Getting to Know Dr. David Allen: OU Health’s Chief Nursing Officer for Adult Services

From the battlefield to the hospital unit, David Allen, DNP, R.N., CCNS-BC, CCRN-K, has had an extraordinary journey to becoming OU Health’s Chief Nursing Officer for Adult Services. With a background that spans football college, military service, and nursing leadership, he has always been driven by a deep sense of selfless service. His path to nursing was unexpected — sparked by a sergeant’s suggestion and solidified by the experiences of war.

Since September 2024, he’s served as the chief nurse for adult services, meaning the professional practice of nursing at OU Health University of Oklahoma Medical Center and OU Health Edmond Medical Center, where more than 900 nurses serve in the health system, is his mission.

Dr. Allen’s goal is to help the evolution of the nursing profession by focusing on the seven Ps: purpose, professionalism, personalization, proactivity, partnership, prevention, and productivity. With this as a focus, Dr. Allen believes that it will create a more dynamic and nimble nursing workforce, and OU Health will have the most competent and compassionate nursing staff to care for the people of Oklahoma.

With his unique blend of compassion and resilience, it’s surprising that he never aspired to be a nurse.

A college football player who studied sports medicine, Dr. Allen decided he wanted to join the military where he worked as an aviation mechanic. His sergeant saw a compassion and skillset in him that he thought would be well suited to a career in nursing.

He scoffed at the idea and told his sergeant so. The sergeant insisted Dr. Allen take a day off and shadow at the military hospital before making his final decision.

Instantly hooked, he enrolled in nursing at the community college the next day.

“I got to see this different part of the military,” he recalls. “This caring piece — this piece that allows you to be like a force for individuals who get injured, who are taking care of our country. I realized this is just as important as anything else in the military because we're taking care of the folks who are fighting for our freedom. It was that selfless service piece that filled my cup.”

Dr. Allen thrived as a nurse and the defining moment that cemented his decision came during deployment in Iraq.

“I would see the soldiers coming into the hospital from a helicopter and they had just got shot up in war,” he said. “And I realized at that moment that this is what I was there for. I was there to get the soldiers back to their families, and if not, I could help them die a dignified death.”

Dr. Allen went from registering in school in 1996 to earning a doctorate degree in 2015, always being driven by the selfless service needed to be a nurse. After 17 years as a nurse in the military Dr. Allen knew it was time to leave and make the transition from military healthcare.

Changing Directions

Having spent 22 years in the military, Dr. Allen recognized that it’s a common misconception that ex-military personnel in the healthcare sector are all about giving and taking orders. However, Dr. Allen’s philosophy on nursing leadership is the exact opposite. He’s approachable, kind and considerate. He insists his team call him Dave.

He learned early in his career that although he had power and authority as an officer, his influence was more meaningful and impactful than his authority. He uses his influence and example to help others understand the “why” behind the processes and structures in place.

“We're in healthcare, so you have to put structure around what you do because if not, people die,” Dr. Allen explained. “I have found that people want structure, but in that structure, they want to be able to know their left and right limits — they need freedom within those boundaries.”

Dr. Allen discourages micromanagement and instead, models the behaviors he expects. He believes that the whole system functions well if everyone works within the set boundaries. He also prioritizes getting to know everybody on an individual level, including their families as much as possible.

“When one of my nurses has something significant going on, it’s not about the patient experience at that moment,” Dr. Allen said. “I check in with them and make sure they are OK on a personal level — I can’t do that if I don’t know my team.”

Dr. Allen is the first to admit that nursing is tough, and nurses often care for aggressive and angry patients. He wants his team to know that they must care for one another on a personal and individual level and provide peer-to-peer support because every person is a piece of the entire system, and only when we see that can we transform the culture.

Thriving in the Hard Times

Dr. Allen brings compassion and resilience to his role, and when asked what the toughest experience he has had in his nursing career, he doesn’t skip a beat.

“As a nurse in Iraq, I would see the Americans or the British coming in, who had just been shot up,” he said, visibly emotional. “But then you would also see the Iraqis brought in. Because of the Geneva Convention you must give them the same treatment, even though you know they just shot your brothers. That was the hardest thing I have ever had to do—to give them the same level of care and compassion that I gave to my brothers.”

But it is this very experience that helped shape Dr. Allen into who he is as a manager, a nurse, and a human being. He has provided patients with the medical care they needed while bullets were flying over his head, and with that behind him he approaches nursing with an inner strength and calm. His experience in treating the enemy in war with life-saving care helps him to treat patients who are angry, hostile or aggressive with the same level of compassion.

Striving for Excellence

Dr. Allen’s dedication to excellence has been recognized with numerous awards, including the San Antonio’s Top 25 Nurses Award, Military Health System Nurse Excellence Award, and Advanced Practice Nurse of the Year at Brooke Army Medical Center. His military decorations include multiple Meritorious Service Medals and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.

He leads by providing his teams with the resources they need to be great, and he reinforces that the role of a nurse is to be so great at their job that everybody wants to come and work here at OU Health.

“Part of growing relationships and trust is providing feedback,” he said. “Sometimes the feedback is not pretty but it goes both ways. I want my team to come to me and provide feedback about areas where we could improve—where we could be doing something better. And we must be 100% focused on the emotional well-being of the staff every single day so they can provide the level of care our patients deserve. It really is as simple as it sounds.”

He encourages his team to be nimble and flexible with their leadership and understand that each day is different.

“We need to see the big picture — the entire field of play so we can anticipate what’s going to happen before it happens,” he explains. “Everything we do affects the entire hospital and the entire staff, and we need to lead in that way.”

Mission and Purpose Minded

Prior to arriving at OU Health, Dr. Allen served as Chief Nursing Officer at Methodist Hospital Stone Oak in San Antonio, Texas. He also served as Vice President of Clinical Leadership Support at HCA Corporate in Nashville, Tennessee, and Chief Nursing Officer at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. In every role he strives to empower patients through education and support, ensuring they feel confident in managing their health.

When asked why he chose to come to OU Health, Dr. Allen points to the mission and aspiration to be the destination of choice for patients with complex and serious conditions, and to be known as a top-tier academic referral center.

“The mission of OU Health brought me here. In San Antonio my competitor hospital was two miles away from me and I knew that if we went on diversion because we had too many patients, the patient would still be taken care of because they just had to drive past our hospital to the nearest facility. All we lost was some revenue. Here, when we have to shut down the hospital or go on diversion, some of these patients have to leave the state and go to Texas as not only are we the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the state, but we are also the only hospital that can care for the complex cases that we do.”

He explained that no one should need to leave the state for the highest quality specialty and subspecialty care.

“This mission is bigger than any other mission I had,” he said. “OU Health means so much to the state and I want everyone here to know how much it means and the potential we have to help all Oklahomans.”

Learn more about making a difference in the lives of Oklahomans and the various career journeys and opportunities for nurses at OU Health by visiting OUHealth.com/Nursing.