Arkansas Children’s Receives Kudos from Healthcare IT News

LITTLE ROCK, AR. (April 2, 2018) – A national trade publication has named Arkansas Children’s (AC) among the United States’ Best Hospital IT Departments based on a blinded survey of team members. Healthcare IT News announced the recognition earlier this year and honored the AC team at a March conference.

“What’s really so exciting about this is that our team made it happen,” said Arkansas Children’s Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer Jon Goldberg. “You have to show at least 50 percent of your team’s workforce has participated to even be in the running.”

More than 3,300 IT employees across the nation voted on their experience at hospital departments, and Arkansas Children’s was set apart by its commitment to creating an engaged workforce amid several major transformative projects.

In 2017, Arkansas Children’s changed electronic medical records systems, rolling out the largest-ever implementation of its new system, Epic, in terms of modules debuted at one time. The shift also happened while the staff installed Workday, a new enterprise resource planning system, as well as a new decision support system and a new labor management and analytics system. Meanwhile, the team also supported the opening of a second children’s hospital, Arkansas Children’s Northwest, three hours north in Springdale.

“It’s even more rewarding to know we received this recognition at a time when you’d think employees were especially stressed,” Goldberg said. “Our team indicated they felt that strongly that we were doing the right thing to create a workplace they enjoy.”

While the massive projects accelerated, senior leadership committed to events and fun engagement tactics that kept spirits high. From a family cookout to honor the sacrifice of team members’ families during the big rollouts to celebrations for milestones along the journey, the effort helped ensure leadership was spending time with staff, as well. Goldberg also points to initiatives like a “welcome wall” in the IT department’s lobby adorned with clipboards where team members hang photos, quotes and mementos. All these tactics result in an environment where employees are excited to give their best and offer outstanding customer service.

“Technology is really the supporting backbone of healthcare delivery,” Goldberg said. “Across the board, we are seeing the impact of shoring up our team’s connection to the organization.”