Jen Roth Advances to Chief Nursing Executive and SVP of Patient Care Services for System of Care

Jennifer “Jen” Roth, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, was promoted to the role of Chief Nursing Executive, SVP of Patient Care Services and Dr. Dori Biester Chair in Pediatric Nursing at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Jen has more than 20 years of pediatric nursing experience and has spent her entire career dedicated to family-centered and pediatric care at Children’s Colorado.

"I will always be a bedside nurse at heart."

Through her childhood, Jen was drawn to working and connecting with children. Upon entering college, she recognized her gravitation toward biology and building relationships with those around her could be realized in the profession of Nursing. "I struggled to find my place in nursing until I stepped into a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) as a student nurse," said Jen. After graduating with a BSN, Jen moved to Colorado and began her career as a bedside PICU nurse at Children’s Colorado and spent the next 15 years developing her career in the PICU.

History of leadership at Children’s Colorado

Jen has served at Children’s Colorado since 2003 in a variety of direct care and leadership roles, most recently as VP and Associate Chief Nursing Officer (ACNO) of Acute Care & Clinical Services. In this role, she oversaw many care delivery, care coordination, workforce planning, capacity management, patient flow and access to care initiatives across the System of Care.

“Jen is a relationship-based leader who is passionate about developing high-performing teams and creating an environment of professional empowerment where nursing and clinical team members can realize their full potential,” said Jena Hausmann, President and CEO of Children’s Colorado. “We are already so grateful for her years of leadership and resilience during difficult moments in our hospital’s history including the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting unprecedented respiratory season at our hospital. We look forward to seeing her lead now as the chief nursing executive over our dynamic and incredible patient care team.”

Redesigning how we care for patients

Jen has made many significant contributions to how Children’s Colorado cares for families, including redesigning care delivery models to optimize patient outcomes across the continuum of care and improving our systems for pediatric deterioration and preventable harm. This work resulted in Jen becoming a Nightingale Luminary award finalist in 2022.

As manager of the PICU at Children’s Colorado, Jen established the PICU as one of the top PICUs in the country, ranking highest for the most effective and efficient care delivered to patient families.  In her role as ACNO, Jen also collaborated with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and healthcare leaders from across the state to redesign our capacity management and forecasting processes to ensure capabilities for pediatric care during viral surges such as the surges seen across the System of Care in 2022-2023.

Jen steps in as former Chief retires

This transition was prompted by Pat Givens’ plans to retire from her role as Chief Nursing Executive, SVP of Patient Care Services and Dr. Dori Biester Chair in Pediatric Nursing at Children’s Colorado in 2024. Pat has served in this role since 2016, been honored with the “Outstanding Women in Business” award and helped lead Children’s Colorado through the Covid-19 pandemic and the hospital's third and fourth Magnet designations, the highest international recognition for excellence in nursing from the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program®.

A commitment to developing and promoting from within

In this position, Jen will be responsible for continuing her work with workforce planning, capacity management and leading system-wide initiatives in the Division of Patient Care Services. After partnering with the Chief Medical Officer to implement OneCall, the 24-hour specialist consultation, referral and information tool for healthcare providers, Jen became an instrumental leader in improving access to care and supporting community providers across the region. In this new role, she will continue devising methods for supporting patient care coordination in the community and keeping kids close to home.

Jen holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Iowa and a dual Master of Science in Nursing and a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Tyler. She is a board-certified nurse executive.

Preparing for the future of pediatric nursing

Jen was instrumental in designing and leading the Recruitment Strategic Workforce Action Team in 2023 to amplify our efforts to fill open positions and ensure we have a robust, stable workforce now and for years to come. As Chief Nursing Executive and SVP of Patient Care Services, Jen will work with the newly hired Duane McFadden, Chief Human Resources Officer at Children’s Colorado, on recruiting and developing the best nurses and patient care team members the state of Colorado and surrounding region rely on.

As SVP of Patient Care Services, Jen will also be dedicated to leading a patient care workforce that pursues excellence in the hospital's quality and patient safety outcomes for children. Working closely with David Brumbaugh, MD, Chief Medical Officer, and Lalit Bajaj, MD, Chief Quality Officer at Children’s Colorado, Jen will innovate care delivery models and multidisciplinary approaches to advancing the care of children. One of her top goals in this new role is to enhance the practice environment so that it supports nurses and clinical team members in providing exceptional patient care.

While the heart of nursing has remained the same, the social and technological landscape in which we deliver care has changed dramatically,” said Jen. "We have to be more intentional than ever before to evolve with technology, enhance our practice environment and address burnout among patient care team members. It's important we keep pace with changing therapeutic and evidence-based practices to ensure the best patient outcomes and ensure nursing remains a caring, compassionate and impactful profession that promotes optimal health.”