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Welcome to The National Graduate School's Community E-Newsletter
Greetings!
As health care becomes a hot topic and point of contention, the importance of quality in health care becomes even more apparent, especially in today's economy. Applying the principles of Quality Systems Management to the health care industry can help decrease cost and improve patient care. Read on to learn how some of our alumni and faculty members have applied the tools and techniques of the NGS/U degree programs to improve the quality of health care in their fields. |
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Utilizing Quality in Health Care
by Angela Nardella, UMass Memorial Medical Center 
In 2002, at 50 years old, it was time for me to pause and reflect on my career in healthcare quality. There was an explosion of activity in healthcare fuelled by increased medical errors and variation in quality of care. Quality organizations were developing different systems for data collection, analysis and reporting of performance indicators. What was a performance indicator? Or Lean/Six Sigma? Or, the voice of the customer?
My name is Angela Nardella. In 1976, I started my career as a registered Medical Technologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. Until 1989, I managed a Hematology/Coagulation Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Liberto Pechet. In 1990, I was asked to assume the role as a QA Coordinator.
In 2003, I found the NGS and strengthened my professional career as a Quality Systems Manager. I was able to applied by critical thinking to the development of quality healthcare management services including the Six Sigma DMAIC process, QSE Quality System Essentials, strategic planning processes, leadership, organizational-wide quality, benchmarking, knowledge management, regulatory compliance, and customer service. All ensured best practice, optimal utilization and efficiency of services.
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Meet Your Professor: 
LTC [Ret.] Cheryl Brown
Cheryl Brown, retired LTC, Army Nurse, works as a Nurse Consultant for the military in Patient Safety. Cheryl held diverse active duty positions as Commander, Chief Nurse and Operations Officer of a Combat Support Hospital and a multitude of patient care positions. She also held numerous staff officer positions in Education, Training, Recruiting and Nurse Liaison for the Academy of Health Sciences. Cheryl is a trauma nurse and veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Storm. After her retirement in 2007, she held a position with the San Antonio BRAC Integration Office. In her current role Cheryl uses the Quality Systems Management Masters degree by acting as consultant to nearly 40 hospital and clinic patient safety managers and assisting them to better manage patient safety issues throughout their facilities. Courses such as Process Improvement/Team Dynamics and Benchmarking ensure success at every level in her environment. Cheryl lives in San Antonio, Texas with her 3 children (15-year-old son, 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter). When she is not working she enjoys traveling and laughing with her children. She also sings in a 300 voice choir at her church.
To listen to an interview between Cheryl Brown and NGS/U President, Dr. Robert Gee, click here.
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Military Alumni Spotlight:
"Team Extreme"
U.S. Army
LTC Jeffery Cheeks, CWO4, Mark Ivey and Mr. Eugene Johnson participated in the NGS/U program in Fort Rucker, Alabama in 2001. Little did they know that their team name "EXTREME" was a true representation of the impacts their research and analysis would have across the Army aerospace medical community, the Navy aerospace medical community, and the Military Health Care System.
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Corporate Student Spotlight:
Fran Akelewicz
FCA & Associates, Inc.
Fran Akelewicz is an NGS/U alumna who received her Master's Degree in Quality Systems Management at the Foxboro, MA cohort in 2000. Since then, she has started her own consulting company, FCA & Associates, Inc. which serves manufacturing industries including pharmaceudical and medical devices. She also made the Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry's 2008 list of "100 notable people."
Learn more about Fran and her company at practicalsolns.net.
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If you have news or information
that you would like to include in The Benchmark,
please contact Sara Fleck at sfleck@ngs.edu or 800-838-2580 ext.125 Issue: 1 | |
