Sumayah Abed, M.D., assistant professor and practitioner at the Hoover Family Medicine clinic, Felicia Boyd, R.N., nurse manager at the Highlands Family Medicine clinic, and Annie Shedlarski, R.N., nurse manager at the Hoover Family Medicine clinic, were recently named UAB Patient Experience Heroes.
The award, given by UAB Medicine’s Office of Patient Experience and Engagement (OPXE), during Patient Experience Week, recognizes employees who help provide an exceptional experience for UAB patients and families, including both clinical and non-clinical faculty and staff members who consistently go above and beyond to show compassion, prioritize patients and offer a great patient experience.
Abed’s nomination noted her exceptional patient experience scores, as well as the extra work that she put in to translate important medical documents into Arabic for her Arabic-speaking patients, a resource now available to all UAB providers. In addition to the translation project, Abed also regularly volunteers in the community and works weekly at Cooper Green. She has advocated for quality patient care and, specifically, women’s health during episodes of UAB’s Medcast.
Every day, her nominator wrote, Abed “shows compassion and understanding as she puts her patients first every day in both her clinical and academic positions.”
Boyd, nurse manager at the Highlands clinic, “regularly goes above and beyond in her daily task list and in cultivating an environment where patients are given excellent care,” according to her nomination.
Working with the medical director, Erin DeLaney, M.D., Boyd implemented a number of measures to improve the patient experience at Highlands during COVID-19 and beyond, despite numerous constraints. These initiatives include clinical staff trainings and workshops, lobby improvement projects aimed to provide patient education and improve communication, intake refinements, a new method of moving patients around the clinic to reduce wait times, and advocating for more space for clinical service.
Boyd’s leadership has also led to improvements in key patient experience scores, with the Highlands clinic now receiving its first Level 5 score and highest to-date.
Shedlarski is a tireless advocate for both patients and her team. Her clinical team, whom she manages as the nurse manager at UAB Hoover Family Medicine, has been named in the Top 10 of all UAB clinics and regularly receives both clinical and patient experience excellence awards since it opened in 2019. In 2021, the Hoover team earned an average of 9-10 out of 10 from 95.3% of patients on clinic staff satisfaction.
“Annie is a compassionate supervisor and patient advocate. She is quick to spot opportunities to improve the care and health of her patients through various studies and programs that the department participates in,” Shedlarski’s nomination noted.
She also works as an informal mentor for other managers across the UAB enterprise to train and equip others to have teams as successful as her team in Hoover, further improving patient care models beyond her clinic.
“She is a compassionate and selfless leader, and a huge part of why Hoover is able to provide such a great experience for UAB patients.”
"I am so proud to see Sumayah, Felicia and Annie's work recognized," said Irfan Asif, M.D., department chair, associate dean for primary care and rural health and director of UAB's primary care service line. "They each do so much for our patients and for their colleagues and are truly inspiring in the way that they go about their work, advocate for their patients and take care of their teams. I am thankful for each of them and all they do."