George will continue working at DHMC through October, but Linda von Reyn, a senior nurse leader at DHMC, has been appointed as the next CNO and will assume the role immediately, Jason Aldous, a DHMC spokesman, said in the e-mail. He added that Von Reyn will assume the responsibilities for the areas and projects that George was overseeing.
Neither George nor von Reyn could be reached for comment by press time.
Nurses' speculation in local media, including the Valley News, has questioned whether union talks are to blame for George's resignation. Nurses from DHMC are beginning to talk with the Massachusetts Nurses Association about forming a union, Deb Rigiero, associate director of organizing at MNA and a registered nurse, said. When employees begin such discussions, it is not unusual for hospital executives to begin immediate changes such as letting go of nursing executives or increasing salaries, she said. DHMC nurses will receive a four percent pay raise in October, Rigiero noted.
"[Hospital administrators] attempt to say, 'We are changing management and having an open-door policy. Give us a chance to improve before unionizing,'" Rigiero said.
However, Aldous said in the e-mail that George's resignation is a "personal matter," and that speculation about George's decision does not follow "DHMC's policies around the confidentiality of personnel matters."
"While I am sure that some will choose to characterize Vicki's resignation in whatever way they think will advance their particular agenda, the fact is that Vicki voluntarily submitted her resignation, and she is returning to the field of consulting where she was working prior to joining DHMC," he said in the e-mail.
Senior DHMC officials accepted George's resignation and notified all staff members via e-mail on Sept. 16, according to Aldous. Additionally, officials informed many nursing leaders of George's resignation and asked them to inform their staffs.
In their announcement, DHMC co-presidents Tom Colacchio and Nancy Formella noted George's efforts for shared governance for nurses and her leadership in seeking Magnet re-certification for the hospital through the American Nurses Credentialing Center, according to the e-mail.
The Magnet certification reviews a hospital's quality of care, management, treatment of nurses within the hospital and nursing leadership, according to the ANCC web site. More than 293 organizations have received Magnet designation, which lasts for five years, according to the site.
But Bruce Smith, a registered nurse at DHMC for nearly 25 years, said there were no dramatic or meaningful changes made by George since she began in 2006, and that upon meeting her he said, "she sort of made people feel like they weren't respected." He added that George was "a cynical hire because many of us predicted she wouldn't be here long; we felt used."
"It seemed very clear she came as an industry consultant," Smith said, adding, "Many of us felt that there was a conflict of interest with what she was doing, [re-authorizing the Magnet certification], with her focus in that area."
During Smith's tenure with the hospital, he said George was not "much better or worse" than the previous CNOs he has worked under and added that he has never felt that the CNOs have been accessible to individual nurses.
