A successful transition: Urban hospital director to rural nurse executive

New nurse executives work extremely hard to make any transition smooth and successful. Rural nurse executives face unique nursing and health care challenges, different than those of our larger urban counterparts. These unique challenges often lie in the denominators and resources available. Rural hospitals do not see as many patients as our urban counterparts. Therefore the denominators—numbers of patients treated—are much smaller. This difference requires clinical processes to be in place to treat every patient right every time. While we know all hospitals want the same care and treatment for their patients, smaller facilities cannot miss even one process, in most cases, and hit their targets. The rural chief nurse executive (CNE) must be aware and encourage clear processes and motivate staff for success.