Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa inpatient pharmacy director wins North Bay Forty Under 40 award
Responsibilities with your company: Oversee Hospital Pharmacy operations and our Ambulatory Surgery Center pharmacy. Hold Pharmacist in Charge designation and am responsible for oversight of sterile compounding licenses and practices that take place within the hospital and ambulatory surgery.
Responsible for regulatory compliance with California Department of Public Health (CDPH); The Joint Commission (TJC; The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); and California State Board of Pharmacy (CA BOP). Lead out Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee for the Kaiser Santa Rosa Medical Center and co-chair the Medication Safety Committee. Partner with all other departments throughout the hospital (physicians, nurses, engineering, environmental services, safety, respiratory therapy, etc) to facilitate meaningful improvements which support safe, high quality, and affordable medication delivery to our patients.
Accountable for hospital pharmacy budget including FTE management and medication budget, manage and develop clinical activities including Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, Transitional Care Pharmacy, and clinical protocols which support advancement of pharmacists and technicians in their areas of expertise.
Evaluate quality and efficacy of these programs reporting to local and regional executives. Lead out performance improvement projects partnering with my team in the Inpatient Pharmacy as well as external departments which promote quality, efficiency, safety, and affordability within our systems.
I also participate in other local and regional projects including Pharmacy Medication Safety Coordinator, Infection Control Committee, quality and performance improvement groups, as well as business case development and strategy for innovative opportunities in the sterile compounding arena.
How do you exemplify the spirit of being a top Forty under 40 professional?
Innovative strategist, respected leader in my community and within my organization locally and nationally, who's expertise is frequently sought out by other professional leaders.
Years with company: 9
Length of time in current position: 3
Number of companywide employees: 304,515
Number who report to you: 37
Greatest professional accomplishment: Leading my team through the unprecedented challenges and unknowns of COVID 19 and for my work with procuring and rolling out the utilization of Remdesivir in our hospital (under FDA Emergency Use Authorization) in collaboration with county health officials and our Infectious Disease physicians.
With so many unknowns and the fear associated with COVID-19 especially in the health care setting, it required strong communication and leadership to facilitate a landscape for open and ongoing dialogue with the team and hour by hour evolutionary learning and change management in order to continue to provide high quality pharmaceutical services to our hospitalized patients.
Greatest professional challenge:
1. COVID 19 pandemic in which I was trying to maintain solid foundation of our pharmacy team, protect our employees, plan for worst case scenario surge, source adequate supply and alternative supply of critical medications, keep our patients safe, and maintain regulatory compliance.
2. Navigating the re-opening of the Kaiser Santa Rosa hospital after the 2017 fires. I've actively participated in evacuating the Kaiser Santa Rosa hospital twice now, 2017 and 2019 as well as the rigorous re-opening process.
Best advice received: If you give someone a fish, you'll feed them for a day. If you teach them how to fish, you'll feed them for a lifetime.
Single most important event in your professional life in the last 12 months: Being able to procure the first doses of Remdesivir for our patients. It was the first glimmer of hope for treatment during the pandemic and being at the forefront and going through that process is an event I will not forget.
What’s the biggest change COVID-19, the restrictions and the economic impact has had on your work and personal life?
In my professional life I have had to completely change the way I approach my work. Restrictions have changed processes in how the work is done and also the amount of work and competing priorities on a day to day basis.
Work has become more challenging with higher volume and increased acuity of our patients.
The greatest economic impact I believe is still to be seen as we work through recovery efforts. Right now, the focus has been on meeting every patient's needs to the best of our ability and providing vaccinations to the community as expeditiously as possible.
