The Nurses Preventing Readmissions with Catherine Terry

What if there was a nurse whose whole job was making sure patients don’t end up right back in the hospital? Catherine Terry started as a CNA in her small Texas hometown and is now Chief Nursing Officer at Sound Physicians, where she champions the Clinical Performance Nurse (CPN) role. In this episode, she shares the patient who gave her a handmade doll in 1997 that still sits on her desk, why she walked away from a leadership title to take a frontline job, and how she became Sound Physicians’ first CNO without ever wanting to lead. We also get into the so-called nursing shortage, the RaDonda Vaught case and license protection, who carries the liability when AI makes clinical decisions, and how real-time patient feedback at the bedside builds trust and gets patients home safely. If you’re a CNA, LVN, or RN wondering where your career can go, or a healthcare leader trying to cut readmissions, this one’s for you. Timestamps 0:00 Introduction: Catherine’s journey from CNA to CNO 1:30 Meet Catherine Terry, CNO at Sound Physicians 2:18 What is a Clinical Performance Nurse? 3:37 How the CPN role works day to day 4:29 Who can become a CPN? (No advanced degree needed) 4:45 The 6 to 8 month onboarding and the analytics nurses never learn in school 5:31 Rosa’s own CNA origin story 6:20 Why the CNA years shaped Catherine’s whole career 7:08 The doll from 1997: a patient she never forgot 8:00 Lessons from being a one-on-one sitter 9:12 Advice for LVNs: “Keep your eyes wide open” 10:23 Creating an LVN partner role at Sound Physicians 10:43 ANA opening membership to LPNs and LVNs in 2027 and the return of team nursing 11:41 Why bedside leadership wasn’t enough 12:55 Finding Sound Physicians while working graveyard in the ER 14:09 The interview that showed her patient problems are the same everywhere 14:51 Stepping out of leadership and leading from the front 16:16 Growing from frontline CPN to regional VP 19:20 Becoming Sound Physicians’ first CNO in 2018 20:24 “Chat with Cats”: staying connected to a remote team 21:46 What is Sound Physicians? 23:16 CPNs are on site, not remote, plus the Ambassador CPN role 25:46 Working on planes vs. resting on planes 27:32 The billion-dollar question 28:12 Investing in proactive, preventive care after COVID 29:37 Funding community-based nursing roles nurses can afford to stay in 30:45 The myth of the nursing shortage 31:05 License protection and the RaDonda Vaught case 32:00 AI and who carries the liability 33:10 How the work environment has changed for new nurses 34:28 The “one good idea” that became real-time patient feedback 35:30 How real-time feedback builds trust and smoother discharges 37:20 Why the team approach matters 37:41 Closing and how to connect with Catherine Connect with Catherine Terry on LinkedIN Email: cabshire@soundphysicians.com Sound Physicians: soundphysicians.com About Your Host Rosa Hart, BSN, RN, SCRN, FLAA, is a former Neuro ICU nurse and stroke nurse navigator, podcast host, speaker, and author of Speak Up, Start Now. Nurse Rosa’s INsights brings you conversations with the nurses, leaders, and innovators changing how healthcare works. 📖 Get Rosa's book: Speak Up, Start Now 📲 Follow @NurseRosaSpeaks on social media 👍 Like, subscribe, and share this episode with a nurse who needs to hear it