Being a System Director for Baptist Health comes with quite a few responsibilities. Brenda Goodhart, our outstanding System Director for Baptist Health, has proven to us in her long career within our system that she is ready for a challenge and open to change.After attending Baptist Health’s School of Nursing, Brenda joined the Women and Children’s unit in 1977. It was both the people I worked with and the work I got to do that made me stay. I was always very blessed to work in a Christian environment where I can pray with my patients. I feel like I grew up with many of the nurses I’ve worked with; I’ve been in Women’s and Children’s my entire career. I started working in Post-partum and got to grow in my profession and transfer to NICU, where I did neonatal transport before working in a supervisor role.Her current position as a System Director takes her to an even higher level of supervision. It’s her duty to liaise with the bedside staff to identify the best policies and procedures and present them to a monthly consortium of other Baptist Health employees (a meeting that Brenda herself leads!). We’ve systemized a lot of our policies, so it’s important that patients know that the quality of care is the same, whether you deliver a baby in Arkadelphia or Little Rock.How can Brenda and other System Directors really accomplish that feat? Arkansas is a large state; how can we guarantee proper communication between all the ranks and miles between positions?Part of that is to have shared governance with the team and knowing to bring new quality guidelines forward. The nurses and doctors at the bedside are the ones that are going to lead that change, and it’s always better to lead with bedside staff instead of pushing information down. For instance, Brenda describes the newest practice for glucose gel. The procedure was suggested by one of their lactation consultants, who took it to a manager, and who took it to other physicians. It was then up to Brenda to help formulate the policy and provide the necessary education.The rest of Baptist Health is involved too, since we meet at the consortium regularly. It’s just better. This sounds like a wonderful thing to do in the meeting, but I’m not at the bedside anymore, so while it may seem smart on paper, it’s not always realistic.That keen ability to listen and communicate well is integral to being a System Manager. “Change your mind,” Brenda urged. Sometimes people can come up with a better way to do something, and you certainly can’t be a controlling person if you want to grow here. We want people to want to come to work and be open to suggestions. After all, it’s up to our employees to provide the best care possible. We don’t care where any idea comes from; System Directors like Brenda will be there to help put your idea into action. That’s why we’re the preferred place to have a baby in Arkansas. “But it’s not just not about women who are coming here to have babies, we also care for women who are undergoing hysterectomies and breast surgeries, and our NICU department is great,” Brenda points out. We have a lot to offer Arkansas citizens. If you have an open mind and a caring heart, visit our career page and see if you can help make Baptist Health a prime player in healthcare.