Nursing Leadership, Reimagined

Susan Brooks is a dynamic healthcare professional with a strong business background and tactical leadership skills. Committed to achieving corporate goals, maximizing profits, and delivering exceptional customer service while fostering a collaborative environment that motivates personnel to reach company objectives and enhance employee morale.

In an exclusive interview with Healthcare Business Review she shared invaluable insights on leadership development, team empowerment, patient experience, rural healthcare innovation, workforce retention, and transitioning from bedside care to strategic nursing roles.

1. Can you share the key experiences and milestones in your career that have led you to your current role at Catholic Health?

As the Director of Nursing and Case Management at my previous employer, I was tasked with reducing the number of ALC (Alternate Level of Care) patients in our 550-bed hospital. The organization was pursuing HUD funding to construct a new building for the Children’s Hospital, making it critical to demonstrate efficient bed utilization. I partnered with Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) across the region—particularly those receiving our Subacute Rehab (SAR) patients, and established agreements to accept a defined number of patients across various acuity levels.

Within six months, I successfully reduced the ALC census from 154 patients to just 24. Alongside this, I developed sustainable processes that kept the census low moving forward.

Earlier in my career, I transitioned into a case management role, which enabled me to gain broad exposure across the healthcare continuum. I worked in both acute care and on the payor side, giving me a well-rounded understanding of healthcare operations from multiple perspectives.

I also played a key role in transitioning the closure of one hospital, mandated by the Berger Commission in New York State, into the opening of a new facility on an existing organizational campus. This experience deepened my understanding of state and federal healthcare regulations and legal considerations.

While at Catholic Health, I was part of the team that developed one of the first COVID-only hospitals during the pandemic. This initiative enabled the organization to continue elective and surgical procedures at other hospitals safely during the crisis.

Additionally, I was entrusted with opening a new hospital at Catholic Health, designed to reflect the evolving direction of healthcare delivery. This neighborhood hospital operates in a rural setting with a small inpatient unit, an emergency department, and an outpatient clinic. The facility was strategically established in a community that had experienced a decline in primary and specialty care providers. By partnering with another rural hospital within the county, we were able to coordinate physician coverage, deploying cardiologists two days per week on the east side and three days on the west side of the county. This model provided physicians with a more balanced schedule and contributed to improved physician retention.

We also implemented a shared hospitalist model between the two campuses. During nighttime hours, one hospitalist is physically present at one site while providing telemedicine coverage to the other. This efficient use of resources has ensured continuous, high-quality care across both locations.

2. What leadership qualities do you believe set you apart in your role as Vice President, Patient Care Services, particularly in driving clinical excellence and team resilience?

I firmly believe that assessing any team ensures leadership has fulfilled its responsibility to create an environment focused on education and growth. We can never assume that everyone has been taught something or fully understands it. It’s essential to recognize that everyone learns differently, and that punishment is not an effective way to drive excellence.

3. What strategies have you found most effective in sustaining team morale and aligning your staff with a shared vision of patient-centered care?

I truly believe that shared governance is the most effective way to ensure buy-in from our associates. I often tell the teams that it’s not my role to sit in a boardroom making decisions about how nurses should deliver care. The nurses at the bedside are the true experts, and we need to strategize together to ensure all aspects of care are thoughtfully considered.

4. What framework do you rely on to gather and act on patient feedback, and how do you ensure that insights from patients translate into measurable improvements in care delivery?

I had the distinct privilege at a previous employer to work directly with Quint Studer and his team. Many strategies are widely used, and while it’s one thing to read about them in a book or hear them in a lecture, the real impact comes from applying those teachings in practice. There is always something to be learned from feedback, whether positive or negative, and discussing it with individuals who have different personalities and perspectives is the most effective way to gain insight. Utilizing a patient experience platform provides a strong foundation, but the key is tailoring it to the specific needs and dynamics of each department. Understanding the culture and personality of a department is essential to driving meaningful and lasting success.

5. Given your expertise in nursing education and team building, how do you support continuous upskilling and retention in a sector grappling with workforce shortages?

This is a challenge nurse leaders face every day. It’s essential to consider the culture and personality of each department. With ongoing workforce shortages, hiring the right person for the right department has become even more critical. A strategy I’ve used for decades involves having a group of managers with departmental vacancies interview candidates together. This collaborative approach helps assess which department would be the best fit for each individual. The goal is to set associates up for success from the start.

6. What advice would you give to emerging nurse leaders who are transitioning from bedside care into strategic leadership roles?

It is both okay and essential for a new nurse leader to understand that they do not need to be at the bedside to prove their value to nurses and other team members. Many leaders making this transition feel the need to demonstrate their support by being physically present in patient care. However, it’s important to recognize that they can continue to support their teams in broader and more impactful ways, such as ensuring proper staffing, providing access to education and professional development, and removing barriers to care. These strategic efforts are just as critical, if not more so, in helping frontline staff succeed.