Quoteworthy
The spirit of generosity, already so present in health care, is especially present at U of U Health. A spirit of generosity makes us all better leaders. It is part of our culture and contagious. In an era when we are trying to stop the spread, generosity is at least something we can spread.
Dayle Benson

Most Recent
Workplace Challenge: Is It a Culture or Technology Problem?

The pace of technological progress can make it seem like solutions to our health care problems are only a click away. Howard Weeks, Utah’s interim chief medical information officer, lauds the virtues of technology with this caveat: you can’t IT your way out of every problem.

Leading Change: Frustration is the Mother of Improvement

In her five years at University of Utah Health as hospitalist, educator, and medical director of AIM-A and WP5, Karli Edholm led amazing amounts of impactful work. She trained future leaders and improved the safety, experience, and cost of an inpatient stay. Here she shares her lessons for leading and staying focused on improvement: start with your own frustration.

Digging In To The Outward Mindset

In the new series Book Club for Busy People, Accelerate shares highlights of books we’re hearing about from the community. First up: how thinking about others’ needs strengthens teams and increases civility in The Outward Mindset.

Ari Weinzweig on the Power of Belief

Ari Weinzweig, CEO and cofounder of Zingerman’s gourmet food company, spoke at U of U Heath’s Leadership Development Institute (LDI) this past March. Weinzweig argues the power of belief – and our individual ability and freedom change our beliefs – is the answer to unlocking our personal and organizational potential.

What I'm Reading: 3 Tips For Changing Culture

As Utah’s first graduate medical director of quality and safety, hospitalist Ryan Murphy has a big job: prepare physicians to transform health care. Like any good student, Murphy hit the books to understand how to lead this tall order. Here he shares three insights from one of his favorite leadership books.

Want To Transform Health Care? Work on a "Boring" Project

Claire Ciarkowski is on a journey to reduce unnecessary labs for inpatients at University of Utah Health. As a junior faculty member, she volunteered to work on the project when it didn’t sound exciting. But she is changing culture by asking the hard questions and delivering better care to patients at a lower cost. Accelerate’s Mari Ransco asked what she has learned.

The Elephant, The Rider, and the Path to Change in Health Care

Drawing from psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s Elephant and the Rider metaphor, Utah's Chief Medical Quality Officer Bob Pendleton explains why emotions are critical to motivating change in health care. Behavioral economics, it appears, may provide the direction we need.

Start with "Why"

We begin every Accelerate interview by asking about a person’s intrinsic motivation to work in health care, lead a team, or make a change. In other words, we always start with “why.”

Brent Klev Shares Three Ways to Foster Shared Purpose

What if a patient described their care team as “incredibly competent, experienced and collaborative”*? Those are the adjectives used by a patient to describe their surgery at South Jordan Health Center. As the nurse manager of South Jordan’s surgical services, Brent Klev works to ensure that every patient has that experience. Here, Klev shares three ways he fosters a culture of teamwork through shared purpose.

Practicing (Episode 4): Chrissy Daniels and Dan Lundergan

For the past 20 years, Chrissy Daniels and Dan Lundergan have been hard at work – building culture, building space, building experiences and building trust. Practicing interviews are conversations between partners about why the work matters. Our goal is to preserve and share the stories of the teams at University of Utah Health.

Cynthia McComber’s Antidote to Uncertainty

Positive beliefs build energy, caring and creativity and can increase resilience and influence bottom line results.* As senior director of endoscopy, medical and specialty clinics, Cynthia McComber believes that meaning is necessary for leading change. McComber talked with Accelerate’s Chrissy Daniels about how to build connected, authentic and resilient teams.

Practicing (Episode 3): Linda Tyler and Erin Fox

Real teams are the antidote to the chaos of modern medicine. “Real teams know each other, feel loyalty to one another, trust one another, and would not want to disappoint one another” (Tom Lee, NEJM Catalyst 2016). Practicing are conversations between real team members about why the work matters. Our goal is to preserve and share the stories of the teams at University of Utah Healthcare.