Alyx reviews the care of each patient cared for at Children’s by the trauma service in St. Paul, maintaining an empathetic view of the situation that resulted in the patient's injury and an objective perspective on the care provided. She actively engages in addressing opportunities for improvement, striving to identify reliable processes and tools to ensure staff can be successful in their roles. She led the trauma program re-designation for the St. Paul campus in October, 2022, receiving high praise by the reviewers and the MDH representatives who participated in the site visit for her leadership and organization of the visit. Alyx works diligently to ensure the standards of care in place for injured children are met on both campuses. As part of her role, she monitors for compliance with existing protocols and guidelines so that care is consistent between providers.

She collaborates regularly with social work, trauma team providers, and staff to address instances in which care deviates from typical practice or when it is apparent that bias has impacted care. She advocates for these cases to be reviewed at the appropriate level of the trauma performance improvement process and/or hospital committee and advocates for an honest review of the situation. She has participated in educational opportunities to learn more about diverse patient populations and seeks to implement practices that will prevent implicit bias from impacting patient care, such as screening protocols for suspected physical child abuse.

In December 2021, Alyx graciously agreed to serve as the trauma program manager for the St. Paul campus in addition to her responsibilities as the performance improvement coordinator for Trauma Services. She learned about the requirements of Level 4 trauma centers and consulted professionally with the Minnesota Department of Health and leaders throughout the organization to learn about existing trauma care processes. She worked diligently with department leaders to shape practice expectations and to create new guidelines and procedures to meet trauma program requirements. She has met with providers and staff from multiple departments to explain the requirements and to listen to their concerns and ideas for improving care. Alyx has been very detail-oriented and organized in her review of patient charts, presentation of cases to the trauma medical directors, and development of materials for various committees and presentations. She has collaborated across departments and disciplines on a variety of projects, including the development of a pediatric splinting guide, an automated process for notifying blood bank of Level I trauma team activations, improved order sets for patients requiring soft helmets or prolonged use of a cervical collar, and updated protocol and policies pertaining to the care of injured children. Meeting minutes for trauma committees are clear and concise and are sent out timely. Key learnings from trauma video review are shared with ED staff and trauma activation team so that all staff can learn from the conversations held during monthly trauma video review.

Alyx is reliable and consistent in her work and how she engages leaders, staff, and team members. She presents data and learnings from patient case review in an objective and respectful way, and strives to identify tangible ways to solve problems as they arise. She is respectful to providers and staff at all levels of the organization and represents Children’s well in her interactions with the Minnesota Department of Health and the American College of Surgeons. She goes above and beyond to support the trauma service and is always willing to take on extra tasks and to assist with projects in order to support the mission of the organization and the goals of the trauma service.