In this Article
- Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Baylor Scott & White Health
- How has the pandemic affected the public’s perception of nursing?
- Why did you decide to become a nurse?
- What is the most rewarding part of your role?
- How have you inspired your team to meet the challenges before them?
- You have inspired others in your family to pursue a calling to healthcare. Is that a proud mom moment?
Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Baylor Scott & White Health
In this Article
- Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Baylor Scott & White Health
- How has the pandemic affected the public’s perception of nursing?
- Why did you decide to become a nurse?
- What is the most rewarding part of your role?
- How have you inspired your team to meet the challenges before them?
- You have inspired others in your family to pursue a calling to healthcare. Is that a proud mom moment?
As the chief nursing officer at Baylor Scott & White Health, Janice Walker, DHA, RN, leads a team of nursing professionals, from new graduates to senior leaders. This dedicated executive inspires her team to meet the challenges of the pandemic one patient at a time.
How has the pandemic affected the public’s perception of nursing?
It has really shown the public what superheroes nurses really are. When you see the signage and the gifts made in appreciation of our team for what they have done during the pandemic, it makes you proud to be a nurse. My long-term hope is that people are inspired to consider nursing as a career. It is a rewarding role, but you do have to be called to it; it is not for everyone. The sky
is the limit for a career in nursing.
Why did you decide to become a nurse?
I have a passion for helping people. My grandmother saw that in me years ago and said, “I think you need to explore nursing. I am telling you, you are a nurse at your core.” I went to college to become a nurse and never changed my major.
What is the most rewarding part of your role?
When I see a nurse transform from a bedside nurse, leading the care of a patient, to becoming a department leader, a unit or service leader, even a hospital leader, it is rewarding to watch them grow from graduate nurse to chief nursing officer. We see examples of that all over Baylor Scott & White. You can work for this organization from the beginning of your career to the end.
How have you inspired your team to meet the challenges before them?
A favorite motto I am using a lot during this pandemic is: “There is so much in this world we cannot control. But I am still in control of my interaction with one patient at a time, and one family member at a time and one peer at a time.” As wild as this world is, it helps you reconnect to your calling.
You have inspired others in your family to pursue a calling to healthcare. Is that a proud mom moment?
I have four children and two are now physicians. I learned a lot watching them go through medical school. I would hear both of my sons say to my peers, “You don’t have to know everything to be a doctor; you’re surrounded by nurses, respiratory therapists, dietitians and others that help the physician. There are nurses around, and you better listen to them!”
