McColgan Leading Nursing on CWN 10

Joan McColgan, MSN, WHNP, was warmly welcomed by clinical staff nurses and Department of Nursing leadership in November when she joined BWH as the Nursing director of the mother and baby unit on CWN 10.

She went right to work, immersing herself with clinical staff nurses on an interdisciplinary team charged with developing BWH’s new Enhanced Care Nursery, which will open this spring. In addition, she quickly acclimated herself to Nursing’s Quality Program and preparation for The Joint Commission survey.

“It’s really been amazing,” said McColgan, who came to BWH from Tufts Medical Center where she served as the nurse manager of the Delivery and Maternal Special Care Unit for more than 10 years. “Working all these efforts at once has provided a phenomenal opportunity to get to know the staff and embark on these challenges together.”

Her appointment as nursing director for CWN 10 marks a return to BWH for McColgan. In 1999, she was assistant nurse manager on CWN 8 when the tenth floor was being built. Prior to that, she worked for Harvard Vanguard for 10 years as a women’s health nurse practitioner. McColgan earned her MSN and WHNP certification from Boston College and completed her undergraduate degree at Northeastern University.

“We are thrilled Joan joined our team,” said Angelleen Peters-Lewis, PhD, RN, executive director of Women and Newborn’s Nursing and Clinical Services. “She’s a nurse’s nurse with a holistic and empowering leadership style, and a philosophy that fits extremely well with our vision of excellent patient care, with the best staff in the safest environment.”

McColgan classified her leadership style as humanistic, and she can point to a decade of nursing quality data during her time at Tufts that placed her unit well above national benchmarks when nurses were asked to rate their leadership, how well they feel supported and the quality of their work environment.

“As nursing leaders, we need to care for our nurses the same way we want our nurses to care for our patients,” McColgan said. She received that advice early on in her career and strives to put it into practice every day, she said.