An exclusive interview: The nurse leading innovation in well-being across the industry

I've been a nurse my entire professional career, and throughout the various stages, I just wouldn't notice I’d see consistent patterns for different things that need improvement. For instance, my first role in the outpatient setting was in a nonprofit, and I created a policies and procedures book since we didn't have that standard in place at the time.

Then in the inpatient setting, for my first role as a nurse on the floor, I noticed there were challenges with patient throughput. There had been challenges with admissions and discharges which caused some delays for patient flow, so I developed a nursing admissions throughput team, which helps with reducing the emergency department boarding time.

Through all these experiences, I kept having those moments in the different stages of my career. I found there's so much impact you can have on healthcare delivery and patient care on a broader level. I really saw that in nursing leadership - I just had a lot of these informal leadership roles - and I think that's what really naturally brought me to leadership.

I didn't really go into nursing seeking a healthcare position, but it kept showing up that way. That ultimately led to my first formal leadership role as a manager of advanced practice at Stanford Healthcare, and then my current role as director of ambulatory nursing at Stanford. So, it's been a great journey.

Charlene Platon is the director of ambulatory nursing at Stanford Health Care (SHC), licensed registered nurse and board-certified family nurse practitioner. Passionate about healthcare innovation, she is a founding member of the Technology, Research, and Innovation Steering Committee at SHC. She is also one of 12 inaugural Johnson & Johnson Nurse Innovation Fellows, and aims to bring nurse-led innovation to the forefront of healthcare and is developing a digital solution to promote the well-being of nurses, clinicians, and organizations across the industry. In 2020, she founded Fifth Window, a nurse- and women-led startup aiming to revolutionize the well-being of nurses.

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