Elizabeth McLaughlin, MS, RN is the program manager of the Michigan Hospital Medicine Safety (HMS) Consortium where she manages the day-to-day operations of the Consortium with overall direction from the program director, Dr. Scott Flanders. Elizabeth started with the Consortium in 2011 and has held various roles over the years leading up to her current role as the program manager.
What are your primary responsibilities as the program manager?
I manage the day-to-day operations of the Michigan HMS Consortium with overall direction from our program director, Dr. Scott Flanders. We have a team of 9+ staff that make up the HMS Coordinating Center. We are a Collaborative of 50 hospitals across the State of Michigan focused on improving care and reducing adverse events in the hospitalized medical patient. Each hospital collects a significant amount of data at their local institution related to several key improvement areas - increasing appropriate use of peripherally inserted central catheters/midlines and increasing appropriate use of antimicrobials for patients with positive urine cultures and pneumonia. I work alongside the Coordinating Center staff members and physician team to:
- Train hospitals to collect the data
- Provide meaningful data for quality improvement related to the aforementioned areas of focus
- Audit accuracy of data collection
- Prepare and plan for tri-annual Collaborative Wide meetings where hospitals come together to review current data and share best practices
- Assist with publication/dissemination of our work across the U.S. and internationally
- Manage the relationship with our funder - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
What do you like most about your job?/What gives you the most satisfaction?
My favorite part of my current role is to be able to visually see the impact all the hard work that we, as a Collaborative, have done to improve care for patients across Michigan. We have a direct line of sight to see how our work impacts patients in a positive way. For example, in two years, the Collaborative saved over 11,000 days of antimicrobial therapy for patients across the state. Knowing that the work we are doing is making such a big impact really gives me great satisfaction and motivation to continue to maintain and advance the work we do.
Where did you work prior to working at the University of Michigan?/What did you do?
Prior to working at the University of Michigan, I was a staff nurse/charge nurse at St. Joseph Mercy Health System in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I worked on a Cardiac Progressive Care Unit.
What is your educational background?
I received my Bachelor of Science in Nursing, as well as my Masters in Nursing Business and Health Systems, from the University of Michigan School of Nursing.
