Margaret Keatings, Chief of Interprofessional Practice and Chief Nurse Executive, announces retirement

Margaret Keatings, our Chief of Interprofessional Practice and Chief Nurse Executive, has announced her retirement. Margaret has dedicated her entire career to the nursing profession, including nursing practice, research and education. She joined the Executive Team at SickKids in 2004 after having served in senior leadership and clinical roles at both University Health Network and Hamilton Health Sciences. Margaret has had an impressive impact on SickKids; there has been a steady increase in nursing engagement scores across the organization, RN Council was expanded and Advanced Practice Nursing roles have grown.

In addition to her deep commitment to the nursing profession, Margaret has been a passionate champion for inter-professional practice and education at SickKids where she has both developed and executed an integrated strategy. She is presently working on a strategy to advance the academic mandate of health disciplines.

Family-centred care has also been an important priority for Margaret. She has played a key leadership role in advancing family-centred care at SickKids, where she has enhanced the family advisory committee model and increased the number of families and patients represented on hospital committees and re-designed the patient representative program.

Margaret has led a number of innovative initiatives, including a pilot of nurse practitioner-led clinics for paediatrics and a project with Citizenship and Immigration Canada which has resulted extensive cultural competence training and translation of educational materials for patients and families. This work is now being shared with the broader healthcare community to advance cultural competence across the province.

Academically, Margaret is a recognized leader in nursing and ethics having co-authored the third edition of Ethical and Legal Issues in Nursing during her tenure at SickKids. She is appointed at both the University of Toronto and McMaster University. During her time at SickKids she chaired the CAHO CNE sub-committee during which time they were instrumental in successfully advocating for the New Graduate Guarantee. Margaret also championed the development of RNAO Healthy Work Environment Best Practice Guidelines.

In her retirement, Margaret plans on travelling, renovating her homes and continuing to contribute to advancing nursing and health care both here and abroad.

Formal recognition of Margaret’s many contributions to SickKids will be held in the coming months. I invite you to please join me in congratulating and thanking Margaret as she enters the next chapter of her life.

Kind regards,
Mary Jo

Mary Jo Haddad, CM, MHSc, LLD, BScN
President and CEO The Hospital for Sick Children