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The Power of Continuous Improvement in Healthcare

Tuesday, June 1,10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Improving processes in the healthcare environment not only helps providers to deliver more reliable and cost-effective coverage, but it can drastically enhance patient outcomes and save lives. Today we'll check in with a wide breadth of healthcare professions to find out how they've come to rely on continuous improvement and Lean principles. 

Featured Panel: The Lifesharing Story

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  • Darryl Nethercot, Organ Procurement Coordinator, UC San Diego Health
  • Lisa Stocks, Executive Director, Lifesharing

Meet the team at Lifesharing, a Southern California organ and tissue recovery organization. By applying process improvement efforts, Lifesharing has increased the number of lives saved within San Diego County. In 2020, despite the challenges of COVID-19, Lifesharing helped transplant a record 424 organs. You'll hear from the executive director and clinical staff on how process improvement has made an incredible impact in the community.  

Featured Interview: Leveraging Process Improvement for a New Kind of Care

  • Laura-EssermanLaura Esserman, M.D., Professor, Surgery and Radiology; Director, UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center
  • Ashley Gambhir, Senior Director, Transformational Healthcare & Ambulatory Innovation, UC San Diego Health Physician Group

Dr. Laura Esserman founded the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center with a simple goal in mind: streamline the process, and reduce anxiety, for women undergoing breast cancer treatment by bringing all services under one roof. The center started off by offering services four hours per day once per week until it grew into a full-time operation in a dedicated patient facility. In its first six years the monthly patient volume grew from 175 to 1,300.

Hear Dr. Esserman’s inspiring story of working through bureaucratic and political hurdles to create a one-stop facility and pioneer a new kind of care. She’ll describe her reliance on process improvement and what it took to make the center a reality.

The Great LSS Race: Finish Line #1

It's time to hear pitches from the competing teams and crown a champion! 

Speaker Bios

Featured Panel

  • Darryl Nethercot, Organ Procurement Coordinator, Lifesharing

    Darryl Nethercot, Organ Procurement Coordinator, Lifesharing

    Darryl joined UC San Diego in 2018 with over 10 years ICU experience. His current role as an Organ Procurement Coordinator sees him specializing in organ donor management and organ allocation. Using Lean principles he is spear heading performance improvement projects amongst the nurses at Lifesharing. His recent Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification reinforced his passion for continuous improvement and change management.
  • Lisa Stocks, Executive Director, Lifesharing

    Lisa Stocks, Executive Director, Lifesharing

    Lisa Stocks, RN, MSN, FNP is the Executive Director for Lifesharing, the non-profit, federally-designated organ and tissue recovery organization service for San Diego and Imperial counties in Southern California. Under her leadership, the UC San Diego Medical Center division has dramatically increased the number of lives saved in its service area. Her team’s exemplary efforts have been awarded U.S. Medal of Honors every year since 2004 and recently were recognized by the U.S. Surgeon General. Ms. Stocks is Immediate Past President of the Donate Life California board, which oversees the state’s official California Donor Registry - the largest in the nation with nearly 11 million Californians registered as organ, eye and tissue donors.

Featured Interview

  • Laura Esserman M.D., Professor, Surgery and Radiology; Director, UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center

    Laura Esserman M.D., Professor, Surgery and Radiology; Director, UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center

    Dr. Laura Esserman is Professor of Surgery and Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and director of the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center. Her work in breast cancer spans the spectrum from basic science to public policy issues and the impact of both on the delivery of clinical care. Dr. Esserman is recognized as a thought leader in cancer screening and over-diagnosis, as well as innovative clinical trial design. She led the creation of the University of California-wide Athena Breast Health Network, a learning system designed to integrate clinical care and research as it follows 150,000 women from screening through treatment and outcomes. The Athena Network launched the PCORI-funded Wisdom Study, which tests a personalized approach to breast cancer screening in 100,000 women. She is also a leader of the innovative I-SPY TRIAL model, designed to accelerate the identification and approval of effective new agents for women with high risk breast cancers.  She recently got FDA approval for an I-SPY Covid trial, designed to rapidly screen and confirm high impact treatments to reduce mortality and time on ventilators.
  • Ashley Gambhir, Senior Director, Transformational Healthcare & Ambulatory Innovation, UC San Diego Health Physician Group

    Ashley Gambhir, Senior Director, Transformational Healthcare & Ambulatory Innovation, UC San Diego Health Physician Group

    Ashley has worked at UC San Diego since 2006 and currently serves as Senior Director of Transformational Healthcare & Ambulatory Innovation for the UC San Diego Health Physician Group.  She is a results-driven professional committed to the ongoing and growing success of UC San Diego with experience driving strategy and building operational excellence. Ashley is a certified project manager, certified change practitioner and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. She has a proven ability to lead teams through change in order to maximize efficiencies and innovation.

Hosts

  • Rachael Lapidis, Strategic Program Manager, UC San Diego

    Rachael Lapidis, Strategic Program Manager, UC San Diego

    Rachael Lapidis is the Strategic Program Manager in the Division of Social Sciences Dean's Office.  Her primary focus is Education Innovation, collaborating with faculty and staff to dream up, plan for, and launch innovative academic programs, and Student Affairs matters, including student data analytics for the division. Since 2005, she has been a proud Triton, as a graduate student, lecturer, graduate coordinator and Student Affairs Manager. Rachael cultivates communities, asks questions, and creates solutions as the convener of a divisional Student Affairs Community of Practice, as a participant in the STRIVE leadership development program and campus strategists group, and as a subject matter expert for the Student Information System.  After her Lean Six Sigma yellow belt training in 2017, Rachael was selected as a team captain for the inaugural Process Palooza's Great LSS Race, leading the Sunshine Squad to victory in improving the travel process for Associated Students. She has emceed Process Palooza events ever since, and is continuously inspired by the ethos of continuous improvement.
  • Tracy O'Rourke, Co-Founder, Just-In-Time Café

    Tracy O'Rourke, Co-Founder, Just-In-Time Café

    Tracy is Co-Founder of the Just-in-Time Cafe and co-host of the Just-In-Time Cafe Podcast. She is also the co-author of “The Problem-Solving Toolkit: A Surprisingly Simple Guide To Your Lean Six Sigma Journey." Tracy is a Master Black Belt, facilitator, trainer and instructor. Over the last 20 years, Tracy has trained over 2,000 people, mentored 500+ people and has helped complete 500+ projects with results that range between $50,000 and $12 million in savings.  

    Tracy is also a Lean Six Sigma Instructor at UC San Diego Extension.