Tufts MC True Blue Recipients: Perioperative Services Leadership Team: Donna Broussard,
RN, PICIS Manager; Perry Dekkers, Perfusion Manager; Karen Dowler, RN, Professional Development Manager; Jorrel Hall, CPD Manager; Rosemarie Hevner, RN, MBA, CNOR, Professional Development Manager; Chris Johnson, Supply Chain Operations Manager; Daniel Johnson, RN, Clinical Nursing Director; Tom Keough, Inventory Manager; Kristen Mansur, RN, Director of Clinical Operations; Kris McCue, Anesthesiology Administrative Director; Sarah McKay, Director of Business Operations; Mike Norton, Process Improvement Manager; Felix Torres, PCA Supervisor
Nomination by seven Chairs and members of leadership:
“Since June 2013, we have been focused on improving the Operating Room. We embarked on a set of projects that are intended to enhance the service we provide to our surgeons, the quality and safety of care we provide to our patients, and how everyone in the Operating Room works as a team. We still have work to do, but the amount of work that has been done over the past nine months has been staggering: CMS Operating Room-focused survey; surgical attire policy changes and auditing; Ticket to Safety revisions and pre-induction huddle work; medication safety changes; operation organization work; onboarding of new nurses; elimination of contract labor; onboarding of new CPD staff and contract labor reduction; significant cost savings; development of Surgical Administrators Forum.
“The core staff of the Operating Room is really engaged and works well with this team in helping to identify problems and solutions. Sarah McKay was the first step in bringing about the change in the Operating Room culture. When she arrived, she instantly brought a level of credibility and professionalism that had not existed in the operating room for quite some time. Sarah immediately started to pull the team together and got them thinking about what it means to be a team. When Kristen Mansur stepped in as the Interim Clinical Nursing Director of the Operating Room, she also made an immediate impact in the way she engaged the nursing staff.
“Their involvement in addressing the action list based on the 2012 survey by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)/Department of Public Health made a huge difference during the follow-up survey. At that time, the surveyor was so impressed with the work that had been done she said she was looking forward to revisiting the OR. That surveyor also consistently mentioned the great work the OR had done during their exit interview.”
