Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / How Children's Nebraska's Jerry Vuchak Works to Drive "A Culture of Innovation"

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How Children's Nebraska's Jerry Vuchak Works to Drive "A Culture of Innovation" · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  - This is the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, created
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  by the team of Becker's Healthcare,
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  Thanks for listening. Now here's the episode.
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  - This is Chris Doster with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled to rejoined by Jerry ak, chief Information
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  and Innovation Officer for Children's Nebraska.
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  Jerry, thank you so much for joining us today.
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  - My pleasure to be here.
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  - Excellent. Could you please introduce yourself
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  and tell us a bit about your background?
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  - Sure. So Jerry ak as was mentioned,
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  I'm the Chief Information
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  and Innovation Officer here at Children's Nebraska.
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  I've been, uh, with Children's for about five years now.
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  My responsibilities, uh, span information technology,
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  information security,
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  clinical engineering, strategic planning.
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  And then about 18 months ago,
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  we developed a new group called Digital
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  Health and Innovation.
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  I've been in healthcare for the majority of my career,
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  32 years.
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  Uh, always worked in, uh, academic medical centers,
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  including children's Nebraska, mostly in adult,
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  uh, healthcare.
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  Although in my last position at BJC
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  Healthcare, I supported St.
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  Louis Children's Hospital
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  and really got an appreciation for pediatric healthcare,
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  which really interested me in this position here
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  at Children's Nebraska.
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  - Certainly you have a, a long and a story career.
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  Jerry, thank you again for joining us.
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  So what would you say is the evolution
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  of the innovation gap in pediatrics
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  and what are children's Nebraska's strategies to closing it?
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  - Uh, that's really, really a great question.
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  So first of all, uh, you know, as I mentioned,
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  I have strategic planning.
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  So we have five pillars of our strategic plan,
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  and one of those pillars is to improve the health
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  and wellbeing of every child through
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  innovation and discovery.
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  So we call that out very prominently in our strategic plan.
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  We do have a child health research institute in partnership
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  with our academic partner, uh, university
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  of Nebraska Medical Center.
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  So discovery, uh, research
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  and innovation are very core in our strategic plan.
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  I also mentioned that we have five core values, uh,
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  in our organization, innovation, collaboration,
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  accountability, respect, and excellence.
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  So we call innovation out as well in our core values.
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  And one of the reasons we, we find it so important,
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  probably the primary reason we find it so important is
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  that it is a national statistic that
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  of all the dollars spent on healthcare innovation, uh,
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  technology, less than 2% of that is dedicated
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  to pediatrics.
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  And when you think about, uh, the population
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  of the United States, uh, over 20% of
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  that population is under 18 years old.
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  So it's a little bit of an alarming statistic
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  that less than 2%
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  of innovation dollars are spent on pediatrics.
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  We feel it's important to bridge that gap
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  because we want to intervene in these children's lives
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  to set them up for great health into adulthood.
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  So intervene early
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  and as often as we need to with innovation to set them up
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  for health, uh, in the future.
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  - Jerry, given the mission of not only your health system,
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  but yourself and your team, what are some
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  of the recent innovations that you
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  and your team are proud of and what's on the horizon?
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  - Yeah, that's, that's really a great question.
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  So, I, some of the things we're very, very proud of, uh,
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  that have transpired of the past couple years are we have a,
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  a project that's named Project Austin in our organization,
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  and it was really the idea of two nurses in our organization
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  that saw a need in the community of, uh, with children
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  that have a lot of medical complexity.
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  So, uh, they had this idea to partner with
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  EMS per personnel in the community to make sure
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  that those personnel had the most current medical records
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  of, of those medically complex kids
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  to intervene appropriately
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  and, uh, potentially to save lives
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  and to advance those patients' outcomes.
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  And, uh, in 2015, I can share a statistic, we, uh,
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  uh, served about 15 patients in that program,
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  and we're up to about 2000 patients in that program now.
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  And really what that does is allow those EMS personnel
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  to get to those records.
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  And recently we have developed an application
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  for those EMS personnel.
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  So imagine them having a, you know, digitized paper
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  that they were revert referring to
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  in the past when they encountered one
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  of these kids that needed help.
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  We've now, uh, digitized it that in an application
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  that gives them access to real time, uh,
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  feed from our medical record here at,
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  at children's Nebraska.
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  So that's really an advanced innovation
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  that we're very proud of.
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  And as a matter of fact, uh, our organization was recognized
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  by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, uh,
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  for excellence in nursing for that program.
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  Uh, recently, uh, in October, they were recognized by the,
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  the Magnet Conference.
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  So really, really great work there.
