PHILADELPHIA, PA — Aug. 5, 2021. Wambi is pleased to announce that Dr. Bonnie Clipper, DNP, MA, MBA, RN, CENP, FACHE, has been selected to be a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (Academy). Induction into the Academy is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career in which their accomplishments are honored by their colleagues within and outside the profession. Fellows are selected based on their contributions and impact to advance the public’s health.

As Chief Clinical Officer at Wambi, Dr. Clipper imports the voice of the nurse and patient into the design, development, and workflows to ensure that the solutions meet the needs of clients and solve the right problems. Bonnie’s unique experience as a healthcare executive, innovation leader, and nurse in the technology space has shaped her ability to ask thought-provoking questions that challenge the status quo to transform health for all and build partnerships that find creative solutions to complex problems.

“We are thrilled to recognize Bonnie for this well-deserved achievement,” shares Wambi CEO Rebecca Metter. “With her extensive background in clinical innovation, Bonnie provides a deep knowledge and important perspective that continues to transform our clients’ experiences, while increasing our awareness in the healthcare industry. We are incredibly fortunate to have Bonnie as part of our Wambi family.”

The Academy is an honorific society that recognizes nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, practice, administration, and academia. Academy Fellows, from nearly 40 countries, hold a wide variety of roles influencing health care. Induction into the Fellowship represents more than recognition of one’s accomplishments within the nursing profession. Fellows contribute their collective expertise to the Academy, engaging with health leaders nationally and globally to improve health and achieve health equity by impacting policy through nursing leadership, innovation, and science.

Through a competitive, rigorous application process, the Academy’s Fellow Selection Committee, which is comprised of current Fellows, reviewed hundreds of applications to select the 2021 Fellows. Dr. Clipper was one of 225 individuals selected to be inducted into the 2021 Class of Fellows. The 2021 Fellows represent 38 states, the District of Columbia, and 18 countries.

The 2021 inductees will be recognized for their significant contributions to health and health care at the Academy’s annual Health Policy Conference, taking place on October 7-9, 2021. This year’s conference and induction ceremony will be offered in a hybrid format, allowing attendees to participate either in-person (at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, DC) or virtually allowing for maximum attendance through an inclusive format where colleagues, friends, and family members who may not be able to attend the event in person are able to participate. This year’s induction ceremony, which will feature personalized video vignettes and live streaming of each inductee, will be a special way to recognize the new Fellows as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge traditional methods of celebration.

Learn more about the Academy and visit the hybrid policy conference website for more details.

The American Academy of Nursing serves the public by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Academy Fellows are inducted into the organization for their extraordinary contributions to improve health locally and globally. With more than 2,800 Fellows, the Academy represents nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia.

Wambi’s holistic real-time recognition and culture transformation solution improves the healthcare experience for patients and staff through the power of gratitude. Gamified engagement technology delivers real-time feedback from patients and team members that recognizes and motivates optimal care. With the proven ability to increase workforce engagement, reduce clinician burnout, and drive higher patient satisfaction, Wambi improves human connection for all. Learn more about our solution here.

My recent brush with burnout left me reeling for a bit but ultimately set me on a path of learning and growth. Funny how our struggles tend to do that! I am fortunate to work for an incredible company that listens and supports its employees. When I went to our CEO to share my struggles and propose my plan (which included creating an entirely new role in the company), she supported me without hesitation. Thank you, Rebecca Metter!

Part of that proposal was obtaining a professional certificate to learn more about the Science of Happiness at Work. I am happily making my way through the excellent curriculum put together by the team at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. I would like to “pay it forward” by sharing a little of what I have learned so far. I have seen and felt an impact in my daily life, both at work and elsewhere. If you are also interested in fostering deeper connections at work and home, here are some things you can try.

Start with gratitude. 

Our grandparents were onto something here! Gratitude is good for us. In sharing thanks and appreciation, we see the good in our lives and acknowledge that the source of that goodness lies outside of ourselves. Expressing gratitude leads people to be happier, healthier, and more optimistic. When we receive gratitude, we feel valued and motivated, and we want to pay it forward by thanking someone else. Gratitude is a superpower we can tap into every day to lower stress and strengthen connections with our families, friends, and colleagues. It is also the beginning of empathy, as it requires that we see the positive intentions and effort in another’s actions.

Try this:

• Write down three things you’re grateful for, and if one of them is a person, write them a note of gratitude sharing the things you most value and appreciate about them. If that person is a work colleague and your organization uses Wambi, you can write them a Carepostcard! Chances are, receiving that note will make their day, and yours, too.
• If you are a leader, you can put team members on the “appreciation hot seat.” During your next team meeting, pick one employee and have everyone on your team share what they most appreciate about that person (you too!) Wambi users can memorialize this appreciation with Carepostcards, so team members can look back at this gratitude any time they feel depleted.

Seek out and savor moments of positivity resonance.

