Author Archives: Sue Schade

April reflections

Posted by on

I often write about my “big rocks” in April. This year is no exception, especially after two years of the pandemic. Spring represents a time of new life, rebirth, hope, and renewal. Yet I am always reminded that it was a sad time in my childhood. My father passed away after a 2-year battle with cancer four days before my 4th birthday. I remember the last time we saw him was in the hospital on Easter a few days earlier. He gave my sister and me popcorn Easter bunnies. A strange memory, but one of the few I have from then.

On a happier note, during these April weeks and into early May, I have milestones to celebrate – birthdays for my husband and me, our 46th wedding anniversary, and wedding anniversaries for both our adult daughters – already 12 and 8 years for them. There will be no one special celebration but plenty of opportunities to raise a glass and toast one another when we are together.  They are my biggest rocks!

This spring I’m also spending fun vacation time with family that will include a few days at Disney with two of my four grandkids. Disney with grandkids is something my husband and I have looked forward to since before we even had grandchildren. We’d joke that if we did eventually have grandchildren how old would we be when they were old enough to go to Disney, and would we still be able to do that or even want to. We were supposed to go with this family to Disney for their first time in April 2020, but we know how that worked out.

I will also be spending a week with three close girlfriends from my Michigan days. When I lived there for 3+ years, the four of us got together for long lunches every month and during the pandemic we’ve done weekly zoom calls to keep in touch. They are true friends – the kind of friends who come to help you pack your house when an ill-timed injury gets in the way of what you can do yourself. They too are my big rocks!

Do you know who your big rocks are? Do you spend enough time with them? And what do you do for yourself to renew and reboot? If you can’t easily answer these questions, I encourage you to make time so you can. Life is short.

Related Posts:

Renewal, big rocks, and the elusive work life balance

Do you know your big rocks?

Take time to reboot

Goal setting and accountability – health goals update

Posted by on

I’ve heard it said that when you share your personal goals with others, you are more apt to meet them. Something about accountability. I believe it.

 

About 8 weeks ago, I wrote “New year, new health goals, new tools” describing the excitement in our house about our new Fitbit devices and how we were motivated and ready to up our game in 2022. Happy to report that my husband and I have not lost our motivation and are still comparing our stats most days.

 

I’m averaging close to 13,000 steps or 6 miles a day. I seem to blow past the weekly zone minutes goal by Wednesday most weeks. All good!

 

But I’ve had a lot of ah-ha’s on my sleep patterns. I thought that I slept much better than I do. The sleep tracker data has helped me make some modifications. I love actionable data!

 

We plan to join the YMCA near us to get back doing weights, add more serious cardio than the long hilly walks where we live and to check out the various classes. We dropped our previous gym membership at the start of the pandemic 2 years ago. It’s time to go back.

 

While we have better routines for getting daily exercise, we know we can’t be slaves to our devices. But I admit, there are days when we get the little notification buzz on our wrist at 10 minutes to the hour reminding us that we don’t have 250 steps yet (happens hourly from 9AM – 6PM). We jump up and walk around the house until we hit it. A great reminder to get up and move – especially if I have too many back-to-back calls sitting at my desk. Continue reading →

Health IT conference season via podcast

Posted by on

I didn’t attend either of the two big March in-person health IT industry events – ViVE (CHIME+HLTH) and HIMSS22. But I’ve heard a lot of positives about both events from colleagues. Just seeing people in person after two years was a highlight for many. I admit, I miss the in-person connections as well! And I do look forward to attending the CHIME Fall Forum this year celebrating CHIME’s 30th anniversary.

Like my blog post in November after the CHIME Fall Forum, I’m going to point you to what I consider one of the best resources to hear what health IT leaders from provider organizations and vendors had to say about the conferences and what’s on their mind these days.

Bill Russell has continued his Today in Health IT podcast series he calls “Interviews in Action” – interviewing 50 health IT leaders at ViVE and HIMSS22.  Each interview is no more than 10-15 minutes long. After having family in town visiting this week, I’m behind on my daily dog walk podcast listening but I’ve heard almost all the ones that had been dropped through last week. That includes these CIOs among others: Michael Pfeffer at Stanford Medicine, Cara Babachicos at South Shore Health, Cletis Earle at Penn State Health, Andrew Rosenberg at Michigan Medicine, Nassar Nizami at Jefferson Health, Andy Crowder at Atrium Health, and Jamie Nelson at Hospital for Special Surgery. While there are common themes such as staffing and talent, clinician burnout, and cybersecurity, you will also learn about the top focus areas for each organization. You can hear from these CIOs and many other IT leaders and vendors on the Newsroom channel.

Whether you attended these events or not, you’ll find the interviews insightful. And if you are looking for more ways to learn and keep current, check out the other new channels that Bill and his team at This Week in Health IT launched as of January – Academy, Community, and Conference which includes both keynotes and solution showcase podcasts.

You may also want to check out the podcast series from CHIME, HealthsystemCIO.com, and CIO Podcast by Healthcare IT Today.

