Before joining Tacoma, Wash.-based MultiCare Health System in February as system chief nursing officer, Caren Lewis, BSN, RN, told Becker’s she quickly came to love the organization.
Ms. Lewis’ career so far has spanned from Southern charm and hospitality — her first CNO role was at Erlanger Health System in Chattanooga, Tenn. — to “Midwest nice,” as she most recently served as regional vice president and CNO for SSM Health’s Wisconsin region.
At SSM, she oversaw operations at seven hospitals and more than 100 ambulatory sites.
At MultiCare, she will lead a workforce spanning 7,845 employed registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nurse practitioners. The system operates 13 hospitals and more than 300 healthcare facilities across Washington, Idaho and Oregon. She said she is eager to immerse herself in the Pacific Northwest’s culture.
Ms. Lewis, who is also senior vice president at MultiCare, outlined her three top priorities: clinical excellence, operational excellence and a flourishing, modern workforce.
For clinical and operational excellence, she said she plans to closely track and work on healthcare-acquired pressure injuries, unassisted patient falls and early ambulation, particularly among older adults.
Her third focus includes tying nursing decisions to financial results, or value-informed nursing practice, as well as expanding the nursing workforce by numbers. Building academic partnerships is a critical component of that, Ms. Lewis said.
How she ‘fell in love’ with MultiCare
“When the recruiter first reached out to me, I told her, ‘I don’t really think I’m interested. I’m really loving Madison, Wis. I’m really enjoying SSM health. I feel very appreciated and valued,'” Ms. Lewis said.
However, a few meetings with MultiCare’s president, Florence Chang, led her to reconsider. Ms. Lewis said she appreciated Ms. Chang’s prioritization of supporting the organization’s culture. After a two-day visit, she “fell in love with MultiCare.”
“[I] met with over 30 people from MultiCare, and although they didn’t hear each other, I just heard some amazing trends regarding not only the work MultiCare is doing but [also] the structure and the culture,” Mr. Lewis said. “Working with different organizations in different areas of the country, different levels of care — for a system of this size, to have [culture] as such a priority and have it palpable enough that the people within the organization and all the different roles I was interviewing in felt it and could talk about it” was impactful.
It was that realization that led Ms. Lewis to think, “there might be a place for me here.”
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