ODU's LeADERS Program Reflection

During my LeADERS experience I learned how valuable health care administrators are in the healthcare field. As a healthcare administrator there are endless amounts of duties that must be carried out to ensure any medical treatment facility can provide care to its patient population. As a technician, my primary duties only consisted of provided support to medical/dental providers. As I started to work in the OMFS clinic there were several administrative errors that impacted the day to day working environment. negatively As I began focusing more on administrative duties, I was able to provide more effective assistances in areas such as patient scheduling, records management, policy updates and technician competency developments. 

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One of the biggest challenges I faced in the beginning of my internship was training new technicians with an outdated competency form. The original version provided was outdated by several years and was not within regulations provided by the new Commanding Officer. This was a major issue because many new technicians were fresh out boot camp and A school. Those new sailors were placed in areas where they either needed experience or a competency form to help guild them as skills were developed. With me having years of experience in the surgical field and dental field, I was able to design two different competency forms that would help new sailors who would be working in both the Oral surgery clinic and the operating room. Both forms had several similarities such as proper way to clean and process surgical instruments after surgical procedures. One of the main sections in both competency forms, was how to properly technique scrub hands before a procedure. This area was the biggest concern not only from me but other senior members as well. Including this into the competency form helped senior techniques criteria who needed further assistance with developing the proper technique to scrubbing their hands before procedures. Short term this seemed to be an inconvenience for many sailors but long term it would help decrease the number of infections developing during surgical procedures. With the information learned in CHP 461 Managerial Epidemiology, I was able to develop competency packages that increased employee skills that would also help decrease the rise in infections during patient interaction. In the course I read several case studies on issues health care facilities would experience dealing with diseases, infections, and protocols to prevent them from spreading. This class was extremely helpful when it came for LT Wilson and me to update the Tissue Tracker policy. The policy was last updated back in 2010 and there were a few wisdom teeth extraction post infection cases that were connected to the way the clinic was storing bone tissue. This class assisted with developing reports based off cases studies and helped created new standards to ensure patients were exposed to unsafe tissue. 

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Organizational development was the biggest goal I set to reach during my internship at the Naval Hospital Beaufort's Oral Surgery Clinic. As a clinical technician and supervisor there were several areas that need improve meant. Our patient no show rate was the highest in any department of the hospital. This creative a high level of work stress for all OMFS team members. By creating a stand-by list for personnel awaiting procedures and revisit the patient population by exploring the idea of evaluating and treating dependents and retired military on a regular basis. After determining the root cause of "no show" appointments within OMFS, the common understanding was lack of communication and the inability to leave voicemails for patients whose voice-mail box was full or not yet established. This assessment allowed the administrative leaders to look into using a more up to date software system that would help lower our no-show rate. In October 2018, OMFS upgraded from a system known as Dental Common Access System (DENCAS) to the U.S. Army Corporate Dental Application system (CDS). Within the system, it provides a three means communication-e-mail, text message, and an appointment reminder card- for each patient. This new system development helped decreased our no-show rates by 24%. I was able to assist the clinic in a major change and reach another goal set prior to starting my internship.  

The overall experience was really impactful. During my journey at ODU I learned many useful tips from several courses that impacted my naval career. MGMT 325 Contemporary Organization and Management was one of my favorite courses taken during my time at ODU. One of the main topics that had a major impact on me was the process of doing a investigation. Being a health care professional in the Navy can be a challenging job. There have been many times in my career where co-workers conducted themselves unethically and nothing was done to solve the issue. MGMT 325 broke down the proper way to conduct an investigation from start to finish. One of the most important notes I took from the class was knowing the right time to start an investigation. Most Navy leaders wait until a event has occurred several times before intervention happens. These delays usually end in no resolution due to time elapsed by. I was able to use this concept as a leader to solve small and major issues brought to my attention by junior co-workers. One example that I remember using this method dealt with ordering supplies. Another senior corpsman was in charge of ordering clinical supplies but there are always errors in the inventory system. After several co-workers brought this to my attention, I decided to document the discrepancies, interview witness, and following up with vendors. After a few weeks of investigation, it turned out the senior corpsman was falsifying the order forms due to lack of knowledge and experience. He didn't want to be fired because it would look bad on his evaluation. We were able to find a more suitable replacement as a supply specialist.  Without the useful information learned in MGMT 325 this behavior could have continued for months which would have cost the clinic thousands of dollars. 

Taking on the challenge of being a health administrator was intimidating at first but became easier in time. Some of the challenges I faced were trying to implement changes in my clinic with the approval from department heads. Going against the traditional Navy communication system was not easy to begin with. Many senior personal questioned my ideas and request to change things. As a health care administrator, there will be times where I will be questioned on my actions and I must stand my ground. I realized I am responsible for making sure the hospital y stays organized, on budget, and efficient.