Happy listening!

Related Posts:

#InternationalPodcastDay

More podcast recommendations – going beyond HIT

 

 

 

Mentoring, role models and sometimes a little nudge

Posted by on

What a pleasant surprise to be tagged in a LinkedIn post by my daughter as she shared with her network some great professional news. She just completed her Leadership & Management Certificate Program at Wharton online. I’m super proud of her! She tagged me to thank me for the “nudge”.

I remember well our “nudge” conversation back in August. I remember it more as a conversation where she asked for advice on how best to pursue her education given her current work and how her career is evolving. She has been at the same company for the past 8 years and been promoted several times – she is now Sr. Manager, Executive Communications and Administration, partnering with the CEO and executive leadership team. I would call it more of an ask for advice and get ideas/encouragement conversation.

Her discipline and persistence to get started and finish it in just 6 months is impressive – all while working full-time and as a mother of two young children. It reminds me of when I decided to get my MBA many years ago when she and her sister were young and I had a full-time management job.

I’ve talked about my two daughters in previous posts. I try to be a role model for them professionally.  I’ve given them advice as their careers have advanced and am proud to see their accomplishments. They both have a passion for their work and have received awards for leadership and innovation. As I counsel people early in their career – find your passion, be open to the possibilities, and never stop learning.

Many women describe their mothers and grandmothers as inspiring role models. Today would be my mother’s birthday. She died just shy of her 68th birthday after a short battle with cancer. She was only 42 when my father died, leaving her to raise four young children on her own. My mother was a role model for me – a strong and independent woman. Continue reading →

On the other side of the digital front door – part 3

Posted by on

Two different procedures. Two different specialties. Two different patient communication approaches. Yet both practices use the same EHR and patient portal.

Prep for surgery instructions. Paper. Branded folder to put the paper in. More paper on next visit. A call from practice confirming specific surgery time and then get transferred to recorded message with specific pre-surgery instructions. Day of surgery sent home with post-op instructions – more paper.

Prep for procedure instructions. Available on the patient portal under letters. Texts and emails sent with specific prep information. Timed texts and emails for each major step along a defined prep timeline. Post procedure summary and instructions given to me on paper and available on the portal.

Practice variation is real. At times, it’s required and makes sense given different specialties. But not always.

So how were these two different experiences from a patient communication perspective? For me, there is a comfort having paper – can easily refer to it when needed. That is, if you know where you put it – hence the branded folder they give you. In the other situation, there was a very prescribed set of timed pre-procedure steps so the texts/emails at specified times telling me what to do was helpful.

What wasn’t such a good patient experience? Continue reading →

Interim leaders may be one answer to the “great resignation”

Posted by on

Over the past 6 years, I’ve been fortunate to serve four different healthcare providers as an interim leader – three as CIO, one as CTO. While there have been common themes, each has had its unique challenges. I’ve learned firsthand how interim leaders provide an important bridge during leadership transitions and can make a significant impact on an organization in a short time.

I encourage you to check out my recent StarBridge Advisors blog post – “Talent shortage? Great resignation? Interim leaders can help”. In this new post I share some of my own experiences as an interim and what organizations expect when they look outside for an interim leader.

Related Posts:

Interim Management – Providing a Bridge During Transition

When an interim CIO makes sense

Stepping into an interim leadership role

#BreakTheBias

Posted by on

That’s the theme of International Women’s Day (IWD) 2022 celebrated today, March 8. It is one to remember not just today but every day. Two weeks ago, as Black History Month came to an end, I wrote a post titled “2022 of the 1950s?” about systemic racism. March is Women’s History Month and when I see the assault on women’s rights in many states, I could ask that same question again.

While women have made great progress since I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, coming of age during the women’s movement shaped me both personally and professionally. I remember when International Women’s Day was something most people knew nothing about. Now it is more prominently highlighted in the media. You may have seen some “strike the pose” posts on social media in recent days and wondered what that was about. But International Women’s Day is not just a celebration of women, it is a focus on the historical and current struggles of women for true equality and a call to all of us to forge a gender equal world.

Themes in recent years have been:

#ChooseToChallenge – reminding us that we are responsible for our own thoughts and actions and that we can all choose to call out gender bias and inequality.

#EachforEqual – emphasizing the need to bring together people of all gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion, and country to embrace the values and actions needed to create a gender equal world.

What does this year’s theme #BreakTheBias focus on? From the IWD website:

“Imagine a gender equal world.

A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.

A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

A world where difference is valued and celebrated.

Together we can forge women’s equality.

Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.”

What can you do? Continue reading →

Ukraine, what can you do?

Posted by on

Posting pictures of sunflowers and the colors of the Ukrainian flag are all signs of support. And yes, the free world and the autocrats need to see that support. But there is more you and I can do. Here are two resources to check out:

Call to Action: How the Health Community can Help Efforts in Ukraine is on March 3, 11AM ET sponsored by HLTH – you can register here. Description of the webinar:

As healthcare professionals, we can help via coordinated effort with Ukrainian Ministry of Health and state enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine. By now, Ukraine used all of its available medical supplies; deliveries to the country situated in the middle of Europe are severely disrupted.

