Jamie Nordhagen, MS, RN, NEA-BC, serves as Director of Capacity Management and Patient Representatives at UCHealth.
Jamie will serve at the summit "The Rise of True Efficiency: An Executive Summit on the Transformation of Hospital Operations" at Becker's Hospital Review 12th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place in Chicago from April 25-28, 2022.
To learn more about the conference and Jamie's session, click here.
Q: What are your top priorities for 2022?
Jamie Nordhagen: The COVID-19 pandemic has monumentally disrupted the healthcare industry. One of the most significant impacts has been delayed care and changing patterns of patient access to care. My vision for this year is for patients to receive the right care, at the right time, in the right place, by the right team. My top priorities will be to lead efforts to design and create innovative multidisciplinary care delivery models focused on decreasing operational inefficiencies and hardwiring standard work to increase access to care.
Q: How do you plan to pivot strategies this year to better serve patients?
JN: The last two plus years have been a crash course in pivoting strategies. Healthcare organizations have had to become adept at quickly shifting strategies in response to rapidly changing circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many factors outside of our control, and a constantly reactive approach to these factors can cause fatigue, burnout and frustration with our teams. I plan to leverage what I have learned during the pandemic. Emergency management endeavors highlighted the importance of establishing an organizational structure that ensures bidirectional communication with frontline leaders and staff. Data analytics and operational intelligence are also essential to ensuring timely situational awareness and a proactive approach to pivoting strategies.
Q: What technologies and innovations are you most excited about in healthcare right now?
JN: Clinically, I look forward to seeing how TeleMedicine and Hospital-at-Home care delivery models change the healthcare landscape. “Virtual” healthcare has the potential to be a game-changer to help address healthcare staffing and access issues while also improving quality and safety outcomes. From an operational lens, I believe artificial intelligence and predictive and prescriptive analytics will revolutionize how we create sustainable operational efficiencies and smooth patient flow.
Q: What advice do you have for emerging healthcare leaders today?
JN: Network, network, network. Creating relationships within your organization, across departments and disciplines outside of your reporting structure, is essential to broaden your perspective and increase your sphere of influence. Create relationships across the industry through professional organizations and conferences. Be active outside of the industry within the community your organization serves. Serve on boards and commissions. Do not underestimate the importance of creating relationships as they generate future professional opportunities and will be key to your success.
Intentionally cultivate personal resilience. Healthcare leadership is a marathon. Figure out early in your career how to manage stress and decompress. Stress management is a learned skill that takes intention and practice. Find a mentor or coach to help you on your journey.
Invest in your people. As you build your own high-functioning team, intentional engagement with them as a professional and individual will have a ten-fold return on investment. Do not underestimate the importance of building trust and hardwiring psychological safety. Invest in their professional development. Be open to giving up control and celebrate mistakes as learning opportunities. The quality of your team’s work will pay dividends and will cultivate loyalty to you and your organization.
Hardwire constant learning and reflection. Whether it is formally through graduate degrees, conferences and certifications or informally through reading journals, networking and hallway conversations…embrace life-long learning as a frame of mind.