Making Room for Those Who Need Us Most--Increasing Capacity

Debbie Stark, MSN, RN, NE-BC, CEN is an accomplished leader serving as Director of Nursing at the University of Missouri Health Care. In this role, Debbie oversees critical operations related to throughput and capacity management for the academic health system along with leading staffing and nursing support operations. Her experience brings a strategic vision ensuring high quality service delivery across staffing, clinical support, capacity management, and logistics. In her dynamic leadership position, Debbie is responsible for managing a diverse team of nursing professionals, optimizing staff allocation to meet patient demands, and promoting a culture of collaboration and support. Additionally, a major focus for Debbie is leveraging data driven insights to implement strategies related to logistics and capacity management to optimize patient flow, room utilization, resource allocation, increased acceptance through the logistics center, and reduce boarding within the post anesthesia care units (PACU) and emergency departments (ED). Debbie's logistical oversight includes fostering a creative approach to throughput challenges most academic medical centers face. This proactive approach has led to a sustained 5.8% reduction in ED left without being seen patients and a 10% increase in capture rate for acceptance through the logistics center while keeping the focus on achieving high quality patient centered care. Recognized for her inspirational leadership, Debbie cultivates a resilient workforce equipped to navigate the complexities of modern healthcare. Debbie holds an advanced degree in nursing along with professional certifications and memberships and is viewed as the forefront of nursing leadership, advocacy, and change management.