Dr. Olga Kagan is a nurse consultant, educator, scientist and entrepreneur. She teaches at two New York-based universities, contributes to textbooks, mentors nurses, and advises start-ups. Dr. Kagan founded the Food Allergy Nurses Interest group and co-founded SONSIEL’s Collaborative Healthcare Innovation, Research & Problem Solving (CHIRPS). As a recognized thought leader, she has served on several committees and boards, including HIMSS, SONSIEL, ANA, NYAM, AAAAI, and ENRS. She has received multiple awards for her contributions to nursing leadership, mentorship, research, and was featured on HIMSS TV, the AAAAI and Outcomes Rocket podcasts.
Recently, in an exclusive interview with Higher Education Digest, Dr Kagan shared her professional trajectory, insights on the most significant challenges faced by healthcare leaders today, her favorite non-academic book, future plans, words of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Dr. Kagan. Please tell us about your background and areas of interest.
Hi, I am a licensed registered professional nurse practicing in the United States, but my initial nursing degree was obtained in the city of Tashkent in Uzbekistan in 1996. Over the years, I have been afforded opportunities to practice across various healthcare settings and organizations that shaped my interests and influenced my career trajectory. One example is my work with patients at the World Trade Center Medical Screening and Monitoring program, where part of the program was aimed at monitoring patients’ physical and mental health longitudinally. There, we quickly learned that we needed a better way of collecting and analyzing data, which led to the implementation of electronic medical records, known as EMR, and hence, my interest in informatics. After obtaining my advanced degree in 2018, I was invited to teach graduate informatics students, which has been an extremely rewarding experience.
What do you love the most about your current role?
I was always passionate about education. Since I was a young child, I aspired to follow in my mother’s footsteps of being a special education teacher. However, my path in nursing led me to education, and I am privileged to teach the next generation of nurse leaders and innovators who will shape the landscape of tech-driven healthcare.
What are the most significant challenges facing healthcare leaders today, and how can we (higher education institutions) address these challenges?
There are several challenges, but the one that I find most pressing, and the one that we as educators can have direct impact on, is the development of competent nurses who are prepared to enter the workforce within the highly technological and complex healthcare environment. First, we must integrate competence-based education, including informatics competencies, into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum as outlined by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in the Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education document, which will prepare nurses in baccalaureate, master’s, and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs. Second, we need to offer professional development for practicing nurses and nursing faculty to ensure that they remain up to date on new competencies that arise in response to the emerging and changing healthcare technologies, models of care, healthcare regulations, and more.
What role do you think technology and digital transformation will play in shaping the future of healthcare businesses?
We are already seeing how technology is transforming the healthcare business. For example, since the COVID 19 pandemic telehealth has become the new norm and has transformed how patients interact with providers, eliminating access to care and cost barriers. Other examples are hospital at home, remote patient monitoring, virtual nursing, integration of robot companions for elderly and disabled, wearable health apps, and in some countries, prescription health apps that are now covered by insurance. These technologies are often powered by Artificial Intelligence in some capacity.
What are the key skills or competencies that healthcare business leaders need to succeed?
Healthcare leaders need to employ strong and diverse interdisciplinary teams and to collaborate with external partners to maximize their potential within the current healthcare ecosystem. Most importantly, they need to invest into their human capital, primarily nurses, as they are the largest workforce in healthcare and are the backbone of today’s healthcare system. Nurses are extremely innovative and are intimately familiar with all aspects of care. Leaders need to have the ability to not only listen to nurses, but to hear them. I always say, just ask the nurse and you will know what needs to be done to live up to the mission and vision of the organization. If they are part of the solution, and are given the tools/resources, the time, and the opportunity to innovate and problem-solve, it is a win-win for all.
What are your thoughts on gender equality and inclusion? Do you think there is a gender bias in your industry?
Nursing is predominantly a female profession, but we have seen a steady growth of males entering the profession. Currently, approximately 10-12% of registered nurses in the United States are men. Despite the fact that almost 90% of nurses are women, the gender pay gap continues to exist, with men earning higher wages and representing a significantly higher percentage in leadership and management positions.
Is there a particular person you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are?
There are several people who have shaped who I am and what I do, and I am deeply grateful to them. However, the one person who I am the most grateful to is my late mother, Zoya Liveyeva, who was my teacher, mentor, guide, and my best friend. Her strength, wisdom, kindness, and selfless nature was a beacon of light during some of the most trying and difficult times that our family endured including immigration, poverty, and illness.
What is your favorite non-academic book and why?
There are many books that I like and sometimes re-read either for leisure or as part of the monthly book club that I belong to. In my younger years, I loved reading books by Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Mark Twain, Boris Pasternak, and others. I enjoy reading poetry by my childhood favorites, Alexander Pushkin, fables by Ivan Krylov, and the One Thousand and One Nights Middle Eastern folktales. As a parent of two kids, I loved reading to them story rhymes by Korney Chukovsky, and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. I enjoy self-improvement books like Grit by Angela Duckworth and Who moved my cheese by Spencer Johnson. The most recent book that left an impression on me was Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor. He recounts his experiences in Nazi concentration camps and introduces his psychotherapeutic method, logotherapy, which emphasizes finding meaning in life through work, love, and suffering. He argues that even in the most dire circumstances, individuals have the freedom to choose their attitude and find purpose.
What is your biggest stress reliever?
Spending time with my family in places with natural beauty like the mountains or lakes is always relaxing. I also enjoy theater and music, which have always been present in my life.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
In the next 5 years I would like to be in the position of giving back through a non-profit professional food allergy nursing association (FANA) with an ultimate goal of improving patients’ outcomes and quality of life. I would like to work towards a more equitable and just healthcare system not only domestically but also globally, because there is a significant disparity in accessing affordable quality care in many parts of the world. While some countries are employing Artificial Intelligence and state of the art treatments, others are still struggling to have access to clean drinking water and basic medical care. I try to keep an open mind, have the ability to listen, and have the desire to learn in order to achieve my maximum potential and have an impact on issues that are important to me. These are the values I hope to impart onto my students as well.
Do you have any advice for women working in the higher education landscape?
I am grateful to my predecessors, women trailblazers in education, who have paved the way to affirm women’s place in academia. My advice for women in higher education is to believe in their abilities and advocate for themselves, seek out mentors and allies who can support their career growth, and to embrace leadership roles. I also recognize that many women are tough on themselves and put unnecessary burdens on themselves, jeopardizing their well-being. To that, I say, set boundaries, prioritize self-care, and find a balance between your personal and professional lives.
Is there a specific aspect of working in higher education you’re curious about?
Many nurses who transition to academia are often forced to take a pay cut, which negatively impacts their livelihood and undervalues their investments into getting terminal degrees. Lack of decent incentives leads to a shortage of qualified faculty to educate the future generation of nurses and nurse leaders. According to AACN’s, nursing schools in America turned away 65,766 qualified applications from undergraduate and graduate nursing programs in 2023 due to insufficient number of faculty, clinical preceptors, budget constraints just to name a few. Coupled with the projected nursing shortage as 1 million registered nurses are due to retire by 2030, and 52% of nurses are considering leaving their position, while people are living longer with chronic health conditions requiring more care, I am challenged with the question: How will we, as a society, solve for the shortage of qualified educators and by extension for the nursing workforce of tomorrow? Ultimately, we are in it together, and to quote Maya Angelou, once we know better, we must do better.