

Emily joined UCMC in 2010 as Manager of Nursing Education. Most recently, she served as Vice-President of Women’s, Children’s and Emergency Services, where she had direct oversight for the operations of Comer Children’s Hospital and the emergency and trauma services in adult and pediatrics. Prior to joining UCMC, Emily spent almost ten years at what is now Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago in the pediatric and cardiac intensive care unit, as a staff nurse and manager of patient care operations.

Emily holds a bachelor’s in nursing from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana and a doctoral degree in nursing administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Emily is a certified nurse executive through the American Nurses Credentialing Center and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.