Amber Barna, MSN, RN, Chief Clinical Officer at Fusion, is an accomplished senior healthcare leader and nurse. She joined the company in 2023 and has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Amber is an integral piece in Fusion understanding how to best serve travelers and facilities, and the following interview provides insight on how she makes decisions and empowers the Fusion team to carry out our core purpose of improving the lives of everyone we touch.  

Explain your position at Fusion and how you empower your teams to make a difference. 

To answer it simply, I ensure we are doing everything we can in our power so that patients are getting the best care possible. I oversee our clinical team, which is a group of licensed medical professionals within Fusion who are resources and guides for the traveler healthcare professionals we help place in facilities across the country. I also support and oversee our compliance team, which is a large team of specialized individuals who help with documentation and certification verification to ensure travelers are prepared for the assignment we are about to send them on.   

How does your experience as a clinician impact Fusion’s overall vision? 

I have been a registered nurse since the late 90’s, and just like nurses today are experiencing a shortage of nurses around them, I too experienced what it was like to have several patients to care for and think, “How am I going to do this?” This has given me an excellent understanding of how we can support our travelers, but also the facilities we help staff.  

One of Fusion’s long-term goals is to Refresh Healthcare. What does Refresh Healthcare mean to you? How are you empowering your teams to fulfil that? 

Refresh Healthcare is a big tagline for me and for Fusion, but it’s really about meeting people where they are. It’s not about going into a facility and saying, “This is what you need to do to solve your challenges.” It’s about asking them how we can help them and take some of the staffing stress off their plates so they have the opportunity to focus on what their facilities want to do, which is provide excellent care for their patients. 

The word shortage is used a lot right now when describing the healthcare industry. What is Fusion doing to help alleviate that?  

We want to eliminate barriers for people who are interested in entering the healthcare industry, so that is where we have focused our attention. We developed and announced Compassion in Care – A Fusion Scholarship for nursing students which provides them with a $5,000 scholarship that is renewable for up to four years. We are excited about awarding these scholarships to financially support students, so they don’t have the weight of student loans on their shoulders while they learn how to care for patients. Winners of the scholarship also receive a mentor, one of our clinical team members, who will guide them throughout nursing school and answer questions they have.  

We also have student outreach programs where we connect with students and work to educate them about the field. We are all aware that there are attrition rates throughout school, but we are hopeful that we can get students excited about entering the healthcare workforce and maybe even travel when they’re ready.  

A piece of the shortage is burnout too, right? How does Fusion support clinicians who are already in the field, but just feel exhausted?  

The wellbeing of clinicians is something that needs to be on everyone’s radar. Fusion provides opportunities for our travelers to talk about what is going on with their assignments and in their minds. Our clinical team is there for them to talk about what they are struggling with, and we have an employee assistance program for them to talk to mental health professionals as well.  

What makes Fusion different? How are the teams here impacting and supporting the travelers who work with the company?  

Fusion is unique in the fact that everyone here is humble, driven, and positive. We are driven and positive enough to know we can make a difference, but at the same time, we are humble and realize that it isn’t about us. It’s about the travelers, the facilities, and the patients who are counting on quality care. The people who work at Fusion truly want to make a difference and fulfill the ambitious goal of refreshing healthcare.