When Terri Barber arrived at Southwest General in 2008, she faced a number of challenges. One was to convince the board to invest in IT, and another was to improve efficiency. After clearing the first huddle, she got her staff trained on project management. The new model yielded quick results: in four years, the organization went from Stage 1 to Stage 6. In this interview, Barber talks about how to shake things up without alienating the existing staff, how her organization is capitalizing on its partnership with University Hospitals, and how her team is working to prioritizes projects. She also discusses her unique career path, her role as VP of support services, and what she is doing to prevent staff turnover.
Chapter 3
- From high school teacher to CIO
- Clinicians with technical skills — “the perfect combination”
- Benefits of the CIO network
- Having a life outside the office — “You can’t get reception in the mountains.”
- SWG’s construction project
- Her role as VP of support services —“In a small environment, you can wear lots of hats.”
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Bold Statements
If I have the opportunity to hire a clinician that has some technical skills, that’s the perfect combination. Many of the students in my class are clinicians that are just looking for a change. They’re tired of being at the bedside or they’re very interested in technology.
Having a clinician — someone that really understands operationally how different departments work — goes a long way when you’re analyzing workflows and trying to figure things out relative to implementing a new information system.
It’s interesting how your career evolves. It’s very different than when you graduate from college and you think you’re going in one direction.
The people that I’ve met in healthcare IT are always so generous with their time and their knowledge. If I were to call a CIO that I’ve never even met before, chances are they take my call and offer me as much help as they possibly could.
In general, a lot of what we’re doing is just reacting to what the government is sending out there all the time. You have to be on your toes, that’s for sure.
Gamble: Another thing that I saw on your LinkedIn page is that you currently teach at Ursuline College. Is that correct?
Barber: Yes, I actually started my career as a high school teacher, and I do love teaching. I was teaching at Baldwin Wallace College for a while. They had a Healthcare MBA program and I was teaching the IT component of it. But then this opportunity came up at Ursuline College, which is closer to my home, and they actually have a Bachelors program in Healthcare Informatics. So I’m teaching Healthcare Informatics over at Ursuline College, and that’s been really fun.
And that’s quite the hot job right now if you have those kinds of skills, especially in IT. If I have the opportunity to hire a clinician that has some technical skills, that’s the perfect combination. Many of the students in my class are clinicians that are just looking for a change. They’re tired of being at the bedside or they’re very interested in technology and can see how it still helps patients without actually having to be hands on. That’s been a lot of fun for me.
Gamble: It’s interesting you say that because when we speak to people about what they look for in a staff, the goal is to have that clinical experience but also the technology background or at least knowledge.
Barber: Yeah, you like to get people that are analytical in nature and it doesn’t bother them to really dig in to things. But having a clinician — someone that really understands operationally how different departments work — goes a long way when you’re analyzing workflows and trying to figure things out relative to implementing a new information system.
Gamble: Absolutely. How do you find time to teach?
Barber: I don’t know. If you ask my husband about that, he would be frowning. I teach in an accelerated program, so it’s kind of nice because the semesters are only five weeks, and you teach one evening a week for four hours. So the semester is very compressed. It’s not too awful. It’s pretty fun.
Gamble: You said you started as a high school teacher. How did you get on to the IT track?
Barber: It’s interesting how your career evolves. I started as a high school teacher and my health education degree qualified me for a much better paying job at a local hospital as a patient service manager. When our hospital started to computerize some of their departments back in the late 70s, they tapped me to coordinate some of the software training because they know I had a teaching degree. That slowly evolved into a position in the IT department for a multi-hospital health system and then I just worked my way up into IT management from there. It’s interesting how your career evolves. It’s very different than when you graduate from college and you think you’re going in one direction.
Gamble: Yeah, definitely. I’m sure that you would never have thought you’d end up where you are now.
Barber: Oh no, not in a million years.
Gamble: You’re also involved in the IT Advisory Committee at Cuyahoga Community College.
Barber: Yes.
Gamble: I was looking through your profile and I also see you’re on the board of Northern Ohio HIMSS. Are you somebody who really strives to be well-rounded and develop strengths in different areas and different types of expertise?
Barber: I’m the kind of person that likes to keep learning things. The more you get yourself out there and talk to different people, the more you learn. I’m no longer on the board at Northern Ohio HIMSS, but I still am affiliated with them. That was a really great experience for me because it allowed me to lead something totally different. I met so many really interesting people and was able to network with other healthcare IT folks, and a lot of those relationships I use to my advantage all the time.
