Administrator to Know: Barbara Ramsey of Rush SurgiCenter

Barbara L. Ramsey, RN MSN CASC (Rush SurgiCenter, Chicago). Ms. Ramsey is the administrator of Rush SurgiCenter, a limited partnership multi-specialty surgery center located in the heart of the Illinois Medical District in Chicago. The center opened in March 1993 and has 14,000 square-feet with four operating rooms and 16 recovery room bays. The center performs an average of 5,000 cases annually. About 50 percent of the center's procedures are orthopedics and about 35 percent are pain management. Other specialties include general surgery, gynecology, ophthalmology, urology and plastics.

Ms. Ramsey has been the administrator at Rush SurgiCenter since Feb. 2002. She has over 35 years of experience as an RN, most of which have been spent in management positions. Ms. Ramsey has worked exclusively with freestanding ASCs since 1996 and also has a nursing background in critical care and emergency medicine. She has assumed many leadership roles including charge positions, director of nursing and administrator since 1999.

While at Rush SurgiCenter, Ms. Ramsey has overseen many initiatives including the implementation of the EMR and a comprehensive orientation plan, which includes teaching new graduates and adding a clinical educator position. Other efforts have included the initiation of a new recruitment and retention plan for staff including better benefits, cross-training and establishing and implementing educational labs for the residents at the center. "Our biggest initiative though is acknowledging the value each member of our team brings to the success of our center," she says.

Ms. Ramsey's favorite aspect of her center is the staff. "They are my inspiration, my success, my challenges and the reason this center is a success it is," she says. "I often say I have 52 children and only gave birth to two. I am very proud of all their accomplishments. We are family."

When it comes to working as an administrator, Ms. Ramsey enjoys that she is able to be "instrumental in the growth and accomplishments of all those that work with me. It leads to the growth of the center as well as a team-oriented working environment. I love being the leader of all this," she says.

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