35-Year Euclid Hospital Nurse Leader Named Chief Nursing Officer

The Cleveland Clinic Stanley Shalom Zielony Institute for Nursing Excellence has named 35-year veteran nurse leader Richard Lowery, MBA, BSN, RN, NEA-BC, NHDC-BC, CHEP, chief nursing officer (CNO) for Cleveland Clinic Euclid Hospital.

In his new position, Lowery will lead nursing strategy, practice and operations at Euclid Hospital and serve as a key member of both the hospital and Nursing Institute’s executive leadership teams.

“I am excited to welcome Rich to his well-earned position and have complete confidence that he will excel in this role and continue to drive Euclid Hospital’s reputation of nursing excellence,” says Cleveland Clinic Executive Chief Nursing Officer K. Kelly Hancock, DNP, RN, NE-BC, FAAN. “The skills, expertise and experience he has developed throughout his many years at Cleveland Clinic Euclid Hospital align perfectly with the needs of the CNO position.”

A long history of service to Euclid patients, community

With an extensive nursing career that spans nearly four decades at Cleveland Clinic, Lowery has spent most of his nurse leader path serving the patients, caregivers and communities of Euclid Hospital.

Prior to accepting the CNO role, he was senior nursing director of the Emergency Services Institute and director of nursing for emergency/EMS, geriatric behavioral medicine, and outpatient nursing services at Euclid Hospital. A valued leader, he oversaw seven regional emergency nursing operations, helped improve system integration across emergency services, and continually drove nursing excellence through process standardization.

Before that, for more than 30 years, Lowery was director of nursing for Euclid Hospital where he provided 24-hour leadership of care providers in emergency services and behavioral medicine, as well as overseeing Disaster Emergency Management operations. He held operational responsibility for several ambulatory outpatient centers and, for a duration of time, directed protective services operations. In addition, for 3 years, he also led a hospital-based trauma center for Cleveland Clinic’s previous Huron Hospital.

Recognized for clinical and operational excellence

Throughout his career, Lowery has often been recognized for his ability to effectively and strategically lead operations. Results-oriented, his clinical, analytical and management skills have positively impacted a broad range of both inpatient and outpatient nursing and operational functions.

Furthermore, his clinical leadership has repeatedly led to exceptional quality and safety outcomes. For example, he successfully reduced patient falls on Euclid’s behavioral medicine unit by developing a ‘no desk nursing station’ that improved the nursing visibility of the unit. He also led Euclid’s emergency team through the implementation of the Split Flow care model, which reduces patient turnaround time. His leadership improved patient access and patient throughput by reducing door-to-provider, door-to-discharge and door-to-admit times.

He has also developed several new programs and education initiatives in areas such as wound care, cardiac rehabhiliation, mobile hyperbaric, geriatric assessment, disaster management and more to better meet patient, caregiver and community needs.

Lowery is a servant leader with a reputation for driving change through collaboration, staff team building and employee engagement. In the past, his team employee engagement scores have been above the 95th percentile.

Leading for the present and the future

Lowery says his leadership focus will be to provide the best patient care possible, while meeting the growing healthcare needs of Cleveland Clinic’s communities – including patients, providers, regulators and others.

Lowery holds a master’s degree in business administration, a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and a bachelor’s degree in health service management. He is nurse executive advanced certified and national healthcare disaster certified from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

He was named a Cleveland Clinic Lifetime Nursing Achievement Award recipient in 2014 and has received three U.S. patents in chemical electroplating and medical equipment.