Quoteworthy
What teaming means to me is creating a learning environment where you can make mistakes, pick yourself back up and keep trying to get better. It’s the ability for a group of people to tackle a problem together in a safe-to-fail environment.
Tracey Nixon

Most Recent
Are Leaders Still Readers?

Reading is an essential leadership skill. But with so many distractions—Netflix, social media—reading may be on the decline. James Neider, clinical operations manager, shares strategies for adopting a reading habit that will make you a better leader.

What It’s Really Like To Teach Something New Every Day

COVID-19 has brought a new challenge to the work of continuous learning in health care: how to teach new information when it is constantly changing and emotions run high. As nurse educators for the emergency department, the pulmonary and palliative care unit, and outpatient clinics, Emma Gauci, Paige Wilson, and Sarah Smith have been thrown into an educator’s quandary: how to help staff feel as knowledgeable and supported as possible.

Lean On Existing Strengths to Thrive in Complexity

Crisis requires new ways of doing things, but those who know how to double down on existing strengths thrive in complexity. Case manager Todd Selmer shares two tactics for managing change brought on by the coronavirus that have always served him well.

Breaking Down the Compassion Wall

Hospitalist Ryan Murphy reflects on the care his dad received as one of Utah’s first hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The experience shaped how he communicates with patients—whether or not they have COVID—in spite of isolation, masks, and physical distancing.

The Best Advice I’ve Been Given

We asked seven members of the Accelerate editorial team to share the best professional advice they had ever received—practical or profound. And now we’re passing it on to you.

What I'm Reading: The Infinite Game

How do you stay ahead in an environment of rapid change? Simon Sinek, author of The Infinite Game, suggests how—and Matt Rim, pharmacy manager, translates it for health care. The bottom line? Thinking about health care as an infinite game can build stronger, more innovative, and more inspiring teams.

How Clinician Educators Can Give Effective Feedback

Feedback is often an area that breaks down under the rigors and pressure of clinical activity. Clinician educators Pete Hannon and Kathleen Timme introduce a methodology that can provide insight, inspire goal setting, and help improve clinical performance.

How to Serve Others and Still Lead

Alison Flynn Gaffney defines herself as a servant leader. As U of U Health’s Executive Director of Service Lines, Ancillary and Support Services, she brings more than two decades of experience in strategic, operations, and consulting roles at academic medical centers and community hospitals. Here are Alison’s expert tips for effective servant leadership.

Using Adversity & Teamwork to Transform Patients’ Experiences

Parkway medical director Brett Clayson leads one of the highest patient-rated clinics at U of U Health – but it wasn’t always that way. Here are the five leadership principles he used to transform his small, out-of-the-way clinic. Hint: Start with your strengths.

A Nurse Mentor-Leader Model for Professional Growth

For years, nurse manager Emily Baarz has mentored millennial nurses joining Neuro Critical Care (NCC). But new nurse graduates weren’t always prepared for the high-acuity setting. So Emily created the Axon/Dendrite program, a mentor-leader model to support her staff’s professional growth.

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.

Practicing (Episode 5): Cathy Gray and Cynthia McComber

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 Health.