Good Samaritan – Jen Meffert
Congratulations to Jen Meffert, clinical manager of 4B, for being honored with the Good Samaritan Award. Please see the nomination below to see why the Employee Recognition Committee selected Jen as an award recipient.
“Jen began her career at Med Center Health in the Emergency Department and made a change in April 2023 to become 4B’s leader. 4B had been struggling with quality metrics and retention and recruitment of staff. Because of Jen’s leadership, commitment to quality, people, and accountability, this unit’s metrics have significantly improved. Jen’s leadership style uniquely qualifies her to make the impact she has been able to accomplish with her team. Jen holds herself to a high level of accountability, which is also observed in her team. Jen meets and collaborates with Physical therapists, social workers, stroke navigators, and her bedside staff daily in interdisciplinary rounding to ensure we are making every effort to support patients in their transitions from the hospital, in the appropriate amount of time, with the appropriate support. The length of stay of has been on a steady decrease since she took leadership. Another big initiative that has contributed to better outcomes for those patients that are on 4B is a reduction in falls. 4B has been a leader in falls for many years and this quality metric was not something Jen was going to let continue. With the collaboration of Dustin Bateman and the implementation of AI software, 4B has had a significant reduction in falls. Jen’s constant presence on the unit, support of her team, and support of patients is evident in everything she does, but it is especially demonstrated in one story. 4B received a patient that is very difficult with behaviors and difficult to care for. Jen jumped in and worked with the entire team to find solutions to make the experience for the patient, staff, and family the best it could be. She went above and beyond to ensure the patient was discharged safely for all the team involved. Jen came in on a Saturday, collaborated with EMS, and did a ride along with EMS to Nashville, in order to get the patient safely to his brother’s home. Jen also stopped and bought the patient clothes so they would be more comfortable and presentable as opposed to wearing a patient gown. Jen did all of this on her own time in order to support her team, EMS personnel, the patient, and the quality, safety, and experience of the entire team.” – Leslie Rossetter
