Your Healthcare Connection: Ed Kent Takes Charge at Olympia Orthopaedic Associates Westside Clinic

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Taking care of people is what Ed Kent does best. And, for the past 14 years, that’s exactly what he’s been doing at Olympia Orthopaedic Associates (OOA).

After logging 22 years in orthopaedics during his military career, he joined OOA as an Orthopaedic Technician and worked his way up to Nursing Floor Supervisor at the group’s Westside Clinic.

Today, Kent is the “big man on campus” in the role of Clinic Supervisor. He brings years of experience in the field of orthopaedics along with an intimate knowledge of the people and systems at OOA ensuring the clinic runs smoothly. “Honestly, I’m really enjoying that I don’t have to answer to anyone,” Kent laughs. “But really, the thing I enjoy the most is that it hasn’t been a big transition. I was doing many aspects of this job anyway from where I was as Floor Supervisor. But now I have the freedom to institute changes that are needed, ones I’ve been thinking about for a long time.”

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Heidy Mcwain (left), Ed Kent (center), and Kaylie Parada (right) gather in Ed’s office at Olympia Orthopaedic Associates’ Westside Clinic. Photo courtesy: Olympia Orthopaedic Associates.

And while Kent laughs about not answering to anyone, he is quick to follow up with accolades for the new management team at OOA. “One of the big reasons I accepted the position, was that we had a change of management at the top and have a great CEO in Ben Shah and a strong management team – the billing team, our patient access coordinator, our Physical Therapy director, the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) director. I’m excited for the future,” Kent shares.

For CEO Shah, the feeling is mutual. “When the Clinic Administrator role came open, it was really a no-brainer to promote Ed,” he says. “He has a rapport with the physicians, staff, and management team that is positive and supportive. He really exemplifies what we’re trying to do here at OOA in building an open, positive culture where people want to work.”

One of Kent’s most visible patient roles in the past was in the cast room where he was always there to calm a nervous child (or parent!), assure an athlete they would heal or simply provide guidance and expertise from his more than 30 years in the field. And, while he now has his own office and myriad of administrative responsibilities, Kent still will slip into the cast room and pitch in. “I still get to see my patients – I still get hugs, too,” he smiles. “They ask me, ‘Now that you are the supervisor, are you going to start wearing a suit?’ I tell them no way. I’m still going to have interactions with my patients. You can’t ever take me away from patients.” And true to his word, he dons his navy scrubs each day.

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Now promoted to Clinic Supervisor, Ed Kent loves working with his patients best of all.

It’s this dedication to patient care and patient experience, coupled with Kent’s knowledge of what it’s like to work “in the trenches” that’s creating positive change and progress throughout the clinic. One such change is a push to get all Medical Assistants (MAs) in the clinic trained to work in the casting room. “It used to be just David and me who could put on or take off casts,” Kent explains. Now all MAs are receiving training to work in the cast room. To date, 15 have gone through training and are pitching in. “My goal is get 100% of them trained and able to help out,” says Kent.

The insight that allowed Kent to see, and respond to, the staffing need in the casting room has continued throughout the practice. “We were always short on experienced x-ray techs (XT),” he says, explaining that often an XT would transition to MRI or CAT Scan departments after gaining x-ray experience, leaving a void in the x-ray department. To solve the problem, Kent implemented a program to train MAs to become x-ray techs. The invaluable on-the-job training they get at OOA accelerates their training and allows them to be multi-functional employees. “There are days when a provider is not in clinic, so an MA won’t be working. But, if they are also trained as an x-ray tech or casting specialist, they can pick up other shifts or fill in for employees who might be out,” Kent explains. “Everybody wins.”

It’s this collaborative philosophy that has quickly established Kent as a key player on the administrative team, not only looking out for the company’s bottom line, but assuring employees are advancing their careers and patients remain number one. “If I can implement managerial policies that help turnover, are cost effective, make sense from the technical and logistical side, improve patient experience and help create multi-functional, better trained and more versatile employees then I’m doing my job,” he says.

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Ed Kent, seen here checking a fire extinguisher with Kaytlin Shultz-Lumsden, still wears his signature navy blue scrubs, saying he’ll never wear a suit, even in his new administrative role. Photo courtesy: Olympia Orthopaedic Associates.

“The thing that makes Ed different,” shares Rachel Sherburne, OOA’s Marketing Liaison and a scribe within the practice, “is that he knows what it’s like in the trenches – patient flow, what a tech or scribe’s job is like, what happens in the cast room. He understands each job because he’s been there. It’s a blessing to have Ed in this role. Employees feel they can come in, have a conversation and be heard. They see real changes that make sense and are in response to issues they’ve identified. Things are changing for the good.”

Next time you are at Olympia Orthopaedic Associates, keep your eye out for Ed Kent in his signature blue scrubs. He may be a top administrator now, but he’ll always just be “Ed” to the patients.

Olympia Orthopaedic Associates
3901 Capital Mall Drive SW
Olympia, WA 98502
360-709-6230

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