Charlene Hope

Charlene’s Story

Dr. Hope graduated from Midwestern University – Chicago College of Pharmacy with her Doctor of Pharmacy degree. She furthered her training by completing a pharmacy practice residency (PGY-1) at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. She most recently attained her Master’s Degree in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety at The Graduate School at Northwestern University in 2015. Dr. Hope is also a Certified Professional in Patient Safety.

Dr. Hope currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the SAG for Patient Care Quality. She has been a committee member for the last three years.

Facility

The Tenet Chicago Market consists of four community hospitals and ambulatory clinics; including, three cancer centers located in the Chicagoland area.

Significant Projects

Dr. Hope is currently leading her sites in a market-wide medication safety initiative focused on decreasing hypoglycemia and standardizing insulin safety practices across the four hospitals. She is also continuing to work with her hospitals to improve HCAHPS score in the medication communication domain. They have successfully engaged our pharmacists and pharmacy students in launching patient medication counseling program pilots at their respective organizations which have all resulted in positive results and impacted the culture on the nursing units where they conducted their pilots.

Advice for Someone New to Your Specialty Area

“I encourage anyone new to the area of healthcare quality and patient safety to commit daily to being a change agent for your organization. While it can be fairly easy to develop and implement change around the technical aspects of a particular process or service offering; it is the social aspects (individual attitudes, behaviors and organizational culture) that can be the most challenging and discouraging. Mastering the skill of storytelling and soliciting feedback from front-line staff members and key stakeholders is as important as the tables and charts that you use to communicate that burning platform or new process change.”

Involvement in ASHP

“I became involved with ASHP through my state affiliate the Illinois Council of Health-system Pharmacists many years ago. As a pharmacy student, I served as one of the school chapter leaders and attended a student leadership conference that really impacted me. It was a great day of learning, networking and socializing that I still think of fondly, to this day. Looking back, I believe that the value I gained being involved with a professional organization made a lasting impression on me early in my career.”

ASHP’s Value to Members

“ASHP is the all round ‘go-to’ pharmacy professional organization for hospital/health-system pharmacists. Need Continuing Education Credits? ‘There’s an ASHP resource for that’. Looking to advance in your career? ‘There’s an ASHP resource for that’. Looking for a best practice, networking with colleagues, want to take your pharmacy department to the next level? I could keep on going...but I think you know what I am going to say. Yes, there is an ASHP resource for that. The other great thing about ASHP is if you get involved and the organization does not have what you need and there are enough pharmacists looking for the same information, guidance or support on a particular issue, the ASHP staff or another volunteer leaders in the organization are there to help and get you going in the right direction.”

“What I love most about my West Indian parents is that they always had some quote or saying that they would use to impart some pearl of wisdom throughout my upbringing. The one that comes to mind right now is ‘What you put in, is what you get out.’ ASHP brings SO MUCH value to the profession because of the overwhelming contributions of the dedicated volunteers and ASHP staff members that are truly dedicated and passionate about supporting pharmacists in bringing the highest quality of care and value to the patients that we serve everyday.”