Photo by Bryan Clifton
Cam Patterson’s reign as chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock is only entering its seventh year, but given the unprecedented challenges that have come up over that period, it feels a lot longer than that.
“It seems like a different lifetime,” Patterson said. “Like a lot of us, I think we break the world down into pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 in health care. There was no way that anyone in 2018 could have predicted or prepared for what we went through, and I’m proud of the role that UAMS played in leading the state through the most serious pandemic any of us have lived in our lifetimes.”
Patterson arrived in Little Rock from Weill Cornell Medical Center and Komansky Children’s Hospital/New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York. He immediately set about the usual challenges that faced an academic hospital — such as funding and staffing — before being hit full in the face with something no one could have imagined.
He said the organization is stronger for having come through the pandemic with an innovative mindset that resulted in various system improvements that serve patients to this day.
“Some of [the changes] are literally rocket science, you know, seeing vaccines being developed in real time and distributed as quickly as they were. That was a revolution in health care,” he said. “Some of them were not rocket science; some of them were more mundane. The role that UAMS played in procurement for the state for [personal protective equipment], that was really unique. I don’t think any other academic medical center did procurement for an entire state the way that UAMS did.
“It meant that during the day, we were dealing with the pandemic, and at night, we were making seven- or eight-figure purchases for the entire state from China. It turned our operation into a 24/7 operation.”
Patterson said one of the most lasting of the workarounds that would today be an accepted part of care has been digital health.
“We already had a large footprint in the digital health domain, but COVID-19 really drove us to look for more ways in which we could interface with patients from a distance, sometimes asynchronously, to provide the same level of care,” he said.
Patterson does not like to dwell on past accomplishments, so he was quick to point out the wins achieved post pandemic, of which there are many in the ongoing effort to improve and expand medical care statewide.
“Where we’re strong is in our ability to provide care and implement services across the entire state,” he said. “Our regional programs now are nine in total, and they’re much more than just training sites for us. They’re now integrated with our entire health care system. We provide primary care services. We provide specialty services. We provide medical education. That distinguishes UAMS from similar academic medical centers in rural states.”
One visit to the main campus in Little Rock also reveals many of the things that have been implemented or enhanced on Patterson’s watch. In fact, the many gleaming new buildings can border on overwhelming, which is why he is so passionate about staff maintaining the personal touch with patients trying to find their way among millions of dollars’ worth of facilities, resources and technology.
“Something we spend a lot of time thinking about is how to make sure our team members who are interacting with patients and family members realize that people are not here because they want to be here; they’re here because they have to be here,” he said. “For that reason, we need to go out of our way to make them feel comfortable. Somebody looks like they are lost in the hallway, our employees are taught to recognize that and provide help to get them reoriented.
“We’re also working on digital tools to make wayfinding easier for our patients and families. I think we’ve made it much easier for our patients to interact with us through MyChart, which allows them to have direct access to their care providers.”
Looking to the future, Patterson said there are many accomplishments that are paving the way for better care and outcomes, including opening the new Orthopaedic and Spine Hospital, the nursing program earning only the fifth Magnet designation in the state, and the dramatic growth of the organization’s research program.
“We continue to identify additional programs for educating care providers in our state. The newest one that we’re talking about is a nurse anesthetist program that we will be starting up,” he said. “I would also say the next big achievement that we are focused on is attaining National Cancer Institute designation for the [Winthrop P.] Rockefeller Cancer Institute. We hope to be submitting an application to the NCI for that in the next 12 to 24 months.”
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