It is a core responsibility of all healthcare leaders and an approach they work to instill in their employees. One instance when that manifested was when a nurse found the Minneapolis-based system did not have certain hair care products preferred by Black patients — something the nurse worked to remedy and use as a steppingstone to educate their colleagues.
“I thought this was a great example of our front-line staff using continuous improvement to drive more equitable care and a more equitable experience for patients based on a problem that they identified,” Dr. Gorelick said.
Dr. Gorelick joined Children’s Minnesota after serving as executive vice president and COO of Milwaukee-based Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Now, ahead of his planned retirement in July, he told Becker’s why he is excited about the future of pediatric care as he reflected on the challenges, surprises and lessons from his tenure.
Editor’s note: Responses are lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: As you reflect on your time at Children’s Minnesota, what is one key initiative or policy you strongly endorse and hope continues after your retirement?
Dr. Marc Gorelick: I’m going to pick two because I think they’re closely intertwined in their ability to set us up for the future. The first is our embrace of continuous improvement. One of our organizational values is adaptability, and that’s particularly important in an ever-changing healthcare environment like the one we’re in. As the pace of change accelerates, we have adopted both a system and a mindset of continuous improvement so that we can always deliver care that excels in all six domains of quality, even as the environment we’re operating in is changing.
The second is our commitment to reducing health disparities and to creating the kind of diverse and inclusive environment that supports equitable care for all kids. I know it’s kind of unfashionable to talk about at the moment, but the reality is that the U.S. population, and in particular the pediatric population, is growing increasingly diverse — racially, ethnically and culturally — and we need to be prepared for that to deliver on our vision of being every family’s essential partner in raising healthier children.
Q: What has been the most surprising aspect of leading a pediatric health system, particularly in navigating challenges like workforce shortages and financial pressures?
MG: In my 25 years of clinical practice of pediatric emergency medicine, I only ever had to worry about what was best for the patient in front of me in the moment. As the CEO of Children’s Minnesota, I have to think about what’s best for all of the over 160,000 kids and families we encounter each year, as well as more than 7,000 employees and staff. And I need to think about what’s best for them in the present and into the future. Certainly, we always strive to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number, but that invariably involves really difficult trade-offs that I just did not always appreciate as a clinician or as a front-line leader.
Q: Can you share a time when a patient’s experience directly influenced a change in hospital policy or operations?
MG: We have a lot of kids who spend a lot of time, weeks or even months, in our hospitals, and so being able to meet their non-medical needs is an important part of the patient-family experience.
One of our front-line nurses noticed that we did not have hair care products appropriate for textured hair. This was affecting the experience of Black patients who needed bathing while they were here, and she heard about this from her patients. She took the initiative to work with others to ensure that we kept those products on hand — so we now have them — and worked to develop an educational curriculum for the nursing staff on appropriate care for textured hair.
Q: What’s one bold prediction you have for the future of pediatric healthcare, and what advice would you give to the next CEO of Children’s Minnesota?
MG: Many of us in pediatrics feel like our specialty is underappreciated, and it’s not always well integrated into the larger healthcare system. The majority of illness, the majority of spending, and therefore the majority of attention, is on adult healthcare.
As we focus more on the root causes of chronic illness in adults — which we are hearing more about — and the origins of those chronic illnesses in childhood, I believe that will change. A greater emphasis on the prevention of adult disease will invariably lead to an emphasis on what we do in the early years in pediatrics. I’m excited about that.
Advice to give my successor: I would say leading a health system that touches the lives of so many kids and families alike is both a privilege and a joy. It doesn’t always feel like it, but my advice would be: Never forget either of those things — what a privilege it is, and ultimately, what a joy it is.
