In the age of machines, bedside manner matters more than ever | Susan Cooley | TEDxTWU

The machines we invented to improve healing may actually be eroding real patient caring. To better facilitate healing, hospital nurses need to find ways to work with machines rather than for them. Have nurses become scribes for insurance companies?
Susan Cooley is a nurse practitioner with advanced degrees in public health and nursing. Dr. Cooley served on the faculty of the University of Texas Medical School for over 30 years where she taught medical student, nursing students and residents in clinics located in Houston’s barrios. After retiring from UT, she was medical director for RediClinic, a healthcare company with clinics located in grocery stores. Dr. Cooley works as a consultant, assisting healthcare organizations with a variety of strategic projects. Dr. Cooley’s first nursing job at the Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti, prepared her for a career working with vulnerable families. She is proud of her roles in bringing Reach Out and Read, a national pediatric literacy program, to Texas and of her work during relief following Hurricane Katrina. I addition to her work in healthcare, Susan is a passionate photographer, with four grown children, a new beekeeping enterprise and a growing number of grandchildren.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at