Gamble: That has to be one of the really big advantages of being involved in organizations like HIMSS and CHIME — just having that ability to network with people in your field.
Barber: Yeah, it’s really refreshing. The people that I’ve met in healthcare IT are always so generous with their time and their knowledge. If I were to call a CIO that I’ve never even met before, chances are they take my call and offer me as much help as they possibly could. It’s just a really nice network of people in this industry.
Gamble: You’re not the first person who’s said that so I think that is really interesting and it’s a very positive thing, especially with everybody going through so many changes.
Barber: I even have great relationships and share lots of ideas with healthcare IT managers at competitor hospitals. It doesn’t make a difference at all.
Gamble: You’re all in the same boat, right?
Barber: Right.
Gamble: Okay. So the last thing I wanted to ask you is that with everything going on in your plate — and I know that you said your husband probably thinks you’re too busy — are you still able to find time for activities that are not at all related to work?
Barber: Yeah, absolutely. My husband teases me because he’s semi-retired and I’m still working so he has to rub that in, but when we do find time together, we do a lot of hiking. I’ve been to a nice variety of national parks around the country, and so we do enjoy getting out into nature; spending the week hiking and kind of getting away from it all. It makes it all worthwhile.
Gamble: I imagine. You don’t take phone calls when you’re hiking, right?
Barber: No, you can’t get reception in the mountains. That’s a good thing.
Gamble: That is good. You have to force yourself to do that, right.
Barber: Right.
Gamble: Alright. Well that last thing I wanted to do is just ask you if there’s anything else that you wanted to address, just as far as the industry right now and where it’s going. It seems like it’s just a really interesting time to be a CIO.
Barber: It’s a very challenging time to be in both IT and healthcare, because there is so much going on. Our hospital is in the middle of a $128 million construction project — we’re adding a new ED and a bed tower and some things. I’m really enjoying trying to figure out how to set up the information technology in a new building. It’s really fun to start from scratch and figure out what you need and what’s going to make the most sense for the clinicians. That’s kind of something new and fun. In general, a lot of what we’re doing is just reacting to what the government is sending out there all the time. You have to be on your toes, that’s for sure.
Gamble: Yeah, you never know when things will change.
Barber: Exactly.
Gamble: In terms of the construction, it’s a new ED and a new patient tower?
Barber: Yeah, it’s a new ED which is about double the size of our current ED, a critical care unit right on top of that, and then a three-story, 100-bed tower above that, and below it all, a subterranean parking garage. It’s a pretty interesting project. In addition to my responsibilities as a CIO, I’m also the vice president of support services, so I’ve been very much involved in the construction project since facilities fall under my oversight. I’ve learned so much about all this stuff. It’s been really fascinating. Our ED is going to open January 2014, and the bed tower will open a year later.
Gamble: As a CIO, I would bet that it’s really interesting to work with a brand new building. You can help design the infrastructure to support the technologies that you plan to have in there.
Barber: Right. I guess the caveat there is the technology is changing so quickly that what I’m thinking about now in two years may be kind of obsolete. I don’t know.
Gamble: Yeah, that’s kind of the tricky part, right?
Barber: Right.
Gamble: So you’re also vice president of support services.
Barber: Yes.
Gamble: What does that role entail?
Barber: It’s the support areas of the hospital like security, housekeeping, dietary, plant operations and maintenance, things like that.
Gamble: It’s interesting that you have that and the CIO duties. Were you hired for both of those roles?
Barber: No, that was a little surprise that my boss gave me a couple of years ago.
Gamble: I figured there was a story.
Barber: I was fortunate that he gave me that opportunity because, once again, I’m learning stuff that I never thought I would learn about so it’s all good.
Gamble: I don’t think I had heard of any CIOs who also had that title.
Barber: And that’s the other advantage of being in a small environment — you can wear lots of hats.
Gamble: Yeah, and it’s good that you see it that way. Some might not.
Barber: Right.
Gamble: All right, we’ve touched on a lot here, so unless there’s anything else you wanted to address, I really enjoyed speaking with you.
Barber: You as well, thank you.
Gamble: Thanks for your time, and I hope to speak with you again.
Barber: Okay, thanks, Kate.
Gamble: Thank you.
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