Vivianna Martinez, RN

Vivianna Martinez, RN, is a nurse on 11B, Labor and Delivery, at Mount Sinai West. Recently, Kate Frederick, MSN, RN, Nurse Manager, received a letter of appreciation for Vivianna from the father of a child born on the unit:

“My wife and I just had our first baby at Mount Sinai West late last year. I was diagnosed with chronic anxiety as a child and have a history of challenging flare-ups during major life changes; therefore, I was terrified of how I would respond to becoming a parent for the first time. I was certain it would be a rough experience. Now, four days removed from that huge life moment, my experience could not have been more different from my expectations. Without exaggeration, I owe every bit of this to Vivianna Martinez, RN. The attention, care and unwavering support that she showed us throughout the day and a half that we were fortunate enough to have her as our nurse completely changed our trajectory as parents. I have never in my life experienced the level of service that she provided over that time period, consistently anticipating any questions, requests or needs that my wife or I had. In a large hospital setting, where it is so easy to feel like one of a thousand bed numbers on a daily report, Vivianna’s dedication to our care gave us the impression that we were her only patients. And my wife and I faced discharge with nothing but confidence and excitement, which was due entirely to the education, inspiration. and motivation that we received from Vivianna. We are forever grateful to her for making this experience a wonderful, love-filled journey that we will never forget.”

Kate echoes the praise from this new dad: “Vivianna is an incredible asset to the 11B team and fosters a professional, empathetic, and equitable working environment. This letter completely encapsulates who Vivianna is, not only as a person, but as a nurse. The kindness and expertise she provided to this family—and all others she cares for—also extend to her colleagues. She is a trusted, calm, and competent colleague, and even though she is newer to the team, others look to her for support and guidance. She has a constant smile on her face, is so pleasant to be around, and is always willing to help. I am incredibly honored to get to work alongside her. She is truly a role model in the nursing profession.”

Vivianna understands the potentially long-lasting impact of a nurse’s actions on a patient.

“I believe taking the time to connect with my patients and understand their fears, hesitations, or concerns can truly transcend the care that they receive and also the care that I can provide,” she says. “Every day that I step onto our unit and serve my role as a nurse, I am part of an experience that will be remembered for a lifetime. Becoming a parent and bringing life into this world is exciting, but it can also be a scary and anxious time and come with a lot of questions. Everyone learns differently and has different needs. I try my hardest to personalize my care. Importantly, it is always my goal to remain kind and compassionate and serve as a supporter and advocate.”

Linda Valentino, DNP, RN, NEA-BC

Linda Valentino, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, has a clear view of her role: to care for the people who are caring for other people—both the staff who are taking care of patients and the nurse leaders who are taking care of the staff.

“The best part of my job is supporting other nurses,” says Dr. Valentino, Interim Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) at The Mount Sinai Hospital. “Nurses are the backbone of every health care system. They’re doing meaningful, compassionate, professional work involved in supporting our patients. We have to recognize and support the patient-centered aspect of their clinical work at every opportunity.”

It is no wonder, then, that as the world began to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the cover of the American Journal of Nursing’s landmark issue, “Year of the Nurse and the Midwife,” featured portraits of Mount Sinai nurses through Dr. Valentino’s efforts. She witnessed as the Health System’s nurses worked tirelessly at the country’s pandemic epicenter, caring for patients under the most unimaginable circumstances. “I felt like there was never going to be enough recognition for the staff and what we were able to accomplish. Nurses stepped up and saved our world.”

“While nurses are fully dedicated to their patients and the patient’s family,” says Dr. Valentino, “it’s critically important to remember that they are whole people who have families, and they have lives, and they have stories, and they have history, and every day they bring their whole selves to the work they do to care for others.

“Our nurses show up for the fragility of human beings, and while the work is rewarding, it’s also very demanding, and we need to be sure they focus on their own well-being in the process.”

During her recent tenure as CNO of Mount Sinai West and Vice President of Nursing and Patient Care Services for Women’s and Children’s Services for the Mount Sinai Health System, Dr. Valentino began to turn to “gratitude” as a gateway to wellness. One effort to foster this connection involved a partnership with filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg, director of “Gratitude Revealed.” In conversations with everyday people, thought leaders, and personalities, his acclaimed movie explores how to live a more meaningful life filled with gratitude as a means of connecting to the world around us and navigating life’s day-to-day challenges. Dr. Valentino held Health System viewings of the film and plans to incorporate a curriculum developed by Mr. Schwartzberg to facilitate future viewings, followed by discussions tailored specifically to nurses and their practice.

Dr. Valentino is also passionate about developing and supporting the nurse leaders who support the work of the front line. “These front-line nurse managers are the interface between the work environment, the staff, and the patient and, ultimately, how we deliver care,” she says. “They have a unique capacity to transform the work and the workplace for our clinical staff.”

To this end, Dr. Valentino and her team embraced human-centered leadership theory for nursing. This takes into account not just the individual but the environment in which the nurse works. The focus is on helping nurse leaders develop and incorporate into their leadership practice the necessary skills for cultivating people, building community, and recognizing the humanity in others. “Leaders who embrace these attributes have the ability to create and sustain cultures of excellence, trust, and caring,” says Dr. Valentino, “which leads to sustained and positive outcomes for our patients and our staff.”

