Health Care

Women Who Lead in Nursing:

Cameron Murphy of Saint Francis
Hospital-Memphis
Enlarge
Cameron Murphy, chief nursing officer, Saint Francis Hospital-Memphis
GREG CAMPBELL

IN THIS ARTICLE
• Cameron MurphyPerson

By Shoshana Cenker
Feb 6, 2023

Listen to this article 2 min

If there ever was a time for leadership, the pandemic era has been that occasion. And
from directing nursing operations at hospitals serving the region to educating the next
generation of nurses, what profession has risen to meet COVID and all its related
challenges more than nursing?

For Memphis Business Journal’s next group of Women Who Lead, honoring nursing
professionals seemed to be another logical choice. Also logical is highlighting the
accomplishments of women who have broken through the glass ceiling and helped
define their organizations.

Each woman chosen by MBJ’s editorial team has qualities that define leadership — from
life-or-death decisions to essential care and on to providing crucial pandemic in-the-
moment guidance.

Within nursing, the 11 Women Who Lead honorees are providing critical leadership at
health systems such as Regional One Health and the VA Medical Center Memphis, and
specialized hospitals such as Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital, while others are leading colleges of nursing at the University of
Memphis and Southwest Tennessee Community College, among others.

Women Who Lead is an ongoing monthly feature in MBJ sponsored by Paragon Bank.

Cameron Murphy

Chief nursing officer, Saint Francis Hospital-Memphis

Cameron Murphy says that the “CNO role is complex and challenging but rewarding.” In
her current position for a year, as she continues to learn and develop as a CNO, one of
her professional goals “is to cultivate an environment that attracts and retains talent
from the bedside care team to nurse executives.” She’s also focused on partnering with
health care executives throughout the U.S. to share ideas and strategies on improving
patient care.

She’s pinpointed the same trend as others in this section: challenges with nursing
shortages. A Health Affairs analysis found that the number of registered nurses
decreased by more than 100,000 from 2020 to 2021 — the largest reduction in over four
decades. Cameron is proud of the work Saint Francis has done recently to combat the
challenges, including developing and implementing a Novice Nurse Program, enhancing
recruitment/retention strategies, building relationships with schools in the community,
and implementing wage increases.

Quotable

“My biggest career achievement has been to see the success of those on my teams. Each
step along my career, I have been blessed to be a part of mentoring and developing good
leaders into great leaders. To watch professional growth turn into career success for
others is the ultimate fulfillment.”