Healthcare and Science thomsonreuters.com

I was a Mathematics person and wasn't really good with the blood side of things, but I really had a drive to work myself into this industry. I found an opening as an actuary in a pharmaceutical benefits company which was kind of my doorway to the healthcare world. I really wanted to be in the hospital and work on saving lives.

Until I came here I never really knew a lot about Silver Cross other than the fact that they were rapidly absorbing market share. I wanted to know what they were doing here that was so different. It took me about an hour's interview to figure out that from the moment you step in the door, customer service is what this hospital is built on. We treat the patients the way that they should be treated. That respect and that word of mouth are really better than any marketing campaign.

Physicians also drive our business, which is why we have our physicians' relations program. The physicians prefer Silver Cross over the competition because we give their patients more personal attention and the best customer service.

I've been at Silver Cross for about three and a half years, working with different teams, talking about what problems we are facing and how to solve them. It is a pretty powerful experience to be able look at numbers from my desk and identify trends and areas of opportunity. The people who are taking care of patients and doing the work day in and day out don't have the luxury of the data access that we have in our Business Intelligence department from companies such as Thomson Reuters.

You turn that knowledge into action plans, and those action plans into fewer complications and less cost for the patients, and into saving people's lives. Every month when I get new Thomson Reuters data to look at, I can identify where our areas of opportunity are and what has changed from one time period to the next.

I've been a diabetic since childhood and so I have a personal history that really drove me into this industry and I can't see myself ever working anywhere else. A lot of the nursing people and front line staff share that same passion, and they are driven every day when they get out of bed to make the patient experience the best that it could ever be.

Over the last couple of years I've been to a number of conferences, talking about innovative ways of looking at data, how to identify the opportunities and how to take that and turn it into an action plan. The mathematical science behind it is where my actuarial background helps me and that is really where I found my niche in healthcare; making things better and more efficient.             

I started using Thomson Reuters products about eight years ago at the first hospital I worked at. Now we use Thomson Reuters software to ensure we remain one of the best organizations in our field. By measuring ourselves against the larger community comparison group, we have a peer group to compare to and have areas to focus on.

So as a Business Intelligence department, if we can make it so that our case managers get a list every morning of patients that have a potential complication, then somebody manages that list and takes on the responsibility for it; they follow up with the patients, ensure that their lab results come back the way they should and ensure they are receiving concurrent care whilst they are still in house. This leads to better patient outcomes and less adverse events.