An exclusive interview: The nurse leader working to improve healthcare & reduce burnout

We know our healthcare system is broken, we spend more on healthcare than any other developed country, yet our outcomes are the poorest. There's so much we can do to improve quality of care, and just the cost of care in general. I love population health, and I have advanced specialization in education and community health nursing, which always have a very special place in my heart. I'm really an upstream preventionist, at heart. So, when we look at decades of research, it has shown that for every dollar we invest in prevention, we can realize a savings of up to $13, in theory. I believe there's a shift that's needed, in terms of caring for people where they live, learn, work, play, and pray. Now, while addressing those social determinants of health, evidence has also shown us our health is very much determined by these social determinants, like housing, food, transportation, and we really can impact it. I mean, 80% of one's health is determined by social determinants. So, how can we impact that more effectively? I believe that really will require us to improve primary care and mental health services, and that will have a tremendous impact on improving the cost of care delivery. There's power in partnership and innovation, and I really believe that's part of answering how we correct the broken healthcare system. It's going to require us to break down our silos, and really forge relationships, through informal and formal partnerships, working across the care continuum to enhance health care. It's really exciting times when certain things aren't necessarily going well, it's a wonderful opportunity for us to harness this disruptive time we're living in to make improvement. We can't help but to say we have a fragmented healthcare system in many ways, right? Unnecessary duplication of medical care, in general, which costs our healthcare system billions of dollars, so how can we better leverage technology to fix this? We know technology is an accelerator driver, when it comes to translating research into evidence-based practice innovation so I think we would be amiss if we did not leverage technology like that, which can help us realize tremendous outcomes. Leadership is foundational. We have to have a new type of leadership moving forward to transform our healthcare system. We need to move beyond traditional styles of more linear leadership models where it's a top-down versus a systems approach to care delivery.

Kimberly Delbo has over 15 years of experience in nursing practice, academia, and research. She’s worked in school nursing and home health, and served in leadership roles in a career center and long-term care setting. Kimberly has been an educator for years, most recently working as an adjunct professor at Luzerne County Community College and nurse faculty at Lehigh Valley Health Network. She’s a leader - and founded a leadership consulting and coaching company, Radiant & Resilient Leadership - and a learner, as she’s pursuing her doctorate of nursing practice, leadership, innovating change, and nursing education. She recently took on another role as community innovations director for Partners for a Healthy Community, a nonprofit working to close the digital gap and promote technological literacy, health and wellness among vulnerable seniors. Kimberly believes in collaboration and promoting a culture of excellence, health, and safety to meet the high demand for quality care.

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