Posted: 8/11/2009
Under the mentorship of high-level business executives, three students from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program are learning to combine the best practices of business management, nursing leadership, and executive effectiveness.
Established through a gift from JHUSON Professor Maryann F. Fralic, DrPH, RN, FAAN, the new program offers three exceptional DNP students financial support aimed at building a year-long relationship with executive mentors from a variety of non-health care disciplines and industries, including the worlds of business, finance, entertainment, media, politics and government, science, and technology.
“The Executive Mentorship Program is unique in that it provides an opportunity for mentors to spend quality time with a graduate student and provides funding for the students’ leadership development outside the traditional work environment,” says Dr. Gail Cassell, Vice President of Scientific Affairs at Eli Lilly and Company and a JHUSON Advisory Council member. Cassell will serve as a mentor to DNP student Laurie Saletnik, MSN ’07, RN, assistant director of surgical nursing at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Saletnik seeks to develop enhanced skills to maneuver in a highly political environment, gain the support of others, and “better articulate the value of nursing to those outside of nursing, and potentially those outside of health care.” Says Cassell: “It will be very advantageous for Laurie to meet with other female executives across disciplines, and for us to hear from Laurie about the nursing profession of the future and the critical role of nurses in American health care reform.”
Ron Shapiro of Shapiro Negotiations Institute, a global provider of training and consulting in negotiation, influencing, and sales optimization, will mentor JoAnn Ioannou, MSN/MBA ’05, RN. In her position as Assistant Director of Medical Nursing at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Ioannou is responsible for the department of medicine’s nursing services and specialties, including keeping the department within budget. She is also working on a system-level intervention to localize the region’s medical services to improve communication, continuity of care, and collaboration between disciplines. Shapiro plans to help Ioannou strengthen her skills in negotiations, change management, and strategic financial planning.
A third executive mentor Debra Lappin – a leading strategist in public health and science policy – is working with Beth Kilmoyer, MS, RN-BC. As Senior Vice President of B&D Consulting, LLC, Lappin is known for establishing innovative public-private partnerships across government, academic, and non-profit sectors to drive translation research and public health promotion and prevention. Kilmoyer, who serves as informatics project manager at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, says that implementing future technology innovations and streamlining nursing processes requires “effective strategic planning” and “motivational visionary leadership.” She is looking forward to working with Lappin on sharpening her skills in motivation, innovation, and strategic policy visioning.
According to Fralic, “We are deeply indebted to the world-class leaders that have agreed to be part of this program and invest their time and energy in our students. The Executive Mentorship Program offers today’s leaders avenues not only to share expertise, but most importantly to engage and positively influence the professional health care leaders of tomorrow. The mentor relationship will guide these emerging nurse leaders in the development of their own executive leadership skills and their future career endeavors.”