Disrupting Traditional Roles: One Nurse's Journey

Abstract

A nurse for 30 years, Rhonda Collins, DNP, RN, FAAN, has worked to disrupt the way technology is used and perceived by nurses around the globe. Intersecting clinical expertise with health care innovation, she strives to empower nurses to take a seat at the table when it comes to making technology decisions that impact their work and their lives. Nurses use technology, medical devices, and equipment every day while caring for their patients. These devices require clinical knowledge, insights, guidance, and leadership to ensure they are appropriate for the patient care environment while fitting and facilitating nurses' workflow. Nurse involvement to design and implement new technologies is critical to adoption and use of technologies. Dr Collins offers 7 guidelines for engaging with business partners and ensuring decisions will support critical nursing staffs and facilitate safe patient care. Dr Collins' passion for helping more people led her to seek opportunities beyond the hospital walls. After earning her master's degree in nursing administration while raising 2 children and working her way through the ranks at medical centers in Texas, she has been on a mission to elevate the voices of nurses and protect the profession. Dr Collins shares her personal and professional journey of leaving hospital nursing to work in nontraditional leader roles in the technology industry, detailing the challenges and opportunities for nurses now and in the future.