We are hosting the webinar on Thursday, March 3rd during which our panelists will be able to provide clear instructions of what supplies are needed and how to ship them to Ukraine, as well as answer any of your questions. You will hear from:

Moderator:
– Anna Levchuk –  Member Of The Supervisory Board, Member Of The Supervisory Board,
State Enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine
Speakers:
– Arsen Zhumadilov – CEO of Medical Procurement of Ukraine
– Graham Stewart – Head of Supply Chain Delivery at Department of Health and Social Care, UK
– Kateryna Babkina – an award-winning Ukrainian poet and a refugee who drove from shelled Kyiv to Poland with one-year-old in tow

Please join the webinar to learn how you can help. Share this information with your colleagues in patient access, social responsibility, and sales departments.

From the Global Citizen, “22 Meaningful Ways You Can Help Ukraine” by Khanyi Mlaba and Tess Lowery on February 24th.

The article opens with this statement, “While many of us might feel helpless when confronted with geopolitical machinations of this scale, we’ve rounded up some ways you can help the people of Ukraine right now.” It includes ways to donate, take action, and stay informed.

Babies being born in subways that have become shelters. NICU babies being cared for in a hospital shelter. Innocent people including young children being killed and wounded. These are difficult images to watch. But it is happening. The strength and resilience of the Ukrainian people is inspiring. As global citizens, the fight for democracy and freedom is one we all must support.

 

2022 or the 1950s? 

Posted by on

February started with news that was both disturbing and disappointing to see in 2022. But unfortunately, not a surprise considering the long history of racism and white supremacy in this country. News programs the first few days of Black History Month covered bomb threats at many HBCU campuses, the Florida Anti-Woke Act, book banning, a neo-Nazi group protesting in front of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and another police shooting of a young black man, Amir Locke, in Minneapolis.

It makes one wonder if this is 2022 or the 1950s. Are we moving forward or backward?

When I touch on political subjects in my blog posts, I try to weave a healthcare perspective into it. The best I can do given these discouraging news stories is to reinforce that it takes each one of us to make change and create the kind of world we want to live in, work in and raise our families in.

As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”. Yes, but only if we pull it towards justice. So, what can you or I do to pull it?

I applaud Boston Children’s Hospital where I served as interim CIO last year for requiring “Bystander to Upstander” training for all employees as part of the health system’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This program raised awareness of microaggressions in everyday life and provided simple tools for each of us to use to move from being a bystander when we see and hear something to being willing to call it out.

I applaud the CHIME Diversity and Inclusion committee which I am a member of for their continued work to raise awareness amongst CHIME and CHIME Foundation members and AEHIS, AEHIA and AEHIT members. The newest offering, “DEI Dialogues”, kicks off this Friday 2/25 from 12-1PM ET. DEI Dialogues will be a dynamic series of virtual conversations around identity, belonging, equity and inclusion with a different lens of focus each month. The focus of the first one is Black History Month. Cletis Earle, SVP and CIO at Penn State Health, and Dr. Andrea Hendricks, Senior Executive Director & Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Cerner, will moderate the discussion. For more information on CHIME Diversity and Inclusion and to register for the first DEI Dialogues, click here.

When it comes to understanding our own biases and working to end racism, we are each on our own journey of self-awareness and action. Together we can be the change and move forward not backward.

Resources and Related Posts:

Here’s the story behind Black History Month – and why it’s celebrated in February

How Sharing Our Stories Builds Inclusion

One year later – an increased focus on diversity, equity and inclusion

At the intersection of racism and healthcare

New year, new health goals, new tools

Posted by on

On Tuesday, our new trackers arrived. I’ve used a Fitbit since late 2013 and still had the Fitbit One device. It served its purpose as a very basic step tracker. When it started getting less reliable during our January vacation, I decided it was time to up my game with newer tracking technology. Plus, I realized my device was discontinued a few years ago so forget about just replacing it. My husband, Tom, was ready to start more serious tracking as we focused on new health goals in 2022. He had recently downloaded a free step tracker app to his iPhone, but it was only useful if he always had his phone with him.

We carefully compared the different Fitbit devices reading specs and watching the videos. Doing the comparison shopping together on my laptop had me in tears laughing with him. Tom has never been athletic and hated gym class as a kid. We were doing the main feature compare between the Luxe and the Inspire 2. But we thought we should check out the Charge 5 before we called the question. Part way through the short video for the Charge 5, Tom said, “It’s scaring me, it’s like gym class on your wrist”. I told you, I had tears I laughed so hard at that. We each placed an order for a Luxe and the Premium Membership.

Once we had the devices charged and he downloaded the software for the first time, we quickly figured out the main features and how to navigate. We are constantly comparing our stats. I know that will wear off. But there is a new motivation in our house to get in better shape and get out walking longer distances each day. Continue reading →