Wisa exudes positive energy. And that’s an attribute that helps her thrive in her role as an RN clinical supervisor across 21 operating rooms at the Swedish First Hill campus.

When you work for her, you know she’s your champion. When people need support, she leads with empathy, reminding the team to approach each day with optimism. And that helps to create the culture we foster at Swedish, where everyone feels valued and supported.

Interpersonal communication is critical to success in her role. “I like to help people,” says Wisa. “That’s always been true, but this job really amplifies it because my role is to troubleshoot issues and help people get through their day. I like to regularly check in with everyone on the team, talk to them and make sure that they’re okay.”

In search of a challenge

Wisa moved from Chicago to Seattle for the opportunity to work at Swedish. Driven by a desire to expand her knowledge and skills, she saw the chance to learn from handling a larger range of complex cases than she would at many other hospitals. She joined Swedish to gain more experience with things she had never seen before.

“The hospital I came from only had one robot and First Hill has six. And that’s a big deal. At other hospitals, only certain teams work with the robots, and they won’t let anyone else touch it. Since we’re a teaching hospital, everyone learns everything, which is so great.”

Wisa loves living in Seattle. The natural beauty and the mild weather were attractive to her. “You’ve got mountains to one side and the ocean on the other. You’re two hours away from everything. Who doesn’t want to go hiking?”

A welcoming introduction

Wisa describes the culture at Swedish as different than where she’d worked before. “Swedish is super welcoming,” says Wisa. “In fact, everyone introduces themselves by their first names, even the doctors, surgeons, everyone. It feels like you’re on the same level. We talk to each other as human beings and there are no titles that get in the way of that.”

As part of leadership, Wisa’s goal is to retain talent. “When staff talk about what they want, we listen,” she says. “We see what we can do to make their jobs easier. And we want caregivers to feel worthwhile. It’s nice to get a kudos or a thank you for the jobs that you do. We really appreciate the talent we have.”

Leaders supporting leaders

Wisa receives the same type of partnership from her manager that she provides to her team. “My manager is super supportive. I can go to her with everything and anything,” Wisa says. “If I have an issue or if I need help, I know that I can get it, and things are resolved quickly.”

Wisa also appreciates upper level management. The CNO, CMO and COO meet with caregivers, extending that sense of collaboration and teamwork.

Wisa knows that working in health care is a team effort. And that each person is dependent on others to do their job. Wisa sums up her experience working at Swedish, saying “The team that I work with is super talented and they’re super amazing. I don’t think I’ve had a better team that I’ve worked with ever. It’s like family, a really big family. Even on challenging days, we remind each other there’s no place we’d rather be.”

If you think Swedish is the place that you’d like to be, check out our job openings.