Process Improvement Coordinator
Sanford Health
Fargo, North Dakota 

What is your background?

I’m originally from Bismarck, North Dakota. I graduated from NDSU in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology. During my time there, I assisted in research with the Cryptosporidium pathogen. During the summer, I also conducted ecological fieldwork research with American White Pelican populations.

What did you specialize in at NDSU?

My studies focused on infectious disease management and healthcare administration.

How did the NDSU MPH program prepare you for the workforce?

With changes in the health of populations, we must rethink how we traditionally deliver care. The NDSU MPH program helped me understand care is not linear; it's multifaceted and unique to each individual. The MPH program equipped me with a global understanding of how we deliver health to populations, and I use those teachings to design the best care systems for our patients. Ultimately, we want to deliver the highest quality and most effective care, prevent unexpected complications from chronic illness and keep our populations healthy.

What is your current position or academic pursuit?

At Sanford, I work as a process improvement coordinator. My primary responsibilities involve working with a novel real-time location system (RTLS) technology that tracks equipment, patients and staff workflows in our hospitals and clinics.

How are you impacting the health of North Dakotans?

Using this technology, we are able to improve workflow, allowing health care professionals to focus more time on patient care, which is our primary goal. The flow of the day is more predictable and we are able to anticipate where additional resources are needed. Many of the features built into the technology help our health care professionals impact patient satisfaction and their care experience. I hope we can deploy this technology to more clinics and hospitals throughout North Dakota so our populations can get the best quality of care possible.