We can integrate technology to enhance humanity in healthcare. 

October 24, 2026

Technology is a tool. People can use technology to support cognitive needs. At a basic level, people need access to data and information to make decisions. However, those decisions must also be based on knowledge for the most effective outcomes. 

For example, consider something as simple as the name of an over-the-counter medication. While many are familiar with the brand name of Tylenol, fewer are familiar that the active ingredient in the brand Tylenol, is acetaminophen. Acetaminophen is the generic name of the medication. Acetaminophen can be purchased over the counter as well as a generic brand, often located right next to the Tylenol. They both have the same active ingredient. However, the prices are often different. While not everyone is exposed to this knowledge, every nurse, pharmacist, doctor learns it as part of their educational preparation. 

Now, what if there was a way to bridge this knowledge gap for patients and people who could use this insight while deciding about what medication to buy at CVS or Walgreens? This is a place where technology could be helpful to other humans by being a knowledge resource as it is unlikely the pharmacist could answer every over-the-counter medication question that comes through each day. In this example, the direct beneficiary would be the person (who may or may not be considered a patient at that time). Healthcare or the care of health is a daily ongoing event, not just when one needs to see a doctor or go to the hospital.

A second example where additional knowledge would be beneficial is in the hospital setting. In the example I am about to share, the direct beneficiary of the additional knowledge is the nurse. What you may or may not know is that nurses often are looking for equipment around the unit to assist with administering medications. Many intravenous medications require a piece of equipment called a syringe pump. Syringe pumps are notoriously hard to find on a patient care unit. 

So, sometimes nurses, who know they will need a syringe pump will proactively seek one out ahead of the scheduled medication time. They may search supply rooms, empty rooms,and/or other places where there may be a syringe pump. There is no systematic way to identify this essential piece of equipment to deliver meds. The patient may never know the struggle the nurse is facing trying to make sure the medication is delivered on time. 

If one is found, the nurse may opt to hide it somewhere for later. However, what if this did not have to happen? What if there was a way to tag the equipment and link it to a find my equipment search tool available for nurses across the hospital? We know the technology exists. We know there is a need. The benefit would be to the nurses directly and indirectly to the patients. 

I just offered two very simple examples of how humans could benefit from more knowledge to make informed decisions. The additional knowledge can come through technology solutions that would benefit the person or user seeking out answers. While these two examples are relatively simple in terms of the problem, they do represent the approach that offers a human need for an answer that can be supported through technology. We must keep this perspective in mind as new technologies are presented that may or may not be solving a problem faced by a human. 

To be a nurse.

November 02, 2025

Today, Sunday, I moved a bit slower through the day than normal. In doing so, I happened to notice this sign in my office. The sign has been on my wall for the last several years. I picked it up at a local gift shop one day during the height of the covid pandemic. I read through it again today and thought I would share here for others to have a chance to read and reflect on relating to their own experiences as a nurse, or perhaps as a patient that has had the opportunity to be cared for by a nurse.

Sincerely, ~ Dr. Kelley

Induction into the American Academy of Nursing

October 20, 2025    |   , ,

On Saturday, October 18th, 2025, I had the honor of being inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing in Washington DC. I was honored alongside 300 other talented nurses from across the globe to join the 3400 Fellows in the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN).

The American Academy of Nursing (AAN)’s purpose is to serve, “the public by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Academy Fellows are inducted into the organization for their extraordinary contributions to improve health locally and globally.” During the ceremony, I learned that there are over 3400 Fellows in the Academy who are accomplished and recognized leaders in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia. 

When speaking, teaching, or writing about nursing and associated topics of interest, I will often be sure to mention that nurses belong in all places where healthcare decisions are made. I share this statement so that one can imagine a career path that both suits the talents and interests while matching an aligned expertise need for society.

As I listened to my fellow inductee introductions, it was clear to me that the statement I have shared in an aspirational way to encourage others, is not only possible, but it is happening all around us across the globe.

There will always be new needs for nursing knowledge, expertise, interests, products, processes, services, roles. How we, as nurses, care will continue to shift as society evolves to further digitize healthcare. Yet, people need the care, knowledge, and expertise of nurses and healthcare professionals to truly deliver human centered care.

“If it is not documented, it is not done.”

October 16, 2025

As a nurse, this phrase holds the same meaning regardless of the clinical area where you may be providing direct care. The phrase is reflecting on the role of nursing documentation in nursing care delivery.