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  Uh, the other thing that I'll call out is that
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  our organization was just recognized by Modern Healthcare
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  for our use of 3D print technology
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  and advancing, uh, patient outcomes, uh, which is,
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  uh, uh, recognized as a top innovator organization, again,
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  by modern healthcare.
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  We've been able to intervene with 3D printing technology,
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  uh, to allow our surgeons to practice surgeries
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  before they have to occur.
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  It reduces the amount of time for the surgery
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  and allows the, the, the surgeons to get an idea of
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  what they're facing, uh, prior to having to,
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  to start the surgery.
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  So really great advancement there.
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  I I will call out another thing that we're very proud of.
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  Uh, a generous donor in our community is helping
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  to finance an innovation center here at Children's Nebraska.
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  We, uh, through, uh, COVID
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  and the development of a hybrid work environment,
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  we've been able to identify about 8,000 square feet
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  in our organization.
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  So we originally envisioned having to build a bricks
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  and mortar innovation center.
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  We've been able to save the organization a lot of money
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  by buying backspace, uh,
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  through our hybrid work arrangement program.
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  And we're in the process of building out
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  that innovation center now.
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  It will open in early 2024.
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  And some of the things we're gonna highlight, uh, in
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  that innovation center is it'll, it'll showcase our use
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  of 3D uh, imaging technologies.
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  We'll have a patient room of the future
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  where we're partnering with some of our critical vendors on
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  advancing the patient patient experience
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  and advancing patient outcomes as well.
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  We're we're getting into a bit
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  of application development in our environment.
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  So if we see a gap in services that some of our vendors, uh,
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  don't supply an an application, we're doing a little bit
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  of application development.
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  We're also going to have a real-time
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  decision support analysis center.
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  So we'll be able to, uh, if you've ever heard
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  of a virtual ICU environment, we're gonna take that
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  one step beyond a virtual ICU to what we're calling,
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  uh, patient care of the future.
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  We're we'll be able to take information from, uh,
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  biomedical devices at the bedside, analyze that data
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  and intervene more quickly
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  to improve positive patient outcomes.
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  So a few of the things that we're,
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  we're gonna be highlighting in our innovation
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  centers, we advance that.
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  - Jerry, congratulations
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  to your team on all those innovations.
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  No doubt they've helped a whole lot of people
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  since they were, uh, implemented.
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  Uh, when you look around
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  and you have other people in your healthcare sphere,
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  let's say, and they're trying to devote more resources
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  to this, what sort of advice would you have for them
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  for using certain innovations that
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  childrens Nebraska has put at the forefront?
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  - That's really, really a great question.
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  So, so a two-part answer to that.
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  So first, it's very important to build a culture
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  of innovation in your organization.
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  So for us, this is really a grassroots effort
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  and tapping into the wisdom
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  and creative wisdom of all
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  of our team members across the organization.
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  When we developed, uh, this, uh, digital health
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  and innovation strategy, we very quickly realized we,
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  we wouldn't be able to do it effectively by hiring,
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  for example, a team of 20 people
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  who were just devoted to doing this.
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  Because what we know here at Children's Nebraska is the best
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  ideas come from the caregivers at the bedside
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  are folks working out in the field.
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  And so what we decided as a leadership team is we wanted
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  to give all of our team members across the organization an
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  opportunity to participate in
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  what we're calling the culture of innovation.
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  And we've taken a two-pronged approach,
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  uh, approach to that.
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  So first of all, we've developed affinity groups
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  for innovation, and we've started with four affinity groups.
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  So we have one around virtual reality, the second's
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  around our 3D printing technology.
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  The third is around artificial intelligence,
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  and the fourth is around digital wearables.
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  And so we have a physician lead
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  and an executive lead for each of those groups,
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  but they're open for anyone in the organization
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  to participate in.
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  And we have the, um, assurance of all
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  of our leaders across the organization
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  that they're gonna allot time for their folks to,
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  that are interested in that, uh, uh,
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  have an interest in those programs to participate in them.
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  And we're very excited
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  because, uh, we have up to about 80 folks
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  participating in any one of those, uh,
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  those affinity groups.
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  So those meet monthly.
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  So a lot of great participation across the organization
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  and a lot of advancement across the organization.
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  The other thing that we've done is we've introduced
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  what we're calling the innovation cup,
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  which is a competition in the organization,
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  and everyone across the organization is allowed
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  to participate in it.
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  And what it's about is submitting your creative ideas
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  around, uh, two specific areas of
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  that we're focusing on.
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  The first is around, uh, patient engagement.
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  Uh, so how our patients are feeling about their experience
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  with us, uh, advancing positive patient outcomes
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  and their overall perception of us as an organization.
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  And then the second is our team member engagement.
