Photo by Anne Rayner
Bart Magowan is a man on the road. As the manager of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) satellite clinics, he divides his time working with staff in four different clinics spanning three counties an hour apart — adding as many as 200 miles a week to his commute.
Still, the winner of the Five Pillar Leader Award finds time to not just manage, but directly care for patients.
“I’m definitely a hands-on manager,” said Magowan, BSN, RN. “I love patient interaction and to be a part of the care that is given. I feel the need to be able to do what my employees do in order to lead them and to make better decisions on what they need to care for their patients.”
Magowan manages clinics in Cool Springs in Williamson County, Spring Hill in Maury County, and Springfield in Robertson County. They offer medical oncology and hematology visits, lab services and infusion services including chemotherapy and supportive care. When talking to staff there, certain words keep coming up to describe him – “humble,” “servant leader” and “lead by example.”
Magowan embodies the Credo and the Five Pillars — people, service, quality, innovation, growth and finance that supports Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s service and operational excellence.
“I have a great team around me. The staff and physicians that work at these individual clinics and also my leaders make it a pleasure and make it easy to lead.”
With humor and a caring disposition, it’s not uncommon for him to provide personal care to patients, which he often knows by name. He focuses the team on how to improve patient wait times. His service extends to his fellow employees, always with a listening ear and a teaching heart. He continues to be an essential point person on all things related to the Epic transition.
Magowan is a good steward of his resources, and is always willing to innovate to solve problems on the fly. He encouraged the start of a unit board in the satellite clinics to come up with innovative ideas for better patient flow, communication and participation across the staff.
He lives the Credo by stopping everything to address patient needs, and patients are noticing.
“Bart’s clinics are consistently in the top decile in patient satisfaction ranking,” said Anna Liza Rodriguez, MSN, MHA, RN, OCN, Associate Nursing Officer, Cancer Patient Care Center, at VICC. “Bart understands and monitors his budget and productivity — his team consistently performs at productivity target or better. His team engagement scores are higher compared to organization scores in all domains: organization, manager and employee.”
Mike Neuss, MD, professor of Clinical Medicine, shared those accolades. “He has opened multiple offices and kept them open through power outages, network down times, rain, hail, snow and even the total eclipse in Robertson County when someone said the roads were going to be overwhelmed,” he said.
For Magowan, all this is second nature. He became a nurse in 1995 and came to Vanderbilt seven years ago from a large cancer center in his hometown of Memphis.
“I was definitely humbled and honored that people would think those things about me,” he said. “I have a great team around me. The staff and physicians that work at these individual clinics and also my leaders make it a pleasure and make it easy to lead.”
To place a nomination for an Elevate Credo Award, Five Pillar Leader Award, or Team Award, visit the Elevate website to fill out a nomination form. Employees demonstrate credo behaviors when: they make those they serve the highest priority; respect privacy and confidentiality; communicate effectively; conduct themselves professionally; have a sense of ownership; and are committed to their colleagues. Elevate award nominations are accepted year round. If a nomination is received after the cutoff for quarterly award selection, the nomination will be considered for the next quarter. VUMC Voice will post stories on each of the award winners in the weeks following their announcement.
