title: Betrayed trust: healing a broken hospital through servant leadership.
abstract: An investigative reporter with The Washington Post broke the news of a no-confidence vote by the medical staff of a hospital in the suburbs of Washington, District of Columbia. The chaos that followed created a perfect storm for needed change and offered the rare opportunity for unbridled deep and creative collaboration. Issues the hospital faced as a result of this crisis and subsequent events that tested the authenticity of change are summarized. This article focuses on the approach used by the registered nurse chief executive officer (RN-CEO) to humanize the hospital, viewing it as though it were a patient and leading a clinical approach to organizational recovery and health. The relationship that developed between the medical staff leaders and the RN-CEO was pivotal to the hospital's recovery and evolved as a hybrid of servant leadership. Outcomes achieved over a 7-year period and attributable to this relational model are summarized. Finally, the RN-CEO shares lessons learned through experience and reflection and advice for nurses interested in pursuing executive leadership roles.
authors.affiliation: dyancer@gmail.com
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Yancer
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D004219:District of Columbia; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011641:Public Relations; D012938:Social Perception; D035502:Trust