Riad Abu Adas (MHA '23): Oregon Health Science University

Hello from Portland, Oregon!

This summer, I had the opportunity to be an administrative intern at Oregon Health Science University (OHSU). OHSU is Oregon’s only academic medical center, consisting of 576 licensed beds across their main hospital as well the Doernbecher Children’s hospital. A fun fact: OHSU is Portland’s largest employer and statewide economic powerhouse involving their operations through their multiple campuses and clinics across Oregon including their state-of-the-art research facilities such as the Knight Cancer Research Building. I had the honor to be working within the Pre-Operative Medicine Clinic, specifically the Endoscopy Department under the mentorship of Kristen Lund (OR and Procedural Scheduling Manager), Meagan Schuette (Director of Multispecialty Procedure Unit) and Emily Huber (Senior Performance Improvement Consultant). 

When I had first arrived at OHSU, I was familiarized with the outline of the ENDO 2.0 Project which entails the different projects that the Endoscopy department were to tackle different strategical and operational matters. There was a desire on the part of the institution to create an efficient, high functioning and high-volume Endoscopy practice. Their current system at the time had barriers to efficient and timely patient flow from referral to post procedure and while they had made improvements in several areas, they needed a guiding vision to lead to the initiative of greater developments. Articulating a common vision on behalf of all the stakeholders would resolve many dilemmas such as losing market share, attrition in referral patterns, backlogs, provider retention as well as burnout. This has allowed me to sit on several meetings amongst different stakeholders to create an aligned vision for developing an optimal streamline process. I had attained a lot of learning experience within those meetings whether it was lean methodology, change management strategies, operational understanding of endoscopy unit, as well as strategic planning. 

Given the extensive scope of the project and the timeframe of the internship, I was tasked with leading the project of revising and reviewing pre-procedure COVID testing for non-Aerosol Generating Procedures (AGP). Provided with several literature reviews as well as an updated recommendation guideline by the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), I had utilized the resources to coordinate the implementation of the process prior to the staff buy in meeting. This allowed me in learning on how to develop an SBAR to emphasize the importance in proceeding with the new policy whilst acknowledging the barriers that it eliminates. Next step initiatives involved following up with Occupational Health, COVID Taskforce, Human Resources, as well as Logistics Warehouse to ensure that the staff were well prepped before setting a Go-live date. Metrics of success are to be implemented such as following Abbott test usage, cancellation rates, and volume. I was also very fortunate to work on a couple of other projects including analyzing patient survey data to those who had received endoscopy services in the past two years, develop a case statement for building a pediatric hybrid operating room, as well as developing a volume huddle script through revised Kata cards. 

There were plenty of Professional Development opportunities presented throughout the internship. They had set up bi-weekly Lunch and Learns meetings for my co-interns and I to be able to interact with key leaders within the organization. I also managed to shadow a couple of Departmental Administrators to grasp the understanding of how operations work from the School of Medicines side rather than the Hospitals. I’ve always been fascinated by the clinical side of things, so I was able to witness a few surgical procedures as well as witnessing the ED department within a night shift. 

Outside of the internship was a whole world of nature waiting to be discovered. I could not emphasize how many different hiking trails there were that might oversee so many different rivers, lakes, waterfalls, and mountains. This is an addition to the many different cuisines that I had the chance to indulge and the many public events / festivals that they host. Summertime in Oregon could not be topped in my personal experience! I also managed to go down south to California to visit my younger sister which involved visiting Yosemite Park, Highway 1 along the coastline, and Napa Valley. I am very much looking forward to restarting the school year and being able to further broaden my knowledge of the Healthcare world! 

*A Note From The Editor*

If you would like to keep up with Riad, you can find him here on LinkedIn!