“We want to support leaders to focus first on personal transformation—it starts with you—but then lead in service to others,” she says. “We encourage them to embrace the concept that effective leadership starts with you, but it’s not about you. It’s about the teams you are leading and supporting, and the patients these team members care for. It’s a theory that aligns perfectly with both our Relationship-Centered Care Model, as well as the American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet tenants.”

Creating Excellence Together

One far-reaching example of this work involves stay interviews, the subject of Dr. Valentino’s recent research. “We trained our nurse leaders to use a structured interview technique at least once a year with their incumbent staff and more frequently for new staff,” she says. The nurse manager talks one on one with a staff nurse to find out what they need to help them do their job and what will make them want to stay at their job. “When staff recognized they were being heard, and that the nature of the questions was about them, they started to get excited. Soon other staff started asking for their stay interviews.” This investment in the leaders and the staff has already had a tremendous impact. Following the first round of interviews, nursing turnover rates dropped by an impressive 30 percent.

“We continue to see clinical nurses and nursing leadership working together to make improvements in the care environment. A lot of transformation has happened using the daily management boards and via quality projects focused on patient experience. Some involve simple things, like changing the experience of moms as they are in the postpartum phase, giving them certain amenities like smoothies and more comfortable robes, providing lactation consultation, and other supports.”

“The obstetrics teams came up with some fantastic projects,” she says. “They looked at every aspect of communication, for example, how the nurses in Labor and Delivery gave reports to the nurses in Postpartum. They met and talked to each other, and then they were no longer just the voice at the end of the phone. The result is a renewed sense of community and teamwork.”

Likewise, Dr. Valentino appreciates the importance of shared governance. “We’re seeing our unit-based councils and our staff play active roles in decisions that impact their practice,” says Dr. Valentino. “They have a say in how we make decisions. This approach is moving in parallel with the leadership and the unit staff as they embark on important work that they’ll be focusing on together.”

Pathway to Leadership

Dr. Valentino’s vision and values developed at an early age. In her words: “It’s a boring story. I just always wanted to be a nurse.” In high school, she volunteered as a candy-striper in her local hospital, where she logged among the highest number of volunteer hours, receiving a commendation from the mayor’s office. “I loved being with the people, the patients, and the nurses,” says Dr. Valentino. “I really want to be with people all the time and care for them in that way. That’s always been the case and still today drives what I do. It brings me joy to know that we serve here with purpose. We do it with professionalism and we do it with compassion and understanding, and I think it’s really as close to the human experience as you can get in a job.”

This approach has served her well throughout her career. A creative problem-solver, Dr. Valentino is often on the vanguard of change, advancing nursing professional practice through innovation and interprofessional collaboration, organizational transformation, quality improvement, and research. Before joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Valentino held leadership roles at Rockefeller University, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, and NYU Langone. In 2017, she became the Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President for Nursing and Patient Care Services at Mount Sinai Brooklyn. From 2019 to 2020, Dr. Valentino served as Vice President of Nursing Operations at The Mount Sinai Hospital, where she led fiscal, operational, and clinical oversight of multiple service lines, including women’s, ambulatory, oncology, and pediatric services. She also played a key leadership role during the initial COVID-19 pandemic surge when New York City emerged as the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. In 2020, Dr. Valentino was named CNO of Mount Sinai West and Vice President of Nursing and Patient Care Services for Women’s and Children’s Services for the Mount Sinai Health System. In 2023, she returned to The Mount Sinai Hospital as Interim CNO.

Dr. Valentino holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice from the MGH Institute of Health Professions, and a Master of Science in Nursing Administration from Hunter College of The City University of New York. She is board certified as a Nurse Executive, Advanced, and is a member of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership and the American Nurses Association.

Inna Tsekhan, RN, works in the Comprehensive Eye Clinic at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. Min Jeon, RN, CRON, MBA, nurse manager at NYEE, says that when Inna interacts with patients, “her empathy and compassion come through each time. Inna always greets her patients with a smile, and she does her best to make sure they feel at ease.”

One day at the Comprehensive Eye Clinic is a case in point: “One of Inna’s patients was highly nervous because of a recent, sudden vision loss,” Ms. Jeon recalls. “Inna explained to the patient that she would guide her through the clinic visit, and even walked the patient to different testing areas. The patient later asked to speak to me about the excellent service she received and how Inna went out of her way to help her. The patient explained that Inna spoke to her in such a caring manner, it calmed her anxiety, as she was extremely nervous about her eye condition. The patient was so appreciative that each time she came for her follow-up visit, she asked for Inna.”

Ms. Jeon continues, “I have worked with Inna for eight years, and she continues to be highly dedicated to her work. She is an integral part of Mount Sinai, adored by her patients, and respected by her colleagues.”

Inna says her approach to the patient experience is quite simple. “I treat all patients as members of my family. I am committed to creating a great environment for their care where there is comfort and connection.”