July 18, 2019 — Joan Wynn, PhD, RN, chief quality and patient safety officer for Vidant Health in Greenville, has been awarded the North Carolina Healthcare Association’s (NCHA) 2019 Clinical Leadership Award. This award honors an individual who has demonstrated exemplary clinical leadership in care transformation through innovation and improvement.
Dr. Wynn received the award July 18 at NCHA’s Summer Membership Meeting in Pinehurst.
“Providing quality care and keeping patients safe is paramount. Joan has built an award-winning, patient-focused culture at Vidant Health where safety is a core value,” said NCHA President Steve Lawler. “Her improvement success serves as a national model, and NCHA is proud to recognize her leadership.”
After progressively responsible roles in patient care services at Vidant Medical Center, Dr. Wynn was selected in 2005 to establish the corporate quality division. She was promoted to chief quality and patient safety officer in 2008 and led a system-wide quality transformation. Intentional strategic planning outlined a series of approaches that included board literacy in quality, an aggressive transparency policy, patient-family partnerships, and leader and physician engagement.
Under Dr. Wynn’s guidance, Vidant Health was successful in focusing the entire workforce toward its triple goal of: Zero events of preventable harm, 100 percent optimal care and exceptional patient experiences every time for every patient. As a result of these efforts, Vidant Health was awarded the 2013 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award. From 2008 to 2017, the health system had a 60 percent reduction in serious safety events, and its eight hospitals saw a 66 percent reduction in hospital-acquired infections. Vidant’s patient-family advisor program continues to be a national model.
Dr. Wynn has been with Vidant Health since 1990. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in nursing from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in nursing from East Carolina University. Certified as a professional in health care quality (CPHQ), Dr. Wynn is recognized nationally for her passionate advocacy for quality and safety in health care. In 2018, she was honored with the Kerry Johnson Safety Champion Award by Press Ganey in recognition of her demonstrated expertise and success in safety and reliability. She also has lent her insights and energy as an engaged board member of NCHA’s NC Quality Center from 2011-2017.
###
Watch NCHA’s video about NCHA’s 2019 Clinical Leadership Award winner Joan Wynn here: https://youtu.be/IC_0HlE8TMc.
NCHA represents North Carolina’s hospitals, health systems and care providers — teaching, rural, small community, suburban, specialty, and continuing care facilities — providing acute care, outpatient care, ambulatory care, rehabilitative, behavioral, psychiatric and veterans’ services. NCHA’s mission is to improve the health of the communities where we live and work by advocating for sound public policy and collaborative partnerships.
For more information, contact:
Stephanie Strickland, NCHA, 919-677-4241
Brian Wudkwych, Vidant Health, 252-847-2725