You might be less familiar with this term, but I guarantee you’re familiar with the effects! Dr. Barbara Fredrickson at UNC-Chapel Hill defines positivity resonance as “a synthesis of shared positive affect, mutual care and concern, plus behavioral and biological synchrony.” Or put more simply, those moments of connection when we are with people who just seem to “get us.” Of course, these can be people we know well – our partner, bestie, favorite colleague, etc. But the great thing is that these can also be strangers we are meeting for the first time: the new barista who treats us with kindness and loves Harry Potter as much as we do, a new colleague with a mutual appreciation of apples with peanut butter, the parent at the park who shares our love of slides (or at least watching our kids on the slides). We’ve all had that experience of hitting it off with someone and walking away feeling that life is good. And our body feels it, too. These moments of positive connection impact our health by improving our body’s inflammatory response and immune function.

We can seek out more of these moments with our favorite people and also with strangers. Every new person we meet is an opportunity to experience the glow of positivity resonance, even if just for a moment. All we need to do is look up from our phones and engage.

Try this:

• Reach out to the friend or family member who always makes you feel loved and valued, and schedule time to connect either virtually or, if possible, in person.
• The next time you are waiting in line, strike up a conversation with the person nearest you. It might seem awkward at first, but we are all craving a smile and understanding. Chances are, they’ll appreciate the effort, and you’ll reap the psychological and biological rewards.
• Introduce yourself to a new colleague at work. We make this easy in Wambi by presenting profiles of folks on the team so you can see who is new. Wambi users can send a Carepostcard to say hello to new team members and get to know who they are outside of work.

Embrace civility, kindness, empathy, and compassion to strengthen connections.

Sharing gratitude and moments of positivity resonance with others will increase positive emotions and give us the building blocks for an upward spiral of positivity. You’ve probably heard of, and maybe experienced, the downward spiral of negative emotions. The good news is that positive emotions have a similar but opposite effect. When we intentionally cultivate positivity and connection, we impact ourselves and those around us by “paying it forward.”

Relating to others with civility, kindness, empathy, and compassion has a multiplying impact, causing positive emotional contagion. Plus, these are the building blocks for trust and deepened connection.

Try this:

• Perform random acts of kindness. These can be for family, friends, colleagues, or strangers and can be as small as smiling and saying hi as you pass someone on the street or in the hallway at work. Or, for Wambi users, send a Carepostcard to a colleague, telling them why you love working with them. You’ll make the recipient of the kindness feel great and will increase your happiness in the process!

Fostering connection, and consequently, our sense of belonging is easier than we think. Hopefully, some of the ideas shared here were helpful! Here’s a final thought as you go out to spread positivity: “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no person can sincerely try to help another without helping themselves.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

• https://wambi.org/the-gratitude-toolkit/
• https://www.edx.org/professional-certificate/berkeleyx-science-of-happiness-at-work
• https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/key
• https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good
• https://www.positivityresonance.com

As our Product Evangelist, Mel brings over 13 years of experience to support the growth and development of Wambi’s sales team as they seek to help healthcare organizations create cultures of appreciation and kindness. She is committed to helping both her team and Wambi’s clients achieve their business objectives while living Wambi’s values of compassion, imagination, gratitude, fearlessness, and joy. Mel’s sales experience spans healthcare, technology, legal, and academic content solutions. She has been a consistent top performer and is most proud of her work fostering innovation, evolution, and team cohesiveness in each role. Mel grew up in West Michigan, where she still lives and enjoys running through the beautiful wooded dunes. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan. When she’s not exercising or spending time with her family, you can find her indulging in her love of learning about anything and everything.

• Connect with Mel on LinkedIn 
• Learn more about the Wambi platform

Meet Dr. Norma Tirado of Spectrum Health:

“Every leader in any organization is in a position to really impact other people’s lives. So I think every day, when we wake up, we have to decide as to how we’re going to show up as leaders and what kind of impact we want to have on the people we’re working with. Not just to the people that report to us, but to our colleagues and other team members that we have to collaborate with. Helping find other people’s gifts and helping them develop into people they maybe didn’t even know they could be is truly why I get up every morning. It’s my purpose in life. I believe true happiness is found in the positive impact you can have in other people’s lives.”

Listen to hear how Dr. Norma Tirado works to help her employees find their gifts, focus on their strengths, and how other leaders can, too.

Dr. Norma Tirado uses the Wambi value of fearlessness to help encourage others out of their comfort zones so that they may find their gifts.

“To discover your gifts sometimes you have to take risks. You have to do things that you haven’t done before. One time a CEO asked me to lead the IT department of my organization and I didn’t have an IT background. So I had to know that. I needed to take that risk that I’m probably going to get my knees scraped.  I’m going to make mistakes, but I’m going to learn from them, and then I found out that, again, leadership was a gift for me. No matter what area of the organization I was leading. And you can always learn some of the technical stuff. So getting uncomfortable, taking risks, asking your leaders a lot of questions, pushing them outside of the boundaries of their comfort is going to help them find their gifts.”

Want More? If you liked this podcast, listen to Estrella Parker’s podcast episode on Prioritizing Inspiration as Leaders.

Incredible Businesses Have Incredible Relationships – Relationships bring richness to our lives, and move things forward, faster than anything else. Bring a passionate group of people together who share the same mission, using their ”ikigai”, and watch the profound impact that they have on the world. Find out what “ikigai” means and how to be an incredible business in this blog.

This Gut + Science episode is sponsored by Wambi. Don’t miss out on future episodes; subscribe today!

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