Tim Porter-O'Grady, DM, EdD, ScD, APRN, FAAN, FACCWS, is a Clinical Professor at Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, and a Senior Partner at Tim Porter-O'Grady Associates, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia. Porter-O'Grady is currently teaching Leadership, Policy, Wound Management courses at Emory University.
Dr. Porter-O'Grady has a long track record as an author, contributing to nine Jones & Bartlett Learning nursing-focused texts over the years. To name a few, Quantum Leadership: Creating Sustainable Value in Health Care, and Leadership in Nursing Practice: Changing the Landscape of Health Care are popular leadership texts that have published in the past few years.
This prolific author has a new text publishing this December with co-author Kathy Malloch, Ph.D., MBA, RN, FAAN: Appreciative Leadership: Building Sustainable Partnerships for Health. The text emphasizes how leaders can employ an actionable plan to successfully lead and positively impact health outcomes.
Jones & Bartlett Learning (JBL): How did you become interested in your area of specialty?
Tim Porter O'Grady (TPO): [I became] concerned that our healthcare system was not working to advance nursing care and patient outcomes, and I wondered what could be done to make the system functional and oriented to sustainable health outcomes.
JBL: Is there a particular person or event that motivated you?
TPO: I was motivated by chronic problems with funding and the lack of support for nurses and nursing practice. It was too easy for leadership to discount a nurse's value when finances were challenged.
JBL: What has been the most influential or pivotal moment in your career?
TPO: The most pivotal moment of my career was the conceiving, designing, testing, and implementing of professional nursing governance models throughout healthcare.
JBL: What changes in your field excite you? Or what areas do you think need to be changed?
TPO: It excites me to see the advent of new digital tools for nursing practice, and the use of artificial intelligence for advancing patient care.
JBL: Tell us how you motivate your students.
TPO: I tell my students to put forth full engagement in their own career journey. It's important to invest learners in their own growth experience and help learners challenge the status quo and create new ways of thinking and practicing their profession.
JBL: Tell us about the last recognition you’ve received.
TPO: Recently, I have been blessed to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Organization of Nurse Leaders; the President's Award from the American Academy of Nursing; and in 2020, during the Year of the Nurse, I've been inducted into the American Nurses Association "Nursing Hall of Fame".
JBL: Are you involved in any community or philanthropic projects you would like to share?
TPO: I am a volunteer wound specialist in Atlanta on the Street Medicine Team of Mercy Care serving the homeless community.
JBL: What advice do you have for today's students?
TPO: Stay excited, engaged, and always growing. I've been a nurse for over 40 years, and I am as excited now as I was on my first day of practice.
Learn more about Appreciative Leadership: Building Sustainable Partnerships for Health, and request a review copy today! Request a Review Copy
The text emphasizes how leaders can employ an actionable plan to successfully lead and positively impact health outcomes. The authors convey their approach using the appreciative model—an innovative approach that explores specific appreciative behaviors and what they look like in a complex health care system.