Roric Hawkins is a Bachelor’s prepared Registered Nurse with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. His nursing career began as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Army at the nation’s largest most complex military medical center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. Upon graduating from Tuskegee University and fulfilling the requirements of his 4-year Army ROTC scholarship, Roric’s professional career began (literally as he re-calls the first day off new employee orientation) by being placed in charge of his nursing unit as charge nurse.

This as he remembers marked the beginning of what would become the first of many professional challenges to overcome over his 20 year nursing career. Seeming to be always thrust-ed into the forefront of responsibilities, Roric has continuously embraced these feats by utilizing the strengths, knowledge, and abilities of himself and the people around him. He has served in various leadership positions to include Nurse Manager, Safe Patient Handling Program Manager and Consultant, and Director of Nursing.

Raised by a family of educators in Alabama where he was never allowed to make excuses, Roric was taught from a very young age that if something difficult was being done by others, then it obviously was doable; and if that something was doable, then it is capable of being accomplished, and when accomplishable, make it a point to achieve it because anything worth having is worth working for. This one lesson of many taught by his mother and father has consistently been adhered to by both he and his younger two siblings: a brother who’s a Physician and a sister who’s a Pharmacist.

Roric’s love for clinical operations and processes has originated from providing nursing care to patients at the bedside. The challenges associated with leading collaborations comprised of professional and paraprofessional skill-mixes is what inspires Roric to develop detailed strategies needed to ensure that all clinical disciplines are working together to create successful outcomes.

As an Army Officer who achieved the rank of Captain during his military tenure, Roric acknowledges that the strength of any mission is only as good as each participant’s concerted contribution to the overall cause. Attention to even the finest of details requires a type of focus which allows for swift identification of issues that could potentially disrupt the intended objective. He believes that getting the most out of people’s talents is essential when the goal is to produce the best possible product. This philosophy is the same concept that Roric uses to implement injury prevention programs such as Safe Patient Handling.

Creating Injury Prevention Insights in hospital patient-care settings has consisted of Roric leaning on his clinical experiences, especially those learned from manually lifting and moving patients with limited mobility. Roric has demonstrated his ability to effectively leverage his clinical experiences to implement safer nursing practice techniques which allow caregivers to provide the same quality patient care but with significantly minimized risks for personal injuries. He has written several articles in American Nurse Today highlighting his expertise as part of an on-going collaboration with the American Nurses Association’s official magazine publication. Roric understands that if quality patient-care is to be provided, it tends to work best when the caregivers delivering that care are able to perform to their fullest physical capabilities.

Roric has provided consultative Safe Patient Handling / injury prevention services to several hospital organizations around the country. Among those include: St. Joseph Hospital in Houston, TX, University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital in Birmingham, AL, Baptist Hospital South in Jacksonville, FL, and Mercy Hospital in Miami, FL. Roric has continued to provide these services to clients who seek his assistance.

Contact Roric to discuss how to transform the success of your organization.