Syl Trepanier, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Providence

Summary

Podcast Summary: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast with Dr. Syl Trepanier, Chief Nurse Executive at Providence Health System
Date: December 9, 2025
Host: Scott Becker

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Episode Overview

This episode features Dr. Syl Trepanier, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Providence, one of the nation’s largest non-profit, faith-based health systems. Dr. Trepanier discusses the scale and significance of leading a 36,000-strong nursing workforce, current challenges facing nurses, the imperative to evolve care models, the role of leadership support, exciting advancements in healthcare technology, and advice for emerging nurse leaders.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to Dr. Trepanier and Providence

• Dr. Syl Trepanier shares background: nearly 20 years in chief nurse roles, five years as Chief Nurse Executive at Providence.
• Providence: a large, mission-driven, faith-based health system serving communities with a focus on compassionate care.
• Nurse workforce at Providence: approximately 36,000 nurses, highlighting the scale and responsibility of nursing leadership.
  • Quote:

    "Honestly, the best way that I can honor them is to ensure that their voices are heard from the bedside side to the boardroom."
    — Dr. Trepanier [01:51]

Leadership Approach

• Emphasizes a governance model that ensures nurses’ concerns travel from the local level to system-wide leadership.
• Bidirectional communication and visible presence are key to effective leadership.
  • Quote:

    "Having presence and sharing a lot of curiosity is the best way you can lead 36,000 nurses."
    — Dr. Trepanier [01:51]

Nursing Trends & Workforce Pressures

• Some challenges persist or worsen despite years of change, mainly workload and patient care models remain largely unchanged.
• Dr. Trepanier voices concern about the “status quo” in care delivery and urges courage to transform care models to better meet future patient needs.
  • Quote:

    "The biggest risk that we have in healthcare in general and in our practice is the status quo. What got us here is not going to get us there tomorrow."
    — Dr. Trepanier [04:11]

Top Issues Facing Nurses Today

[05:05]

• Workplace Safety: Dramatic increase in workplace violence and safety concerns for nurses and all clinicians.
  • Quote:

    "I worry that when you look at how we approach care at the bedside... although everything has changed around us, that has not changed so much. And that's a huge opportunity for us."
    — Dr. Trepanier [03:46]

• Workforce Issues: Recruitment and retention challenges persist and look different post-pandemic. Engagement and adapting roles to fit changing environments are critical.
• Empowering Nurses: Best way to retain nurses is to collaborate with them to transform practice environments and leverage their expertise.
  • Quote:

    "We’re never going to have great outcomes if people don’t feel safe to begin with."
    — Dr. Trepanier [05:31]

Importance of Leadership Support

[07:11]

• Credits Providence's top leadership, notably Eric Wexler, for prioritizing clinical voices, especially top nurse and physician leaders. This alignment at executive levels empowers clinicians to serve patients optimally.
  • Quote:

    "He surrounds himself with clinicians, and his top two clinicians of nursing and physicians are very important to him. And I'm grateful for that."
    — Dr. Trepanier [08:14]

Looking Forward: Priorities and Excitement

[09:17]

• Immediate focus: Maintaining safety for both nurses and patients.
• Excitement about: Emerging technologies—AI, ambient listening, virtual care, robotics, wearables—and their potential to transform nursing practice and alleviate key stresses on staff.
  • Quote:

    "There's so much rapid advancement in technology that will help support the practice of nurses. And I'm excited to lean into that space."
    — Dr. Trepanier [09:45]

Advice to Emerging Nurse Leaders

[10:22]

• Emphasizes curiosity as a primary leadership trait for ongoing learning and building relationships.
• Values presence, intentionality, and vulnerability in leadership—recognizing that leaders never know everything and grow through learning from others.
  • Quote:

    "Showing up with presence and intent. And being vulnerable where it makes sense to be is also extremely, extremely important."
    — Dr. Trepanier [10:56]

  • Quote:

    "Leaning in with tons of curiosity... leveraging the power of those around you is how the team gets to be successful."
    — Dr. Trepanier [11:17]

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Memorable Light-Hearted Moments

