Quoteworthy
You’re not a team without relationships, and people don’t feel loyal to me or trust me just because of my title. I have to build trust.
Melissa Horn

Most Recent
Revenue Cycle: Culture Drives Success

Revenue Cycle Support Services is the backbone of Utah’s financial system – from insurance prior authorizations to processing billions of dollars in claims and payments. Their leadership team, led by administrative director Kathy Delis, has been on a years-long journey to make this work better both for patients and employees. Here, she shares how she brought meaning, purpose, and a sense of community to the team.

The Effective Communicator: The Medium is the Message

The Effective Communicator returns to settle the never-ending debate: which form of communication is the best?

Book Club For Busy People: "Quiet" by Susan Cain

Kyle Bradford Jones returns with a review of “Quiet,” Susan Cain’s book about the power of introverted thinking. Although introversion is often viewed as a drawback — “a second-class personality trait,” Cain writes — Bradford Jones believes that reassessing his personality type has helped him better understand himself, his co-workers, and even his patients.

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.

Creating a Culture of Civility

Three years ago, an internal study found that Huntsman Cancer Institute employees experienced significant compassion fatigue. Director of Nursing Services Sue Childress teamed up with HCI executives, providers, and managers to combat burnout by promoting conscientious leadership and a culture of civility.

The Wisdom of Leaders: How to Cultivate Teams

Leaders embody U of U Health’s focus on patient-centered care, respect for people, and continued improvement. Recently, Jessica Rivera, Carissa Christensen, Sue Childress, and Tracy Farley described their efforts to deliver a better health care experience for patients by taking care of their teams. In advance of individual articles from each leader, below are four big takeaways that can be put into action today.

Teams That Learn Together, Stay Together: Book Club Basics

University of Utah’s Support Services makes learning a part of their routine. Director Dustin Banks considers his book club the most important meeting he attends. Why? Because it brings together Support Services’ diverse leadership group — customer service, hospital operators, environmental services, volunteers, interpreters and security — to learn and grow as a team.

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.

Why Rounding Demonstrates Respect for Patients and Teams

Rounding–the act of connecting with patients and staff–is a leadership best practice. While few find rounding easy to start, those who master it are hooked. It is a daily habit that improves patient care, experience and engages the team. Susan Clark and her medical director, Dr. Dana DeWitt, have taken the practice one step further by rounding together as a leadership dyad, resulting in a more connected and authentic team.