I am one of the nurses who began my nursing career using paper based charts and documentation records. Little time was spent on learning how to chart on the paper flowsheets, medication administration record (MAR) and nursing notes. The same is true of getting and giving report.

I learned from my preceptor during my first Registered Nurse (RN) role as a new graduate nurse. As a travel nurse, the orientation time was at most a day or two with another nurse. Thus, little focus was placed on how to document on the paper record for the patient.

Many of the nurses working today began their career on electronic nursing documentation. The choices of what one can document far exceeds what was visible on a paper based flowsheet. For a new graduate nurse, differentiating between all of the different fields and deciding which must be completed and/or which are not necessary for that patient is not easy to decipher when there is an underlying thought of:

“If it is not documented, it is not done.”

In Episode 8 of KnowMyVoice®, I discuss the context behind this phrase. I also explore how we may begin to shift away from something that feels like a “have to do” toward something that resembles a way to communicate through a digital form for the benefit of the patient.

Nursing documentation is a requirement but it is a requirement because of what the documentation provides to deliver the care patients need to make the best informed decisions as well as monitor progress and intervene as necessary.

Take a listen when time permits. Subscribe to the podcast and stay tuned for the next episode.

American Business Women’s Day

September 22, 2025

Today, September 22nd, is American Business Women’s Day!


Here you see me headed off to my 1st day of Kindergarten. However, the way I am carrying that Care Bear lunchbox may have been be a foreshadowing to the future.


I pursued an MBA at Northeastern while working on my MS in Nursing Administration to understand healthcare from a business perspective.

Why did care delivery feel so hard as a nurse? The time I got to spend with patients was never the incredibly challenging part. The challenging part was trying to get to the patient to deliver the necessary care. There was always some form of a barrier that made even the simplest of acts more challenging than they needed to be. I would often wonder why other industries did not appear as chaotic in the day to day.

I imagined that if I pursued an MBA and understood healthcare from the business lens, perhaps I could better make an impact on the nurses who are in the direct care delivery roles in the future.

All of that being said, I never imagined going on to start businesses after obtaining the degree.

Yet, it happened and the mindset instilled from my MBA Program at Northeastern helped me in so many ways both in and out of my entrepreneurial endeavors.

From a national historical perspective, there were over 12 million women who owned businesses in the U.S as of 2024. The day was formally recognized in 1986, nearly 40 years ago now.

~ Dr. Kelley

‘Dare to Dream’

September 21, 2025

I am in the heart of marathon training at the current moment. Thankfully, the humidity and outright heat has largely passed in Boston to better support the longer runs that are needed to prepare.

Yesterday, I geared my mind up for the longest run yet this season, somewhere between 10-12 miles. So, I planned a route that would support such distance and picked an area by the ocean.

Sometimes the mental lift of knowing that distance, time requirements and overall physical demands on the body could absolutely psych you out. I find this to often be the hardest part.

Starting, and knowing the challenge ahead for any big goal, can be paralyzing at the beginning. Paralyzing to the point that maybe you do not even start.

In the example of my run, the whole time I ran, I kept having to keep my mind on the goal, even when I thought it was hard. (Spoiler alert: it is ALWAYS hard for me ). I wanted to stop after 1 mile but if I did, I would then need to make up the distance today or tomorrow. I would then start down a spiral of discouragement, and disbelief in whether or not I could make the half marathon in 3 weeks.

It becomes a cycle. I am using running as an example here but apply it to any large goal.

You are often capable of more than you think. However, to hit that upper limit, sometimes referred to as a ‘ceiling’, of what is possible for your goals, you must depend on several different internal characteristics.

Some of these include:

  • A willingness to try,
  • Determination,
  • Discomfort in the work,
  • An ability to let the naysayers say what they might say to you or around you, and keep going anyway,
  • A desire to see what your ceiling may be at that time,
  • and so many others that do not photograph well for social media platforms 🙂 .

As I was running around the Marina yesterday, at a point where there was not a single human around me, I looked up and noticed this boat.

The boat’s name is ‘Dare to Dream’. I stopped, took a picture and then kept going.

Daring to dream includes the ability to think beyond your current moment and envision the future, no matter how big or small the goal may be. However, it also includes moving forward, both physically and mentally forward.

Sometimes, to begin to bring those dreams into fruition, it is literally taking one step in front of the other, embracing the uncomfortable stretch of the ind and body for whatever it may be…. Dare to Dream

Enjoy your Sunday,

~ Dr. Kelley