Administrator’s Corner: Ned Wiggs on East Tennessee Medical News

Administrator’s Corner: Ned Wiggs

By: BRIDGET GARLAND

Although many healthcare administrators list having a ‘heart’ for medicine as one of the reasons they love their job, when Ned Wiggs, Executive Director of Cardiac Services at Memorial Health Care System, compiles his list, the heart is what it’s all about. Happening upon the perfusionist position while working at Johnson City Medical Center in Johnson City, Tenn., Wiggs felt he had found his niche. “I knew I wanted a career in medicine, but I wasn’t for sure which one, and I didn’t want to limit myself. Then I discovered the perfusionist job, the person who operates the machine controlling the heart and lungs during an open heart surgery,” explained Wiggs.

After looking into certification programs, Wiggs, who is originally from Gray, Tenn., headed to Hershey, Penn., where he attended Penn State at Hershey Medical Center. “I moved from being between two corn fields in Gray to two corn fields in Hershey for a two year program,” mused Wiggs. After finishing perfusion school, Wiggs and his wife Jennifer headed to the University of Virginia, where he worked in surgery and Jennifer worked as a nurse in a step- down surgical unit, as well as a NICU.

The couple had met in high school but didn’t start dating until both were students at East Tennessee State University, where Wiggs earned his Bachelor’s in Health Science with a concentration in Microbiology. They were married during his second year at Penn State. “We stayed in Virginia for two years, but after our son was born, we wanted to move closer to home. I found a perfusion position in Chattanooga, and in December of 2001, we moved here.”

“The nice thing about marrying a nurse—there are always plenty of jobs,” Wiggs added. “After having our second child, Jennifer wanted a different schedule and now works in nursing research for Dr. Chamberlain.”

Although Wiggs enjoyed his job tremendously, at the time, more and more patients began to be treated with stents rather than bypass surgery. With volumes down, he thought that getting his MBA would be a smart decision. “As I started my program at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, my boss at the time, and who is still my boss, allowed me to have some added responsibilities looking at different aspects of the business operation around an operating room,” recalled Wiggs. “With the natural movement of people over time, the service administrator for cardiac services position opened up, and I knew I wanted to make that transition. The timing was right.”

Wiggs’ new position has definitely been a positive experience. As a perfusionist, he appreciated the ability to see the immediate results of his work, treating and tracking one patient at a time. In his current position, he may not get the immediate gratification he had become accustomed to, but he feels the ability to help thousands of people is worth a little delay. “Through program development and things of that nature, I can actually affect more lives in this role than I ever could as a perfusionist.

Wiggs now oversees the cardiac cath labs, cardiac rehab, EKG, ECHO, vascular, the Wound Healing Center, and the perfusionists, to whom he easily relates, having first-hand experience of what they deal with on a daily basis. Stepping back to observe the programs he and his colleagues have developed over the past few years at Memorial, including a chest pain observation unit, a heart failure clinic, and community outreach, he is most proud of the fact that patients not just from Chattanooga but from across the region come to Memorial to receive their heart care. “More and more patients, into the secondary and tertiary markets, are traveling longer distances so that they can have the highest quality of care,” Wiggs boasted.

One example of the quality heart care Memorial continues to develop is their Code STEMI program. The goal for most similar programs is a 90 minute door to balloon time. Last month, they averaged 67 minutes. “That is something we have really worked hard to improve,” said Wiggs.

As Wiggs pointed out, his position requires a lot of patience because such quality achievement isn’t developed overnight. Teamwork is also essential. “Being an administrator requires the ability to work outside your expertise,” he shared. “I often go outside of cardiac, work with the nursing side, and meet with different areas to pull a program together. You must also have the personality to bring those people together into one room and come out with the changes that need to happen to meet goals.”

Continued Wiggs, “It’s all about relationships—developing relationships with the staff, across the department, and with your physician partners. It’s critical to have the great physician support and partners that we have.”

Although he stays quite active promoting Memorial’s programs and urging support for heart health organizations such as the American Heart Association, he makes sure to take time out daily to spend with his wife and sons, Trevor, 9, and Dylan, 4.