As an RRT I entered the field of respiratory care 25 years ago and into management in 1991. I advanced my education, earning a Bachelors of Healthcare Administration then a MBA.
I became a director a 400-bed hospital in 1995 in which my responsibilities grew within a year’s time to include the sleep lab, and electroneuodiagnostics lab. After two years my coverage area included two additional rural 100-bed hospitals with sleep labs, EEG services as well as respiratory care services. We ventured into sub acute care for four years and rode the ride of Medicare until prospective payment came along and made it impossible to provide this service.
I then moved to South to Florida in which I directed two large respiratory care departments, and electroneurodiagnositc labs, echo/vascular labs and EKG labs. After moving into Administration I reported to the COO, which added the emergency services line that included life flight, emergency rooms and pain management. I was involved in the reorganization of that facility as we built an additional 8-floor cardiac wing with a new trauma center. After six years of disaster management (continuous hurricanes) I moved my family to Massachusetts where we reside now with one of the largest medical centers-medical schools-medical research facilities in the country.
My interest and specialty has always been not only respiratory care but mentoring staff members, recruitment and retention and building teamwork among floundering departments.
It seems that every position that I have taken on has been a department that have been in the "down and out" stage, only to find that it is not always the staff members but the prior ways of leadership and staff management style. Yet once a department is back on track the rewards are endless.