• Dr. Trepanier, originally from Montreal, remains a committed hockey fan over football.
  [02:49]
• Banter about the Montreal Canadiens (les Habitants) and Dr. Trepanier’s "coolest name" prompted laughter and camaraderie.
  [10:01]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:37] – Dr. Trepanier’s background and Providence overview
• [01:28] – Scope of Providence’s nursing workforce
• [01:43] – Leadership philosophy and professional governance
• [03:46] – Post-pandemic nursing trends and care model challenges
• [05:05] – Top challenges: safety and workforce engagement
• [07:11] – Leadership support and culture at Providence
• [09:17] – Future priorities: safety, technology, and AI in nursing
• [10:22] – Advice to future nurse leaders

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Overall Tone and Key Takeaways

Dr. Trepanier speaks with humility, gratitude, and frankness about the pressing and persistent realities in nursing. While persistent challenges exist—especially around workplace safety and workforce retention—he maintains an optimistic view on emerging technology’s role and underlines the transformative power of engaged, curious, and relational leadership. The warmth between host and guest also adds a personal, relatable touch to the conversation.

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Notable Quotes

• "What got us here is not going to get us there tomorrow." — Dr. Trepanier [04:11]
• "We’re never going to have great outcomes if people don’t feel safe to begin with." — Dr. Trepanier [05:31]
• "Curiosity in leadership is one of the most important traits because you learn a lot." — Dr. Trepanier [10:27]
• "Leaning in with tons of curiosity... leveraging the power of those around you is how the team gets to be successful." — Dr. Trepanier [11:17]

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For Anyone Interested in Nursing Leadership or Healthcare Systems:
This episode offers valuable perspective on the evolving landscape of nursing, the hurdles faced by large health systems, and inspiring advice for anyone seeking to make a difference in care delivery or healthcare leadership.

Transcript

[A]

This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm thrilled today to visit with a great leader. We're joined today by Dr. Syl Tripanier. Dr. Tripanier is the chief nursing officer or executive at the Providence Health System. The Providence system is one of the great systems in the country. Incredibly committed. It's one of the largest, not for profit systems but also very faith based, very mission oriented, great leadership and a terrific organization. So thank you so much for joining us. Dr. Tripanier, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about the Providence system?

[B]

Absolutely. So thanks for having me. Scott. Cylle Tripanier and I serve as the chief nurse executive for Providence and as you mentioned, a faith based, mission driven healthcare system based in just outside of Seattle, Washington. I've been serving in this role going on close to five years now and I've served as, as a chief nurse in system and regional role since the mid like 2005 ish and been a chief nurse for over 20 years now. So it's an absolute pleasure and honor to be serving the nurses at Providence.

[A]

And how many nurses are there at Providence? I remember you telling me a couple years ago, and I know it's an astoundingly large number. Tell us how many nurses there are in the system.

[B]

Around 36,000.

[A]

I mean that is literally incredible. And talk about what it's like to lead a team of 30,000 nurses and how you moved from nursing into leadership.

[B]

Well, it's an absolute honor to be able to serve for all of these, of these voices. And honestly.

The best way that I can honor them is to ensure that their voices are heard from the bedside side to the, to the boardroom. So at Providence, for instance, we very much like my other colleagues are leveraging, you know, professional governance models where we create spaces for nurses to bring practice issues locally. And that makes audit all, you know, its way up to, up to me and you know, bidirectionally and so having presence and sharing a lot of curiosity is the, is the best way you can, you can lead 36,000 nurses and.

[A]

You'Ve spent time as well at Texas Tech. You're from Montreal originally. And talk for a second about, you know, more of a hockey fan or a football fan at this point in life.

[B]

Well, that is an interesting question. Still to this day, way much more of a hockey fan than a football player. That has not, that has not changed.

[A]

And so I'm going to ask you the question for the day which you of course know the answer to. When people say le habitante, I'm saying it incorrectly, I'm sure. What are they referring to?

[B]

Now? You have me stumped here for a.

[A]

Second because I pronounce it so badly. Lace Habitantes, the Montreal Canadiens. But I said it poorly, so it's my fault.

Move on from that. But tell us, sort of, when you look at nursing today and trends the last few years, what does it look like today versus a couple years ago? Are the shortages less acute? Are they more acute? What are you watching currently in terms of nursing staffing and taking care of the nursing population?

