Barb has dedicated 49 years to CHI Health Mercy Emergency Department, working to better our organization, community, and the patients we serve. She is selfless in her service and is an extraordinary role model exemplifying integrity, humility, courage, and commitment.
Barb has a strong vision for the Emergency Department which she openly shares with all of the staff. She keeps the department current with the best practices in our industry and is often leading change to facilitate our own best practices which are then shared with others. She understands the foundation for achieving high performance and quality is to have a culture that supports it. The organization's mission and commitments have been the driving force with creating and keeping this culture alive in our department. This is validated through the most recent culture assessment of the department which showed an overall score of 3.5/4.
Barb is a trailblazer, always looking for a best practice to improve how we care for patients in the Emergency Department. Recently, the workflow in the ED was redesigned to include placing the triage nurse in the waiting room and development of care teams. This model has fostered safety and enhanced teamwork and throughput in the department. The most recent patient experience scores have placed the department in the 98th percentile for overall patient satisfaction.
She also worked with the hospital to implement Teleneurology to enhance the care of our stroke patients. This technology has allowed the department to expedite specialty services to the bedside and improve the speed with which TPA is administered. Since the implementation of this service, our door to TPA times have decreased from 83 minutes to 35 minutes.
She recently worked with the Iowa Department of Public Health to obtain a grant to start a "Stop the Bleed" education program in Southwest Iowa. She helped lead this initiative to engage our community in a campaign that prepares for events that may produce mass casualty where victim's lives have the potential to be saved through the use of tourniquet application. This program trains not only medical personnel but the general public to assist with hemorrhage control. She has partnered with our EMS community to not only take the class but to assist with the training of others in the community. After preparing hospital and EMS staff, the program will be taught at our high schools, event arenas, hospitals, local community college, and other areas identified where mass causality events are likely to occur. The outreach encompasses Council Bluffs and surrounding counties in Iowa. The class will allow for expansion of the community preparedness and standardization of the trainers.
Barb is a transformational leader at CHI Mercy Hospital. Her expertise, commitment, and mission-driven approach is a valued asset to our organization. She helps drive each of us to do better and do more for the patients and community we serve.