As the youngest sister on the ward and the hospital’s only female sister of color, Wendy Marshall has had to overcome barriers to achieve in her career. Now, she uses her passion for efficient management and organizational change to help Oracle Cerner digitize frontline care.
Wendy Marshall’s career path was set when her parents bought her a nurse’s uniform for her fifth birthday. A natural caregiver in her family, she decided to become a nurse and trained at the Royal Infirmary in Wolverhampton.
“We were still in our cloaks and hats at the lovely traditional Royal Hospital,” she says.
“When you qualify, you get badges, belts and buckles. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Marshall soared in Middlesex, Hillingdon Hospital, where she moved for her first job. Soon she became Ward’s youngest sister and the only female sister of color.
But she didn’t just overcome race and age-based discrimination to succeed in her career.
As an efficient ward manager, she was reluctant to make bed occupancy as transparent as possible. Currently working as Director of New Business at Oracle Cerner, she prides herself on using her clinical experience to find and avoid digital resistance.
“My background has contributed to my success on the sales team,” she says.
“I understand the path prospects and their staff take, and when I’m talking to clinicians, I bring something different to the table.”
Overcoming digital phobia
Marshall moved to Healthcare IT after 20 years of nursing at the same hospital.
“I became a student nurse coach, and all of a sudden one day I was looking at myself and wondering what to do next,” she explained.
Marshall resigned, but was quickly rehired by the hospital’s IT director. His IT director at the hospital needed someone with a clinical background to create primary and secondary care protocols for the then-new appointment program.
“That was my introduction to digital,” she recalls. “I knew nothing about technology [before then]There was a computer in the ward. I always made sure it was clean and dust free, but I didn’t use it. ”
While completing a European computer driver’s license course, she recalls worrying that she would not be able to use the software.
The IT director put her at ease.
According to Marshall, the experience has provided a lifetime of empathy for non-technical NHS staff facing a new era of digitalisation.
“I understand the fear of computers,” she says. “We appreciate the support we received during that time and will take every opportunity [today] to support others. ”
booming sales
In 2006, her work on Choose and Book caught Cerner’s attention.
“An American called me and said he was in the human resources department. [Human Resources] In Kansas City, they looked at my resume and wanted me to help develop the software further. ’ says Marshall.
Marshall admits he was initially unfamiliar with Cerner because of his clinical experience. However, she was excited about the potential challenges of her new career.
After landing a job on an appointment program, she was hired by Cerner’s presentation team to travel around the UK to introduce clinicians to electronic patient records (EPRs) as part of the sales process.
Marshall currently leads a team of five strategic client executives and one sales support consultant. Her role includes working with NHS clinicians and procurement teams to explore how Oracle Cerner EPR and other products and services can support their organizations.
the power of transparency
Marshall believes that both nursing and healthcare IT are about problem solving.
“Having joined Cerner, fresh out of the NHS, it has become clear that digital implementation is not just technology, it is about fundamentally changing the way people provide care,” she says. explains.
Multiple medical professionals can use EPR to access the same data simultaneously, she says. This means that clinical and administrative information, such as test results, will become more accessible and transparent in real time.
“[My role is] about making fun of them [personal] reason for resistance. It is about understanding why a practice is being done and articulating its value and benefits. [of digitisation],” she says.
Benefits of EPR include faster clinical decision-making, but greater transparency may face resistance from clinicians. Marshall gives a hypothetical example of a consultant delaying dischargeable patients in a ward and reserving beds for those who are due to come. While it is possible to understand the dilemma, it reduces our ability to receive emergency patients and often leads to difficult conversations with bed managers.
Her passion for transparency comes from decades of experience as a ward administrator.
“If we had a bed free, we declared it. If we had a patient ready for discharge, we declared it,” she remembers.
“I have always run my wards on that principle, but it has come at a price. [of pressure on her and her team]”
art of possibility
Key to her role is outlining what she calls “the art of possibility.”
“If some clients work with paper, their EPR requirements reflect a paper process where records are accessible to one person at a time,” explains Marshall.
“I’ll give you an example of what is possible in the digital world. Sometimes it’s just as basic.”
Part of her time is also spent mentoring and supporting new sales support staff.
a rewarding career
Marshall is proud of his career so far.
“My team knows the value I bring to the role and has never questioned me, even though I was skeptical at first,” she says.
She believes her clinical experience will bring a fresh perspective to the NHS tender. Meanwhile, her experience as a presenter gives her an in-depth knowledge of her Oracle Cerner products.
With the new Level Up Agenda and the legal status of the Integrated Health System (ICS), Marshall looks to the future to support NHS clients in realizing the benefits of digital technology.
Please contact Oracle Cerner.
Website: www.cerner.com/gb/en
twitter: @cernerUK
Linkedin: Oracle Cerner
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