May 2017
Graciella
Zapata
,
RN, BSN
UHS Ambulatory East Side Clinic
University Health System - San Antonio
San Antonio
,
TX
United States
I would like to recognize Graciella Zapata for her amazing work as the new nurse manager at the Eastside Clinic. I cannot even begin to describe the positive impact she has had on the clinic. While I think she does everything with aplomb, I wanted to specifically highlight an opportunity that she took that revolutionized work flow in the clinic.
Since coming to UMA, there have always been significant problems with Quest diagnostic lab. We have had problems when patients went to have their labs drawn. We have had patients turned away at the lab for not having the correct requisition at both UHS and the Quest lab. In addition, from a providers perspective, it was horrendous. We would not get our patient's labs from Quest. We would have to call Quest, wait for them to fax results or we would get multiple faxes for one patient. This was supposed to change when Quest was put into Sunrise, but it did not. This was brought up during CQI meetings multiple times, lab directors were spoken to, and IT was involved, but nothing changed.
Graciella was here for two weeks when using her superior assessment skills as a nurse noticed that even though I was entering a Quest order under Sunrise correctly, what was printed out did not say Quest and did not have the barcode on it. She immediately recognized what the problem was, that had eluded others for months. I do not know who she spoke to in IT, but the problem was remedied within 24 hours. The impact has been huge!
Graciella solving this problem has improved efficiencies and performance. Every single Quest patient's results now come appropriately to my inbox. There is no 7-10 day lag in time. Sometimes they are in there the next day. There are no lost labs, no extra papers, no having to have someone call Quest and wait on hold, then wait for Quest to fax it to us while the patient waits and clinic stops. Also, it has enhanced patient satisfaction and patient centered customer service immeasurably. There has not been one dissatisfied or disgruntled patient who has had a problem at the UHS lab or Quest lab. I am not over-exaggerating when I say Graciella has revolutionized our work flow for the better. She is such an asset to the Eastside Clinic.
Since coming to UMA, there have always been significant problems with Quest diagnostic lab. We have had problems when patients went to have their labs drawn. We have had patients turned away at the lab for not having the correct requisition at both UHS and the Quest lab. In addition, from a providers perspective, it was horrendous. We would not get our patient's labs from Quest. We would have to call Quest, wait for them to fax results or we would get multiple faxes for one patient. This was supposed to change when Quest was put into Sunrise, but it did not. This was brought up during CQI meetings multiple times, lab directors were spoken to, and IT was involved, but nothing changed.
Graciella was here for two weeks when using her superior assessment skills as a nurse noticed that even though I was entering a Quest order under Sunrise correctly, what was printed out did not say Quest and did not have the barcode on it. She immediately recognized what the problem was, that had eluded others for months. I do not know who she spoke to in IT, but the problem was remedied within 24 hours. The impact has been huge!
Graciella solving this problem has improved efficiencies and performance. Every single Quest patient's results now come appropriately to my inbox. There is no 7-10 day lag in time. Sometimes they are in there the next day. There are no lost labs, no extra papers, no having to have someone call Quest and wait on hold, then wait for Quest to fax it to us while the patient waits and clinic stops. Also, it has enhanced patient satisfaction and patient centered customer service immeasurably. There has not been one dissatisfied or disgruntled patient who has had a problem at the UHS lab or Quest lab. I am not over-exaggerating when I say Graciella has revolutionized our work flow for the better. She is such an asset to the Eastside Clinic.