When you ask Pat Patton why nurses choose to work at Providence Swedish, he doesn’t hesitate: “We’re the best place to give care and the best place to receive care.” As Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for Central Puget Sound, Pat leads with a clear purpose—create conditions where nurses are empowered and feel they belong while delivering exceptional care across the communities we serve.

From serving in the military to nurse leadership

Initially, Pat planned to care for animals, not people. “I was going to be a veterinarian,” he says. “I got accepted to Purdue University, but somebody forgot to tell me how much money it costs to go to college.” He joined the Army to serve and earn an education, and while there, a commanding officer piqued his interest in nursing. He earned his BSN and planned to return to the Army as a nurse, but a role wasn’t available, so he chose an honorable discharge and worked as a pediatric ICU nurse and then as an emergency department RN.

Pat says he always had an eye toward leadership. Over his healthcare career, he served in various leadership roles, even helping to develop one of the first virtual nursing programs in the United States. In 2023, he joined Providence Swedish—first as CNO at First Hill, and now as CNO for Central Puget Sound.

Pat believes the positive impact of his military service “truly shaped me. The military gave me a sense of strength, accountability, and structure.” That foundation is now core to his leadership philosophy.

Pat is tasked with a wide swath of duties, but one of his favorites is honoring hardworking nurses who are the backbone of Providence Swedish. For example, a family who suffered the ultimate loss of a child nominated Swedish First Hill NICU RN Allison for The DAISY Award, given to nurses who go above and beyond in science and sensitivity. Pat was thrilled to honor Allison for being, as the family put it, “very compassionate and empathetic towards us while our family went through the worst time of our lives.”

Other important parts of Pat’s role include mentoring nurse leaders, rounding at the Providence Swedish Staffing, Transfer, and Operations Center (STOC) in Georgetown—which creates one-phone-call access to all Providence Swedish Puget Sound region hospitals to better serve the community, providing executive sponsorship on Root Cause Analyses (RCA), championing fundraising efforts, and holding vendors accountable.

What ties it all together is proximity to care teams and relentless attention to nursing practice. “I love my job because I really get to hone in on the practice of nursing and what nurses do best every day—and how I can make their lives better so that they can better care for our patients.”

Shared leadership: A culture of empowered nurses who own their practice

When Pat arrived, he focused primarily on one key method to strengthen nursing culture: shared leadership. Through this model, nurses at all levels participate in decision-making related to their practice, work environment and professional development. This empowers nurses to have a voice in shaping their roles and the quality of care provided—and develops a culture of accountability.

Says Pat, “I want all nurses to be able to say, ‘I have ownership of my practice and what I do every day. I can bring issues forward that can be fixed. I don’t have to be frustrated when I come to work because I have a voice and feel that I can speak up and find solutions.’”

Pat worked closely with Cherry Hill CNO Deborah Gist to develop a shared leadership group. “We said, ‘Let’s bring a group of nurses together and see what they think and whether they’re even interested in this concept.’ I invited 150 nurses, thinking if I get 20, I’ll be happy. We had 114 nurses show up. I was just blown away. We’ve done four meetings now and we’ve had over 100 nurses show up every single time. And in these last few, we’ve had interdisciplinary people, respiratory, anesthesia, pre-admission clinic, rehab, because they’re hearing the buzz of what’s going on in the nursing units, and they want to be engaged.”

The outcomes are practical and measurable. “It’s the nurses, the people who are the closest to the work, that are figuring it out,” says Pat. He points to a recent example between the PACU and the orthopedic unit at First Hill. “Working with the shared leadership group, the teams co-designed a process that reduced PACU bottlenecks and standardized communication. It was a win-win,” Pat says. Another shared effort between the PACU and the OR created a right-sized, safety-focused report checklist for post-op transfers. “These positive, nurse-driven changes mean a better patient care experience and a happier place to work.”

Things like shared leadership and a professional practice model are helping Providence Swedish prepare for the Magnet journey—a prestigious designation awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to hospitals that demonstrate excellence in nursing. Says Pat, “We truly resemble the tenets of being a Magnet organization. We just haven’t got there yet. I tell my team that we’re on the journey to Magnet, but we’re not on the Magnet journey yet.”

Preparing new nurses to thrive in their careers

The job of a CNO is also about building the next generation of nurses. Regarding the leap from school to practice, Pat says, “When you get out of nursing school, you’re technically ready to practice, but you’re nowhere close to being ready to practice.” That’s why Providence Swedish invests in a robust, accredited transition-to-practice program. “We bring in approximately 120 to 150 new nurses three times a year,” says Pat. After general orientation, nurses complete a week of clinical onboarding where they get familiar with things like pumps, Epic documentation and glucose checks, then they spend six months with a preceptor at the bedside. In the second half of the year, each nurse completes an evidence-based project—often in small teams—focused on a real clinical problem such as preventing falls or Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI). “At the end of that full year, they present their findings. I try to attend those as much as I can, and then I push them to either publish it or share it amongst their peers.”

The goal is confidence, competence and contribution from day one. “They’re really excited about all the work that they’ve done over the year, but they’re even more excited to be confidently ready to care for patients on their own.”

Why nurses choose Providence Swedish

“Why wouldn’t you want to come to Providence Swedish?” Pat jokes before listing off five great reasons to work here:

1. “We’re the best place to give care and the best place to receive care.”
2. “You have nurses, managers and directors who support you.”
3. “You have CNOs rounding and listening to what nurses have to say.”
4. “We’re ahead in innovation and technology. For example, we do more clinical trials here at Providence Swedish than Cedars-Sinai does in Los Angeles.”
5. “We’re leaders in every specialty. For example, we have one of the top cancer centers in the Pacific Northwest, great Heart and Vascular and Neuroscience Institutes, and we deliver more babies here than anywhere else in the Pacific Northwest. We’re #7 in the nation in the number of babies we deliver at Swedish.”

Join our exceptional nursing team

If you’re a nurse looking for the next step in your career, and you want to have ownership over your practice and influence care for the better, consider joining our team. View open roles across the Providence Swedish footprint.