Quoteworthy
Our role as leaders is to make sure each member of our team feels included, safe, and valued in their contributions. These actions lead to stronger teams and in healthcare, safer systems
Linda Tyler

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.