Candice Griffin, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, is our Nursing Experience Program Partner Spotlight! Candice currently works as the Executive Director of Clinical Education & Professional Development for Banner Health’s Phoenix Corporate Center. For Candice, her favorite parts of nursing is making a difference every day for patients and care providers. To see how Candice utilizes NEP to continually improve as a compassionate, supportive leader, read our interview with her below!
How long have you been in nursing, and what are your favorite parts about it?
I have been in nursing for 29 years (OMGosh!), fourteen of which have been in patient care (trauma, ICU, Emergency, Cardiac Cath Lab, PCU, Med-Surg) and another fifteen years in leadership (Unit, Professional Practice, and Clinical Education). My favorite part about my work is that I get to make a difference every day in the lives of patients and care providers.
What are your favorite parts of leading a team of nurses?
The best part about leading a team of nurses is that you are surrounded by people who are there to do the right thing and are wicked smart. Every day, my team and I get to make a difference, and I personally get to help my team members grow as leaders.
In what areas has your team improved the most?
My team members have grown in their ability to lead through complexity and to do so with agility. We successfully led through the pandemic – creating education, upskilling, and onboarding thousands of team members to support our bedside nurses and patients. Each day, my team takes on complex issues with curiosity and excitement.
What have you done to engage your nurses to prevent this from feeling like “one more thing”?
When a request comes, we always ask, “what can we do?” There is always something we can do or offer to stop this from being a burden – creating the culture of curiosity, embracing continuous learning, and growing team members by providing opportunities to be involved in different areas of leading our team or various projects has all helped in creating buy in.
In what ways ahve you seen your nurses implement tips into their work?
Our nurses now lead with curiosity, manage challenging conversations and environments with ease, ask questions to seek for understanding and utilize positive scripting.
Thank you, Candice, for sharing your story with us! We are excited to see what you accomplish in the future with the Nursing Experience Program.
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