Whende M. Carroll, MSN, RN-BC
As a naturally curious person, whenever I see someone do something interesting, I reach out and ask, “ How did you do that?”.
The results of these conversations have laid the blueprint to my unique career trajectory as well as contributed to my business growth.
After one of these conversations, I thought to ask if she would be open to sharing her story with my audience and the result is this post.
In short, networking and collaborations can be well thought out and intentional.
You can choose to put yourself in the right place at the right time on a consistent basis.
Enjoy!
-Amelia
How I got the HIMSS19 Gig
Whende M. Carroll, MSN, RN-BC
For the last ten years as a registered nurse, I have wanted to become an expert in my niche of informatics nursing - a thought leader, advisor, mentor and unique in my specialty. Through relationship building over the last three years I have made this a reality.
This year I was invited to the Healthcare Information and Management System Society's (HIMSS) 2019 annual conference as a Nursing Informatics Roundtable speaker and panel discussion member with three national informatics nursing leaders. An opportunity like this is a dream come true for me, and it came a from many different angles, mainly a connected network I have established over the last few years.
Here's how it happened:
I met and collaborated on an online video project with the Microsoft Chief Nursing Officer (moderator of the NI Roundtable) through a former employer.
I applied for an editor position at the Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI - associated with HIMSS) and got the position. My first article on 'Nurses, Artificial Intelligence, and the Quadruple Aim' was published last summer.
I was offered mentorship by an incredible pioneer in the health IT industry at a presentation I did at HIMSS18 last year, who I had met the year before at a different nursing conference.
My OJNI article topic was chosen to be the HIMSS19 NI Roundtable theme this year, and both the Microsoft CNO and my mentor put my name out there as a potential speaker - it worked out, and I was invited to sit on the panel and present.
*** DID I MENTION THAT I HAVE AN AWESOME MENTOR-THIS IS KEY! ***
She has introduced me to so many important people nationally and provided me with multiple opportunities to become a thought leader and future leader in NI, including sitting on national steering committees, authoring of many journal articles and a textbook to be published in 2020.
My health IT industry relationships have been made through project collaborations, conference and social media networking; risk-taking, having the courage to say yes, and having amazing support and mass gratitude made it all happen. Currently, my work with these fantastic individuals is all volunteering. It is my passion, mission and feeds my soul as a way to give back to nursing-–my specialty of nursing informatics and the profession at large. I believe it will pay off in the future for my continued work and advancement of fulfilling my goals to become a global expert in my distinct nursing niche.
Please connect with and stay in touch with Whende over on LinkedIn!