I nominate Dr Lou Ann Hartley as a Daisy Award candidate for 2012 Q1. So, why do I feel that Lou Ann qualifies as a candidate for the Q1 Daisy Award? How did she affect a better service, product or outcome for patient care? Let me tell you the ways!
1 – Leadership: I have had the opportunity to work with Lou Ann over the last 3 years on projects with 2 separate clients: SPEC_MI and BAPT_FL. Both challenging clients in their own right, Lou Ann accepted the challenges, and assisted in leading both to positive implementation outcomes. I have witnessed her advocate strongly and succeed in moving to best practice when various client obstacles were in the way. She is quickly recognized and valued by senior clinical leadership as an authority and advisor. She has on innumerable occasions worked with the entire Cerner team to help instill what is in the best interest of the patient.
An example of this is when SPEC_MI had chosen not to use the Method M methodology, and yet the project was struggling to move forward, Lou Ann successfully advocated to at least use the Cerner Design Decision Matrix so that Cerner’s recommendations would be considered. As a result, SPEC_MI decided to at least adopt a “modified” version of the Cerner Methodology which provided more clarity to Cerner’s recommendations and clinical best practice.
2 – Mentorship: Lou Ann has been a great mentor to me. She has taught me that our role as Clinical Strategists is to strive to help the client understand the opportunities of the Cerner tools despite the embedded obstacles of organizational culture and historic workflows. She has reminded me on numerous occasions that we must strive for best practice regardless of the cost, and that our title of Clinical Strategist comes with great responsibility which we much respect and embrace. An example of this is when BAPT_FL had not followed through on a Cerner recommendation. I had been reluctant to escalate the issue as I did not want to disrupt our relationship with the client. But Lou Ann insisted, and indeed it helped us gain transparency and mitigate a risk that might otherwise have affected the success of the conversion and therefore the care provided to patients.
3 – Professionalism: It is always impressive to witness Lou Ann interact with client counterparts. She is ever professional, always cognizant of her goals. She presents data and information succinctly, and as a result always gains great respect. She maintains her composure, regardless of the outside pressures. An example of this is in the way she instilled a sense of urgency to the managers at Baptist Health as to their role in supporting the conversion. Over numerous Adoption sessions, Lou Ann was able to secure their engagement and ownership by virtue of her professionalism within a group of clinical managers who had otherwise been disengaged throughout the project.
Nominated by: Colleen McGinn-Cardwell, RN, BSN, MHA - Clinical Strategist, Clinical Adoption Practice