Connect

Our Connect article series “Hope at Work” showcases inspiring stories about how every one of our team members contributes to UVA Health’s 10-year Strategic Plan: “One Future Together|Health and Hope for All.” No matter where you work, you have an opportunity to inspire hope in others. These stories show how.

“You and your career are a work of art: each different, unique, and special beyond description. The purpose that you fulfill daily could not be more noble or more honorable. You make a difference. You are a gift to your patients and families!”

— From Barbara Hocking to team, Nurses Week, May 2023

UVA Community Health Chief Nursing Officer Barbara Hocking, EdD, MPA, BSN, had a gift with words — not just when she put pen to paper — but when she interacted with fellow nurses, medical staff, colleagues across the system, and patients each day of her esteemed career. Many would agree she never met a stranger — anyone who crossed her path became someone she was invested in learning more about. Sadly, Barbara passed away unexpectedly July 12, 2023. 

When asked how she would describe her CNO role, she had replied, “I am truly a servant leader. I support the nurse leaders who in turn support the staff, who are the ones touching our patients and caring for them.”

From Maine to Alaska, Barbara had a breadth of experience leading health systems across the country. Her nursing career spanned 35 years — beginning in emergency, perioperative, and rehabilitation settings. Prior to coming to UVA Health, she spent 15 years as a consultant where she contributed to increased quality and safety practices, positive financial outcomes, and effective team member development. Her years of clinical and operational experience, and passion for patient care, gave her the tools to expertly navigate transition and adversity. But beyond her experience, she was well known for her wisdom, kindness, and humor — team members often share their favorite “Barbara story.” 

Empowering Nursing

Barbara firmly believed the discipline of nursing is driven by values and standards and those standards are driven by research that determines best practices. She believed the profession is never static, and quality should be our "true north."

While leading nursing teams at three hospitals through the transition from Novant Health to UVA Health, she worked tirelessly to create an organizational framework to establish and uphold the values and standards of nursing excellence within UVA Health. Her framework for unifying UVA Community Health nursing across sites was comprised of three main parts: a Center for Nursing Excellence, a central nursing leadership team, and a shared governance model.

“Barbara was transformational — she took us from a time of chaos, as we were emerging from the pandemic and entering a time of transition to UVA Health, and created a structure that empowered nursing to grow professionally and for nurses to be the best they could be,” recalls Kathy Garrison, MSN, RN, Magnet Program Manager, UVA Health Prince William Medical Center.

“Under her leadership, quality improved and data improved. A core tenet of Magnet is transformational leadership which says, ‘Transformational leaders are ones who establish an approach to cultivate an environment in which nurse leaders create a vision and support other nurses to lead change.’ And she did that.”

The Center for Nursing Excellence for UVA Community Health was created under her guidance to promote excellence in nursing practice by advancing evidence-based clinical practice in collaboration with the leadership team and shared governance. It serves as the clearinghouse for practice trends, ideas, concerns, and areas of improvement. This center manages oversight of Magnet processes such as shared governance, clinical ladder, peer review, nursing ethics, and National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI).

“Barbara’s vision for the Center of Nursing Excellence was to have a forum and process by which her nursing leaders could hear the voice of the bedside nurse and lead practice, policy, nursing professional governance, Magnet, Nursing Peer Review, innovation, equipment/capital requests, clinical ladder, technology, and resources for nurses,” explains Tori Martin, MSN, RN, Director, Center of Nursing Excellence. 

A Force for Good

“Knowing it would take years, she was eager to start with the UVA Health Epic transition, shared governance, and peer review,” Tori adds. For example, in an organ donation case, she was adamant in communicating pride for the team's work and support of the grieving family. She believed our nursing team was making a tremendous impact in our community. "Barbara was a true transformational leader with clear vision, wisdom, and work ethic. She was a force for good, for the patient, for the profession of nursing, and for continuing education for all."

