Background
- Over three decades in healthcare in a variety of practice settings (including acute care, home health, hospice, and an academic setting; and in organizations of varying degrees of complexity.
- Expertise in lean systems thinking, executive leadership development, quality and organization improvement, application of human factors in designing for patient safety, patient and family advisory councils, and organizational development & learning.
- Former Ontario Hospital Association faculty for the Effective Governance for Quality & Patient Safety program.
Ms. Debbie Sears Barnard’s consulting expertise includes effective governance & leadership for quality & patient safety; strategic planning; use of quality as a core business strategy, lean systems thinking; quality/process improvement; change management; clinical risk management, accreditation and patient safety.
Prior to joining Joint Commission International as a consultant, Ms. Barnard was a Joint Commission Home Care Surveyor. She has worked in and supported healthcare organizations internationally including the USA, Canada, Bahamas and UAE.
Professional Experience
- Director, Performance Improvement, Clinical Risk Management and Accreditation, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Vice-President Process Improvement, Quality & Patient, Academic Health Sciences Centre, Northern Ontario, Canada
- Project Manager, Canadian Patient Safety Institute’s national Safer Healthcare Now! campaign (SHN), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Executive Director Clinical Quality Support, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Performance Improvement Director, Dekalb Regional Health System, Decatur, GA, USA
Professional Affiliations or Certifications
- Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ)
- Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement EXTRA Fellow (2013)
- National Association HealthCare Quality
- Advanced Health Leadership Program - Rotman School of Management (2016)
- RPI® Certified Yellow Belt, The Joint Commission
Education
- Master of Science in Human Resource Management & Development, National-Louis University, Atlanta, GA USA
- Bachelor of Arts in Applied Behavioral Sciences, National-Louis University, Atlanta, GA USA
- Certificate Advance Nursing Education (Honors), University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica
- Diploma General Nursing (RN), Bahamas School of Nursing, Nassau, Bahamas