This article was originally published on May 6, 2025, when Covista was Adtalem Global Education. It was updated on February 5, 2026.
 

As health systems across the country confront persistent workforce shortages, rising patient acuity, and the accelerating integration of new technologies, nursing leadership is more important than ever.

At the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), Chief Nursing Executive Peggy Norton-Rosko, DNP ’18, is helping shape a unified, systemwide approach to nursing practice—one that strengthens clinical excellence, expands workforce capacity and supports nurses at every stage of their careers.

Norton-Rosko oversees nursing practices across 13 hospitals and 150 care sites, representing 25% of all hospital care in Maryland. Since joining UMMS in 2024, she has been a driving force behind the system’s transition toward a fully integrated academic health system rather than several different member organizations. Her work centers on integration of clinical practice, elevation of nursing practice and standardization of approaches for operating procedures across the system.  

A Career Built on Clinical Care and Leadership Growth

Norton Rosko began her career as a clinical nurse at the bedside and an advanced practice nurse with a group of cardiac surgeons—roles that grounded her in the realities of nursing practice and the importance of teamwork. Leadership wasn’t her initial goal, she reflects, but after 15 years in clinical nursing roles, an opportunity to manage an intensive care unit with a group of nurses she knew and trusted opened the door to a new path.

That role revealed something powerful: leadership could amplify her impact. “I loved that experience and realized I could influence not only patient outcomes, but also the environment in which nurses practice,” she says. “I could support nurses in caring for patients, making sure that we could move barriers out of their way.”

Her progression into leadership and her first chief nursing officer role ultimately led Norton-Rosko to pursue a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) at Chamberlain University (CU), a decision she describes as pivotal. “My role was more about creating the vision and guiding its implementation than hands-on doing,” she says. The program strengthened her ability to translate evidence and translate it into how we do our work. “It shaped how I approach complex problems and largescale transformation,” she notes. “I lean on what I learned every day.”

When reflecting on her experience at CU, Norton-Rosko notes that support from faculty and students was the most valuable part of the program. “It was interesting to get the perspective of what was happening in places other than the Chicago market, which is where I’ve spent most of my career,” she says. “Chamberlain’s DNP program helped me transition into the next level of leadership.”

Beyond the career opportunities CU afforded her, Norton-Rosko built genuine connections with the other students. “Once it was all done, I missed coming home from work and doing papers and online chats with the class.”

Strengthening the Nursing Workforce Pipeline

Expanding the nursing workforce remains one of NortonRosko’s top priorities. One of the ways UMMS is tackling this challenge is through innovative academic practice partnerships, including the Academy of Clinical Essentials (ACE)—a model that pairs undergraduate nursing students with practicing nurses who serve as clinical instructors.

Each week, students join the same nurse for a full 12hour shift, gaining immersive, handson clinical experience that mirrors real-world practice. The approach benefits both learners and instructors: nurses stay at the bedside while advancing professionally, and students feel more confident, prepared and connected to the realities of nursing. “Our nurses who sign on to be clinical instructors love it,” Norton-Rosko says. “And students feel like they know what it’s really going to be like to be a nurse.”

“It’s a powerful way to bring more practice-ready nurses into the workforce,” she explains. “And it gives our nurses a meaningful opportunity to teach without stepping away from patient care.”

Addressing Burnout Through Leadership Support and Emotional Intelligence

While expanding the pipeline is essential, retention remains a critical challenge—particularly among nurse managers, who have a profound influence on team culture and patient outcomes. “They are so key to the success of every nurse in their department and the patient care that is provided,” says Norton-Rosko. UMMS is exploring new strategies to support these leaders, including educational interventions around improving their emotional intelligence.

Research in physician training has shown that such interventions can improve resiliency and satisfaction with their practice, and patients have a higher level of satisfaction with their physician experience. Norton-Rosko and her team are examining whether similar approaches could reduce burnout, strengthen leadership effectiveness, and ultimately longer tenure and lower turnover among nursing teams.

“Our managers carry enormous responsibility,” she says. “Investing in their wellbeing is an investment in every nurse they support.”

Leveraging Technology to Reduce Workload and Improve Care

Innovation is another primary focus of Norton-Rosko’s strategy. UMMS has implemented virtual nursing across the system, which is positively impacting nursing workload at the bedside by enabling remote nurses to handle important tasks like patient education and family care coordination. “We’re even starting to explore how we could use virtual nursing for our higher-risk patients once they’re discharged to help prevent readmissions,” she says. This model helps redistribute workload, ensuring bedside nurses can focus on the most complex clinical needs.

Additionally, a precision staffing tool now helps leaders assess patient acuity and workload intensity in real time. By aligning nurse skill sets with patient needs, the tool promotes fairness on the units and better outcomes. “Given the relative inexperience of today’s workforce, that alignment is more important than ever,” Norton-Rosko says.

Leading the Future of Nursing

Norton-Rosko’s advice to nurses considering a pathway to leadership is simple: “If you still think you have a desire to be hands-on in clinical settings with patients, do that for as long as you want,” she says. “You can always move into a line leadership role and get additional education and mentoring, but you can’t always go back to a clinical setting if you’ve totally focused your formal education on management. Stay at the bedside for as long as that still drives your passion and then make your move to leadership.”  

Norton-Rosko’s leadership reflects the broader transformation underway in healthcare: a shift toward integrated systems, technology-enabled practice and education models that prepare clinicians for a rapidly evolving environment. Her work underscores the critical role of nurse leaders in shaping the workforce of tomorrow, and the importance of strong academic partnerships in meeting the nation’s healthcare needs.