The central nursing leadership team at UVA Community Health was created to establish and uphold the practice in all clinical settings, while encouraging multi-directional communication flow. Functions include prioritizing items from the clearinghouse, analyzing pertinent data, and writing policy that will establish practice.

Agent of Change

“I admired her ability to connect at a deep personal level with team members, regardless of their role within the organization,” said Eyad Abdel Latif, RN, MSN, MBA, Senior Director of Acute Care Services, Hemodialysis, Outpatient Infusion, Behavioral Health Inpatient, UVA Health Prince William Medical Center. “As our leader, she encouraged us to be agents of change. She would start meetings with her motto, “The status quo is no mo’.” And she was always clear that if we didn’t agree on something, she would always respect others’ opinions. That is a hallmark of who Barbara was.”

Finally, shared governance provides the structure that enables staff and leaders to share in the establishing and upholding of nursing standards. Contributing to the idea clearinghouse and giving feedback on policy establishment in accordance with the "ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses, the ANA Nursing: Scope & Standard for Nursing Practice," and the UVA Health mission, vision, and values will be the hallmark of shared governance.

“Barbara saw so much potential in her role to make positive changes in the hospitals and communities they served,” says Liz Estrada, RN, CEN, TENS, Interim ED Manager and Associate CNO, UVA Health Haymarket Medical Center. “Her vision for nursing, specialty services, growth, and stability was mesmerizing. Her quiet demeanor, excitement about the direction of her community hospitals and her love for nursing came out in every conversation I had with her.

Liz adds, "In my 40+ years of nursing, I’ve never met or worked with a leader who compared to her. She has truly made a positive mark on my life and nursing. Her legend will live on in the memories she created in our medical communities.”

One UVA Health Team

Barbara established these important endeavors, elevating nursing staff and broadening nursing leadership. And she was excited to dig in further, now that all three medical centers had completed the transition to become One UVA Health Team.

When asked what she was most proud of in her career in an interview shortly before her passing, Barbara humbly answered, “The individuals who allowed me to mentor them. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to influence and teach others and to watch them go on to do the same. It’s that multiplication that lifts the entire profession, which means that more patients get better care.”

Her signature phrase: “Onward and upward.” While the loss of her leadership, her partnership, and her mentorship are felt deeply throughout UVA Community Health, anyone who worked with her, who met her at the bedside, or even in the halls of the medical centers has been touched in a very special way. Taking the lessons she taught others about nursing, leading by example with a positive outlook on life — UVA Community Health will move onward and upward, carrying on her legacy.

On Thursday, July 27, 2023, colleagues gathered at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center (and livestreamed) with Barbara’s son Marc and his wife Roxanne to honor her legacy. Her professional journey and achievements were shared, along with personal reflections, memories, and “Barbara stories.”

A memorial fund in Barbara’s honor will provide nursing scholarships or grants to deserving individuals pursuing nursing education, including aspiring nurses entering undergraduate or graduate programs, and provide education, training, credentialing, and simulation lab learning for nurses already in practice. To donate, visit the Barbara Hocking Memorial Fund. 

Living ASPIRE Values Every Day

Accountability, Stewardship, Professionalism, Integrity, Respect, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. These are words that describe Barbara’s behaviors, as evidenced in a story shared by Zan Zaidi, MD, UVA Community Health Chief Medical Officer: “Barbara called me one day to ask if she could bring a friend to my office. Her ‘friend’ was a 92-year-old man, who seemed to be limping, she had just met in the hallway of UVA Health Prince William Medical Center. 

"As she chatted with him, he told her his life story: he had outlived many friends, all of his doctors, and was having trouble with his joints and needed a referral to a new doctor, but no longer knew any of the local doctors. In her brief conversation with him, Barbara learned his cell phone battery had died, and he lacked an internet connection at home, and a reliable method of being contacted. 

"She brought him to my office, we discussed his life story, and got him set up with the appropriate follow-up appointments. Barbara wasn’t going to let him leave until he had everything he needed.”