Special to 1808Delaware
OhioHealth has announced that Jodie Wegmiller, MBA, BSN, RN is the new chief nursing officer (CNO) and vice president of patient care services at OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital, OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital, Delaware Health Center, and Lewis Center Free Standing Emergency Department.
“I am incredibly honored to be the new CNO for Dublin and Grady and to lead nursing at two amazing campuses,” Jodie Wegmiller, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services said, “I chose to accept this role and responsibility to help lead Dublin and Grady nursing into the future with a sense of purposeful empowerment, enhanced engagement, visibility, and strong relationships.”
Before officially beginning her nursing leadership career, Wegmiller attended Capital University and received her bachelor’s degree in nursing. She then received a master’s degree in business administration at Western Governors University.
Now, as CNO, Wegmiller wants to prioritize being actively present with her teams and observing where the bedside work takes place. She also is looking forward to strengthening hospital culture by building relationships through engaging with associates and empowering them to continue providing high quality care and advancing nursing practice.
“One goal of mine stepping into this role is to bring transformational connections to our nursing teams and our other integral patient services such as EVS and Nutrition Services,” Wegmiller said, “Nursing cannot do their jobs without the assistance and expertise of our support services. Another goal is to increase nursing engagement and retention. When nurses feel a strong sense of purpose and engagement they don’t leave. Engaged staff also bring increased patient service and quality along with them. I would love to see these ideals enhanced and blossom further as the CNO.”
Wegmiller has been with OhioHealth for more than 20 years ago when she first began her career as a bedside nurse. Soon after, she took her skills to the emergency department. In May 2022, Wegmiller became the director of nursing at Dublin Methodist. In that role, she exemplified leadership and high-quality care for patients and her fellow associates. She helped open the emergency department at Dublin Methodist and the Lewis Center Freestanding ED, led the system forensic nursing program and spearheaded the Workplace Violence Code Violet initiative to keep her fellow nurses safe at the bedside.
The Workplace Violence Code Violet is to help ensure the safety of the associates at OhioHealth.
“I began Workplace Violence Code Violet, WPV, work in 2022 and the progress we have made has been outstanding,” Wegmiller said, “My role was to ensure the identification of violent patients and to make staff aware of this history of violence to provide them with the knowledge to keep themselves safe at the bedside.”
OhioHealth now has the Code Violet banner in a system used by associates called, CareConnect, and door signage to ensure all associates who interact with the patients at their bedside will know if the patient has been violent. There is also a Code Violet Banner committee that was also instrumental in creating this workflow, criteria for banner inclusion and case review.
“I am so proud of the work of this committee and our Workplace Safety partners,” Wegmiller said.
Outside of work, she enjoys traveling with her family. The farthest trip she’s taken was to Normandy, France. She said it was a humbling and powerful experience. Her advice for others is to do something that scares them, be brave, take a deep breath and step into the challenge.