[B]

You know, it's like some stuff has changed so much and some has not. And not for the good, I would say. I'll start us off with. I worry that when you look at how we approach care at the bedside, although everything has changed around us, that has not changed so much. And that's a huge opportunity for us. I've been saying for the last few years, and the older I get into this profession, the more affirmation I have around this statement, which is the biggest risk that we have in healthcare in general and in our practice is the status quo. What got us here is not going to get us there tomorrow. And we have to be laser focused and we have to find the courage to change our models of care so that they can meet the needs of the patients of tomorrow. And that's the part that I worry about the most and where we need to spend a lot of our energies today.

[A]

Thank you. And when you look at sort of the number one issue facing nurses today, or the number one or two issues facing nurses day, what do you think about when you think about the issue, issues that they're facing, you're facing. Talk a bit about that.

[B]

It's hard to narrow it down to two, but I will do my best. I would say one of the most important is the environment in which they practice today and the increased level of violence.

That is brought in our healthcare environments and where they practices and more and more, it's so sad to hear and see that how nurses don't feel safe in the environment. So all of what we can do, we're never going to have great outcomes if people don't feel safe to begin with. And you know, we're talking about nurses today, but that's really for all clinicians. So that's a priority. Safety for our patients is as equally as important as safety for our caregivers, our nurses and the like. So. So I want to call out safety as a. As a number one priority for Everyone. The other priority which still remains to this day is, and I'll say like, workforce. And from a large perspective, I'm thinking of, yes, recruitment, retention, and all that is very important. And you and I know that it looks very different today than it did a few years ago. I mean, certainly the pandemic has changed everything, and it's changed how we need to engage with our nurses. So the priority, quite frankly, is to identify.

The best models where we can best leverage nurses for their knowledge and their expertise.

So finding them and making sure that you have the right and retain them. And I believe that the best way we can retain them is to actually work very closely with them, to change how they practice and how we want them to be leveraged in today's environment.

[A]

Thank you. In looking forward, or maybe take one step back, you've got tremendous leadership at Providence. I take it that leadership today.

Must be between Eric Wexler and the entire team. Must be very supportive of the nursing part of the system. So it's such an important part of the system. And how important is that support from leadership, including yourself, to having a great nurse culture and great community?

[B]

Oh, it's huge. It's very important. We are so very grateful for Eric's leadership and how he values the clinicians in his entire organization. I, for one, am very grateful that as he took the helm of our system and redefined.

His leadership team and who he feel is important to be around him every day, to guide.

And the likes he surrounds himself with, with clinicians and his top two clinicians of nursing and physicians are very important to him. And I'm grateful for that. And our profession is very grateful for that because.

We find that we're able to better align ourselves with those who touch our patients every day. And we have to be laser focused on that because that's. I mean, that's our mission in life, right? That's our whole intent of why we exist, is to. Is to care for people at their most vulnerable moment. So he's a great leader and a great partner.

And that allows us to be more effective in what we do every day.

[A]

That's fantastic.

As we head into this next year, what are you most focused on and excited about?

[B]

So I am most focused on making sure that we keep our environment safe for nurses and for our patients. And what I am really most excited about is technology and AI. And we have such great opportunities in healthcare and with nursing itself, there is clear opportunity to leverage, for instance, ambient listening, virtual care, robots, wearables. There's so much rapid advancement and technology that will help support the practice of nurses. And I'm excited to lean into that space.

[A]

Thank you. And Syl, you've got the coolest name of anybody get to interview Syl Trippin. Yay. So I don't know where to go with that question, but here is the next question. Besides having an incredibly cool name, what advice do you give to emerging leaders who want to have great leadership careers as well as great nursing careers? What advice would you give to an emerging leader?

[B]

I would give them the following advice. I would say lean in with tons of curiosity. Curiosity and leadership is one of the one of the most important traits because you learn a lot and.

You also develop relationships as you learn your way through. I would also remind aspiring leaders that.

Showing up with presence and intent.

And being vulnerable where it makes sense to be is also extremely, extremely important. We don't know everything. You never know everything. And that's why I started with showing up with lots of curiosity, because leveraging the power of those around you is how the team gets to be successful.

[A]

Thank you very, very much. So I love following The Providence system, Dr. Tripping.

[B]

Yay.

[A]

I love the system. I love following it. I love getting a chance to visit with you. It's an uncommon pleasure. You're the only person from Montreal I got to talk to today, and I say that jokingly, but it's true. But I actually love visiting with you. Thank you so much for joining us today on the Back of Healthcare podcast. What a pleasure.

[B]

Thanks for having me.