Kathleen Bartholomew

Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH ( HCPro, 2005) and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY (HCPro, 2006), her unprecedented, dynamic speeches and public appearances, and her significant contributions to healthcare as one of the nation’s most sought-after nursing consultants, Kathleen is changing nursing by compassionately holding a mirror to the profession and exposing a century of hidden truths.

Kathleen served as the manager of a 57-bed orthopedic and spine unit in a tertiary hospital in Seattle, Washington for over six years and has just recently ended her position to begin work in consulting. A registered nurse and counselor, Bartholomew brings to light the challenges and issues facing nurses today through the use of story. Speak your Truth was published by HCPro in 2005 and submitted by Bartholomew for her Master’s thesis. She has been a national speaker for the nursing profession for the past six years.

Past speaking engagements include the National Nursing Symposium, National Orthopedic Nurses Association, and the National Nursing Management Congress.

Ending Nurse to Nurse Hostility

The expression “Nurses eat their young” is so far removed from our idea of the caring and nurturing nurse that we shudder to think it could possibly be true. Bur the truth is, nurses are hurting each other. Stories from the “front line” cannot be ignored. These stories are the voices of nurses telling the world about their experiences. In addition, research shows that 60% of newly registered nurses leave their first position within six months because of some form of abuse from a co-worker. The first step to healing our relationships is the most difficult: to recognize and openly discuss the problem. Only by understanding the origin and reasons for our behaviors can we even begin to create the healing environment that is so desperately needed in nursing – for ourselves, as well as our patients.

Creating Community: The Key to Retention

In a world characterized by increasing complexity and diversity, in which many are feeling greater alienation, the workplace is a fertile common ground. High-tech companies not only recognize that people are their most important resource, but also strive to create an environment in which their employees can find personal value and meaning in their work. The health care industry lags behind and the shortage of nurses is providing additional challenges. We can measure our effectiveness as nurse managers by the quality of our relationships.

Improving MD/RN Relationships:

It’s the patient who loses when nurses and physicians are in conflict. Research shows that not only do poor nurse-physician relations affect morale and retention, but also patient mortality. In order to achieve best practice, we need to understand why we play this game and how it started. Learn practical strategies for building good relations that will be ego-boosting for both nurses and physicians and leave this presentation with the courage and determination to improve your working relationships.

A Passion for the Art of Nursing

Nursing is both a science and an art. The science of nursing requires us to stimulate our minds while the art of nursing engages our soul. As we tackle the everyday challenges, it is clear that many of us have forgotten the joy of nursing. Using the power of story, Kathleen inspires nurses to be in awe and appreciation at nurses work. This lecture challenges how we look at our own profession, reminding us through the story of the moments where we have connected to another human being on the deepest of levels as we help them to deal with the gamut of human emotions. When we encourage the role of nurse as artist, and integrate these qualities into our daily routine, we unleash our own personal power – Nursing then becomes a place to be nourished rather than drained.

Nursing Leadership:

The field of “Knowledge Utilization” has identified the optimal information needed at different points in an organization for people to best maximize their effectiveness. According to this research, the “generals” need the concepts and the “captains” need strategies and tactics. Unfortunately, the ever increasing demands of nursing leadership have not allowed nursing leaders the luxury of time needed to step back and look at the “big picture” and lead today’s nurses.

Using Professor Diamond’s framework (Collapse), for “How group decisions fail,” this presentation offers a fresh and fascinating look at the nursing profession withing the American healthcare system as well as a “call to arms” for rallying together in light of this crises.

Kathleen Bartholomew, a gifted nurse and teacher, explores many of the dysfunctional dynamics destroying the morale of healthcare professionals, and she does it with a fresh, deadly serious voice interspersed with delightful humor that also inspires change. — Allen R. Wyler, MD, neurosurgeon and author of Deadly Errors

Kathleen uses the vehicle of story, liberally seasoned with humor, to present imaginative and creative approaches to age-old problems with communications between nurses and doctors. — Genevieve Bartol, RN, EdD, AHN-C(P), University of North Carolina, Greensboro

Kathleen's work illuminates and defines a murky and omnipresent problem that has a strangle hold on the heart of the nursing profession. — Chancey Boye, RN