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By Robbie Edge, CRA, FAHRA
On Wednesday, April 26 approximately 40 AHRA members and non-members gathered for an AHRA area meeting in Sacramento, CA. The meeting was generously sponsored by Atirix Medical Systems. There was an opportunity to network with people as far south as Modesto to as far north as Ukiah. Ed Cronin, the CEO of AHRA, came all the way west to be our “Master of Ceremonies.” Pamela Addy kicked off the day by introducing Ed to the group and making sure all logistics were covered.
Three speakers presented for a total of 3 free CEUs. Lunch was included, and Atirix had a small booth for attendees to review their QC-Track® family of paperless QC products.
I was the first speaker and gave a presentation on our Lean journey at Sutter Gould Medical Foundation entitled, “Trust the Process.” I went over our successes and opportunities over the past six years of the journey. It was an interactive session with questions and answers throughout the presentation.
The next speakers were Steve Backes, President and CEO of Atirix Medical Systems and Rania Johnson RT(R)(M)(QM), Vice President of Client Services for Atirix. Their presentation was “Fluoro QC: The Good, the Bad, and the Paperless.” They did a good job of presenting how we can use e-systems to track our fluoro QA, making QC reports and documents easier to find and getting rid of the binder system. Their presentation included case studies on paperless QC at Sutter’s Palo Alto Medical Foundation and the University of Virginia.
A delicious lunch with an opportunity to network was provided by Atirix. Pamela’s executive assistant, Sarah Buckle, did a great job selecting a tasty menu that was well received by those in attendance.
Our final speaker of the day was Darlene Crockett, RT(R)(CV)(M)(QM), who is the imaging services manager of Sutter Modesto Memorial Medical Center. Her presentation was about “How to Change a Culture.” She talked about her first year at Memorial, after being at her last job at Kaiser for 26 years. She presented tools she is currently using to change the culture, such as a Direct Reports Rounding Tool. This was a special presentation for Darlene as she is working toward her Master Toastmaster and her mentor was there to observe.
We were all pleased with the presentations and time to network and reflect together. Atirix is sponsoring another AHRA area meeting this coming fall in San Francisco, but we had so much fun we think we will schedule another one here in Sacramento for next year!
Robbie M. Edge, CRA, MHA, FAHRA is the director of imaging services at Sutter Gould Medical Foundation in Modesto, CA. She can be reached at edgero@sutterhealth.org.
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These area meetings are excellent. I was shocked to see Ukiah in the article. I grew up there in the 70’s and early 80’s! Such a small AHRA world!