As Chief Nursing Officer for University of Michigan Health System, Dr. Margaret Calarco leads more than 5,000 people.
October, 2013
“The nursing profession has the capacity to implement wide-reaching improvements in patient care,” says Margaret M. Calarco, Ph.D., RN, University of Michigan Health System’s Chief Nursing Officer. “Nurses are the largest segment of the American health care workforce; we have the scientific knowledge and hands-on patient care experience that positions us to be a strong voice in advancing the health care system.”
Dr. Calarco brings more than three decades of administrative and management experience to
her leadership role. Her dedication to improving patient care can also be seen in her work as an adjunct professor at University of Michigan School of Nursing (UMSN). Bridging the two institutions, Dr. Calarco, who is also a UMSN alumna, works to further a shared clinical initiative and influence the next generation of nursing leaders. UMSN nursing students come to feel at home at the U-M hospitals, visiting often for clinical training, educational events, poster sessions, team-building, and more.
“I’m very proud of the partnership that UMSN and UMHS have developed,” says UMSN Dean Kathleen Potempa, Ph.D., RN, FAAN. “We share a vision of patient-centered and evidence-based care. Through our partnership, our students are given the opportunity to see first-hand the high standards expected of a Michigan nurse. ”
Dean Potempa explains that having nursing faculty embedded in the U-M Health System is critically important not just to research, but also for the school’s focus on learning at the edge of discovery. Without this clinical partnership, students would have fewer opportunities to move beyond textbooks into the world of experiential, real-time decision-making that is so essential in the fast-evolving field of nursing.
Dr. Calarco says she fosters a work environment that encourages nurses to be full partners with other health professionals through education, experience, leadership and science. “The evidence-based research from nurses and our interdisciplinary colleagues has the potential to improve patient-care through lowering time of hospital stays, complications, and re-admissions,” says Dr. Calarco.
“The full value and potential of nurses has yet to be realized by some. It’s our responsibility to show how our skills and knowledge can make a greater contribution to our changing health care system. More Americans than ever will soon have access to care and nurses will be at the front line bridging the gap between coverage and access.”