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  So our employee experience
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  and our team member engagement is
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  of utmost importance to us.
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  We wanna retain our employees,
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  we have really great employees
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  and wanna make sure they have a great experience
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  with the organization as well.
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  So that's our other focus area.
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  So our innovation cup, our, our,
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  across the organization folks are allowed
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  to participate in that.
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  And we just launched that this fall. Very successful.
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  We got close to a hundred ideas
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  across those two areas of focus.
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  And right now we're in the process of, uh, judging those.
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  We have a judging panel
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  of multidisciplinary leaders across the organization with
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  who will pick the top ideas in each of those categories.
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  And then our, we have, we're very lucky, uh, very blessed
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  to have a strong foundation in our organization
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  who has raised money
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  to help us advance those ideas to fruition.
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  So if, for example,
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  someone had a great idea about developing an application to,
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  to help our employees
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  with their experience in the organization, make that better
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  for them, that would get funded
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  and we would do the development around that
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  and then roll it out to the rest of the organization.
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  So, so to your point in your question,
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  we find it's gonna be very important
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  that the organization advances a culture of innovation
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  and that folks feel empowered to be creative, to think
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  beyond the status quo
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  and not do everything the way they used to
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  before to think innovatively
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  and advance, uh, the organization.
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  I'll say the second thing I think
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  that is really critical in giving advice is
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  what we found is unfortunately,
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  the traditional healthcare vendors,
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  the big healthcare vendors, um, are not
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  as progressive as they could be.
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  So, you know, healthcare
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  for a long time has lagged on the innovation front.
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  And I would say, say there's still some truth to that today,
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  when we reach out to our vendor, traditional vendor partners
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  and say, Hey, we're we're trying to advance innovation.
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  Would you help be a partner with us on that front?
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  They're, they're quick to come to the table,
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  but they're not quick to execute.
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  They're not as agile as, as I think they could be.
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  Uh, and others in our organization think they could be.
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  What we've found success at is, uh, partnering with,
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  uh, more, what do we call startup companies,
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  a little bit more agile,
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  have a really quick development cycle.
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  We've found success there.
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  So, so I think it's very important to really vet vendors,
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  look at folks that can be agile,
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  that have a solid development cycle
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  and can advance the ideas you have more quickly, uh, so
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  that you can actually, uh, you know, see the outcomes that,
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  that you're trying to achieve.
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  - Certainly, Jerry, I hope,
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  and we hope that the culture
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  that you've created at Children's Nebraska yields any number
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  of ideas and that vendors are able to match that
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  with their agility.
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  Uh, lastly, I will ask you, uh,
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  what issue in pediatrics do you believe deserves
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  to be discussed more often?
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  - You know, so I, I think I will go back to, uh,
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  that statistic of, you know, less than 2%
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  of innovation dollars in healthcare are spent in pediatrics.
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  I think all of us in the pediatric community need
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  to be very focused around that.
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  And we're starting to see some movement in that.
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  You know, there's a consortium, uh, that's based in, uh,
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  at LA Children's called Kids X,
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  which has been very successful about
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  bringing pediatric hospitals together with, uh,
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  innovative vendors to advance innovation in pediatrics.
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  You know, there's another program, I, I can't remember
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  where it's, it's exactly where it's based out of,
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  but it's called VINs Kids,
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  and it also partners, uh, pediatric hospitals with
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  more innovative thinking, uh, vendor partners to,
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  to advance, uh, innovation in pediatric healthcare.
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  And, and I think we need to continue to hone that focus to
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  where we start to see the tide turn, uh,
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  to those equitable dollars coming into pediatrics
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  for research and innovation.
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  Because as I mentioned
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  before, you know, when you think about intervening
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  early in the healthcare of children,
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  that just sets them up for many, many years, more years of,
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  of good health into adulthood.
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  And, uh, that's when we should be intervening quickly
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  and often when we see needs in the community, what,
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  whether it be, uh,
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  because kids aren't getting the appropriate healthcare
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  because of social determinants of health
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  or what other the, the circumstances are making sure
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  that we're intervening early in the healthcare of these kids
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  and young adults to make sure that they're set up for, uh,
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  great health into adulthood.
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  And I think we all need to maintain
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  that focus in the pediatric community, uh, in,
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  in advanced innovation to help us do that.
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  - Jerry, thank you so much for being so generous
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  with your time and your insights today.
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  We definitely cannot wait to share them with our audience,
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  and we hope to connect with you soon.
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  - Awesome. It was a pleasure to be with you today.
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  I love talking about this topic and,
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  and really appreciate the opportunity.
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  - It's so important for leaders at the top of organizations
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  to keep learning, stay sharp, grow their networks,
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