As a teen, Wendy Deibert experienced a near-death healthcare episode that resulted in an eight-week hospital stay punctuated by four surgeries. That harrowing experience became an enlightening window into what patients go through, igniting a fire in her to be on the other side of the bed taking care of those in need.
Chief Nursing Officer, Caregility
As a young adult, Wendy dove headfirst into nursing, specializing as a neurologist ICU nurse. She would go on to spend two decades at the bedside at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, eventually managing the ICU. Along the way, her exposure to the whirlwind of emotions surrounding patient care allowed her to see healthcare engagement from multiple angles. When personal experience saw her husband and father become patients, inefficiencies in the healthcare journey sparked a new mission in Wendy to help make care more accessible and easier to navigate for patients.
Determined to make a difference, Wendy took a leap of faith and transitioned into the realm of healthcare technology at St. Louis-based Mercy health system. From ensuring patient medication safety to learning the intricacies of interfacing and formulary building, her IT journey began. But it wasn’t just about incorporating new tools; it was about understanding how technology could serve patients better.
Wendy’s most transformative phase was a tele-ICU project where she oversaw the implementation of e-ICU across 350 beds. This venture brought together diverse care groups, introduced Wendy to the magic of virtual care, and showcased the technology’s potential to bridge the gap between remote areas and big cities. From there, Wendy played an integral role in rolling out more than 70 telehealth programs across six states with Mercy, ultimately culminating in the creation of Mercy Virtual – a mammoth hub of 160 virtual caregivers.
As an employee at Mercy, Wendy was a Caregility customer, using the company’s telehealth solutions to support several of the health system’s virtual care initiatives. After parting ways with Mercy to launch her own consulting business, Wendy eventually joined the Caregility team, where additional resources could support shared growth. She currently serves as Caregility’s Chief Nursing Officer, where she supports clinical integrity on behalf of the virtual care company and its hospital and health system customers.
“My passion is getting care into the home or as close to the home as possible instead of having patients travel. Virtual care is also a wonderful early warning system in inpatient settings like the ICU, enabling faster, more proactive care interventions.”
– Wendy Deibert
Wendy has learned through experience the importance of tailoring tech solutions to organizational needs, emphasizing that it’s not about replacing current processes but optimizing them. Integration, she believes, is vital. Separate systems, she’s found, tend to create bottlenecks, while a universal platform offers streamlined care.
“One patient, one record,” Wendy stresses. “No one wants to use a secondary system. Leverage EMR integration to embed processes and boost adoption. One thing I learned at Mercy is that telehealth programs grow organically. Disparate solutions for different units can be terrible for IT to manage and clinicians really prefer to live in one environment. Get onto one platform you can use across settings.” She encourages care teams to identify telehealth solutions that support broad use cases to simplify program growth and technology management.
“Make the technology, the clinician, and the process equal parts of the process,” Wendy also advises. “Collaboration between clinical and IT stakeholders establishes common ground and common language. If you just drop technology in without formally defining virtual care workflows, roles, and protocols, your program won’t be sustainable.”
Wendy’s unique position as someone with both clinical and technical expertise has given her a holistic view of the healthcare arena. Her journey from an eight-week hospital stay to her leadership role at Caregility has been nothing short of inspiring. Today, Wendy continues to leverage her expertise, advocating for best practices and pioneering the seamless integration of technology in patient care delivery to improve both patient and clinician experience.
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