DGTL Voices with Ed Marx
Episode: The Heart of Nursing Leadership (ft. Dr. Kathleen Winston)
Date: December 18, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode centers on the evolving landscape of nursing leadership and the critical challenges facing the nursing profession, particularly around shortages, leadership development, and the role of technology. Host Ed Marx welcomes Dr. Kathleen Winston—seasoned nurse, educator, former Dean of Nursing, and passionate advocate for leadership pipelines in nursing. Their candid conversation blends personal history, career insights, and practical guidance for the future of nursing, providing both inspiration and actionable takeaways for current and aspiring nurse leaders.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Dr. Winston’s Background & Early Influences
- Military Family Roots: Dr. Winston shares her richly diverse upbringing as the daughter of a career Air Force pilot, which involved frequent moves and exposure to various cultures and social environments.
- Impact of Loss: The formative experience of her father being listed as missing in action (MIA) during the Vietnam War (05:51) led her to adulthood early, thrusting her into a caretaker role for her six siblings and shaping her future approach to leadership and care.
- Quote:
“That particular experience at a young age caused me to become an adult a little sooner than I might have been... a surrogate parent and certainly a caretaker.” — Dr. Kathleen Winston (05:53)
2. Pathway into Nursing & Leadership
- Unexpected Journey: Dr. Winston entered nursing not as a calling but based on practical advice from a friend—yet quickly fell in love with the profession (07:51).
- “I thank God every day that I fell in love with it. And I really found my dream job without ever having dreamed it.” — Dr. Winston (08:46)
- Rapid Responsibility: She became a registered nurse at 19, crediting informal mentorship from experienced clinical nurses for her early growth (09:09).
- Leadership Trajectory: Transitioned from bedside nursing to academia and ultimately to dean roles, motivated by a belief in the power of relationships and mentorship in nursing.
3. Reflections on Nursing Shortage: Causes and Solutions
- Persistent Shortage: Dr. Winston recalls that nursing shortages have been a recurring topic for decades (14:15). She points to demographic shifts, an aging workforce, expanding opportunities for women, and insufficient education pipelines as primary contributors.
- “I think sometimes where we really have the shortage, when we talk about the shortage, is at that bedside. How do we keep our nurses at the bedside?” — Dr. Winston (15:45)
- Specific Pipeline Gaps: The shortage is most acute at the bedside and in nursing education, with trickle-down effects throughout the profession.
- Strategic Approach: Emphasizes the need to define the precise “profile” of nurses required, shore up mentorship, and innovate in education and practice opportunities.
4. Technology’s Role in Shaping Nursing’s Future
- Historical Context: Dr. Winston compares the current moment with the late-90s tech boom, when many professionals transitioned from technology into nursing (17:54).
- Present & Future: She is optimistic about AI and digital tools enhancing nursing practice—not replacing the human element, but freeing nurses for more patient care.
- “How do we use AI to make the electronic...health record much more supportive...and give us the opportunity...to be back with our patients at the bedside?” — Dr. Winston (19:34)
- New Opportunity Pipelines: Technological advances open up fresh career paths for digitally fluent nurses, merging care expertise with tech savviness.
5. Compassion and Empathy: Inherent or Learned?
- Nature and Nurture: Dr. Winston believes compassion and empathy are both inherent and developed. Life experiences (such as early caregiving roles) prepare individuals, but mentoring and nursing itself can strengthen these traits (21:07).
- “Nursing is really a relationship experience for both that patient and for that nurse. And you become a much more compassionate, caring...individual.” — Dr. Winston (22:34)
6. Advice for New Nurse Graduates
- Confidence & Courage: Dr. Winston’s recurring message is about fostering confidence and courage—these enable competence and commitment.
- “Our job as their mentors and their leaders...is to help them gain confidence and to find courage. And that...will allow their competence and their commitment to thrive.” — Dr. Winston (23:00)
7. Work-Life Balance for Leaders
- Personal Reflection: As a self-identified “type A” personality, Dr. Winston shares her journey towards intentional balance, including time by Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks and cherished moments with her dog (23:42).
- “Creating balance...having intention about finding balance in one's life...is huge.” — Dr. Winston (23:45)
8. The Gift of Nursing
- Meaning & Impact: Dr. Winston closes by reminding listeners that nursing’s greatest gift is making a tangible difference in intimate moments of patients’ lives.
- “You’re given the opportunity to make a difference in a meaningful and impactful way...in the most of intimate ways. That’s a gift that not everyone is blessed to receive.” — Dr. Winston (26:27)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Resilience and Finding Good in Each Day:
“Not every day is a good day, but there’s something good in every day... I look to find at the end of the day: what is it...that was good today, despite all the things that were challenging?”
— Dr. Kathleen Winston (02:15) -
On the Unique Call of Nursing:
“I love that there are people who still feel that nursing is their calling. And while I don’t believe that I personally was called to nursing...I really look at how well prepared I was for it through my childhood experience.”
— Dr. Winston (21:29) -
On the Future with AI:
“How do we use AI to make the electronic medical record...much more supportive...and give us...the opportunity to be back with our patients at the bedside. I feel like that’s been a gap in our practice for a while.”
— Dr. Winston (19:36) -
On the Role of Leaders for New Nurses:
“Our job as their mentors and their leaders...is to help them gain confidence and to find courage. And that those two things will allow their competence and their commitment to thrive in their work ahead.”
— Dr. Winston (23:00) -
On Nursing’s Profound Privilege:
“The gift of nursing...is that you’re given the opportunity to make a difference in a meaningful and impactful way...in the most of intimate ways. That’s a gift that not everyone is blessed to receive.”
— Dr. Winston (26:27)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 00:50–01:43: Dr. Winston's eclectic playlist and nostalgic music influences
- 02:12–02:42: Personal mantra: finding something good in every day
- 02:56–07:29: Dr. Winston’s family story and its impact
- 07:51–08:57: How she chose nursing
- 09:09–12:34: Early nursing roles and path to leadership
- 13:53–17:32: Nursing shortage roots and solutions
- 17:54–20:26: Technology, AI, and future of nursing
- 21:07–22:48: Compassion in nursing—nature versus nurture
- 23:00–23:24: Advice for new nurse graduates
- 23:42–25:33: Achieving balance and finding renewal
- 26:21–26:48: Final thoughts on the privilege of nursing
Episode Tone
Warm, conversational, and honest. Dr. Winston blends humor, humility, and deep wisdom rooted in real-world experience; Ed Marx maintains a thoughtful and engaging presence, gently guiding the conversation toward actionable insights and reflection.
Summary Takeaways
- Nursing leadership is forged not only in formal roles or advanced degrees, but out of lived experiences, resilience, mentorship, and a deep commitment to relationship-based care.
- Persistent challenges (especially workforce shortages) require a nuanced, multi-pronged approach: better educational pipelines, clearer profile definitions, and welcoming technology as a tool to reinvest in the human side of nursing.
- Compassion and courage are central to the profession. Both can be cultivated, are indispensable at the bedside, and form the core of true leadership.
- Nursing remains one of the most profoundly impactful—and personally fulfilling—careers, offering a unique privilege to change lives in intimate, meaningful ways.