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
How Utah Builds Trust With Patient Experience

Trust. That’s what we want. We want to earn and keep the trust of every patient. We want them to trust that we provide the best possible medical care. But more than that, we want them to trust that we will respond to their needs, coordinate our efforts, and provide them with available options. We want them to trust that we will answer our phones, explain their treatment, and value their time. The exceptional patient experience is an enterprise-wide system designed to deliver a singular output: trust. And, this enterprise-wide system is built on trusting our providers and our teams.

Is a Master of Culture Administration (MCA) the New MBA?

What is the most important skill that health care leaders need? According to a recent NEJM Catalyst survey, it's building culture. But what are "culture skills" and how does one actually build them? Chrissy Daniels curates culture lessons from Accelerate case studies and finds that, although our business school doesn't currently offer the MCA, when they do, we will have faculty ready to teach.

Practicing (Episode 2): Brad Wiggins and Dr. Steve Morris

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.

What I'm Reading: What Health Care Can Learn from Google

Chief Pharmacy Officer Linda Tyler thinks broadly about the leadership skills needed to deliver reliably safe care. Here, she shares an article about the importance of psychological safety—the #1 success factor identified by Google’s Project Aristotle, which studied hundreds of Google’s teams to figure out why some stumbled and some soared.

The Bobcast with Dr. Rob Glasgow

In this podcast, our Chief Medical Quality Officer interviews Dr. Rob Glasgow, department of surgery's vice chair of clinical operations and chief value officer. Dr. Glasgow shares how the concept of value transformation provided a clear pathway to build a career that is aligned with why he went into medicine in the first place.

The Bobcast with Dr. Brigitte Smith

In this podcast, Utah’s Chief Medical Quality Officer interviews Brigitte Smith. A vascular surgeon who joined the University of Utah in 2015, Dr. Smith has quickly become a thought leader in transforming training for future physicians in value (both medical school and residency programs). Their conversation pinpoints an inconvenient truth—we may be a generation away from a culture of value-driven healthcare.

5 Lessons Healthcare Can Learn From Other Industries

In addition to his day job as Director of ENT Clinics, Kirk Hughs orients all new specialty clinic and endoscopy employees to the Exceptional Patient Experience. His goal is to engage new team members about how they can create exceptional experiences for their patients.

What Every Generation Needs

Sarah Sherer is the Director of Employee Relations. We know her as the sounding board, place of last resort and coach for leaders throughout the organization. We asked her to share her wisdom on engaging employees of different ages. What she said might surprise you.

Building a Career on Value

Dr. Chris Pelt led one of the first applications of the Value Driven Outcomes (VDO) tool and the University of Utah’s first alternative payment model for joint replacement (the “bundle”). As a junior faculty member he volunteered for the CVO role, and we wondered what drove his early adoption of value. Accelerate's Chrissy Daniels asked him and—in true Pelt fashion—he didn't mince words.

Why I Do One of the Riskiest Surgeries in Medicine

With so few organs available for transplant, living-donor transplantation introduces improved organ quality, reduced wait times, predictable scheduling, and reduced risk of rejection. But it isn't easy—the investment and risks are huge. Robin Kim, University of Utah Transplant Division Chief, shares his commitment and the complexity of his practice.

PRACTICING: Drs. Graves and Horton (Episode 1)

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.

Lessons From The Frontlines

What makes an expert? Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell gave 10,000 hours as a threshold for expertise. While our University Hospital Customer Service Team isn’t at 10,000 hours, they addressed nearly 2,000 patient concerns this past year. When asked how they do it, Program Assistant Michael Bown offers these top five tools to successfully navigate a phone complaint.