Gladys is currently deputy CEO at the Lebanese American University Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon. She is also a consultant for Magnet at King Faisal Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; consultant for nursing at University Medical Center – Rizk Hospital, Beirut, Lebanon; and a CEO advisor for patient services at Clemeanceau Medical Center in Beirut, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins. Gladys is the former chief nurse executive of the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) in Lebanon. She spearheaded the journey to excellence for Magnet in the medical center for the past six years. In June, 2009 AUBMC became the first Magnet facility in the Middle East; it is the first hospital outside of the United States to be validated with the Index of Professional Nursing Governance as a shared governance organization. AUBMC was also the first hospital to become an American Nurses Credentialing Center accredited provider for continuing nursing education in the Middle East. She is also an elected board member, director-at-large with Sigma Theta Tau International, nursing’s honor society.
Gladys and her colleagues initiated the first shared governance structure in the hospital in Lebanon. She and her team began a study of shared governance using the Hess Index of Professional Nursing Governance to determine the perception of shared governance among nurses in Lebanon and other regional hospitals. This is an ongoing study and will identify the learning needs to create a shared governance environment and help improve patient outcomes.
Gladys believes that AUBMC is a story of persistence and survival against all odds that begins from the inception of the civil war described in Gladys’ book, An American Nurse Amidst all Chaos. Gladys insists that shared governance helps improve an environment towards better outcomes in spite of all the obstacles a facility can encounter. Click on the lower left corner of the photo below to hear about shared governance in the Middle East.