Leading When Healthcare Feels Impossible: Special Episode with Kandice Garcia, RN

Leading When Healthcare Feels Impossible: Special Episode with Kandice Garcia, RN

In the special episode, we ask, "What if the chaos you're leading through isn't actually chaos at all?"  Kandice Garcia, RN — CEO of Tungsten QI Partners and Quality Improvement Director for the ACR Learning Network — and co-host of Success in Chaos shares why healthcare leaders keep hitting walls: we're applying linear, manufacturing-style management to a complex, human system.  Discover the dual empowerment model behind 85+ improvement projects at Cleveland Clinic, Mayo, Stanford, and beyond — plus a grounded take on AI that every healthcare leader needs to hear. 1:00 From exercise physiology to radiology nursing 3:00 The Stanford story: RITE program & Dr. David Larson 7:00 Building the ACR Learning Network's Empower program 9:00 Why Tungsten QI Partners was born 13:30 Complex vs. complicated: why healthcare isn't chaos 17:30 Dual empowerment: connecting frontline knowledge to leadership 20:45 AI in healthcare: the cavalry isn't coming 26:30 Books shaping Kandice's thinking

You Can’t Innovate in a House on Fire: Oliver Galicki on Healthcare IT Chaos

What happens when your most critical imaging system is held together by workarounds and tip sheets? Oliver Galicki, VP of Information Services at Memorial Hermann, reveals how he led a 12-month enterprise imaging overhaul — from eight vendors to a signed contract — while balancing technical debt, physician alignment, and scarce dollars.  His guiding philosophy: if your house is on fire, you cannot innovate. Discover how pragmatic IT leadership turns infrastructure chaos into a foundation for the future. ~1:30 Oliver’s journey from intern to VP ~4:30 Technical debt explained — the 23-year-old PACS problem ~8:00 “If your house is on fire, you can’t innovate” ~11:00 Building governance and physician alignment ~17:00 Streamlining decisions — 8 vendors to 1 in 12 months ~22:00 The ROI challenge for foundational IT ~28:00 Leadership style — authenticity, transparency, and speaking both languages ~32:00 Upskilling IT teams for the AI era ~35:00 Book and podcast recommendations

AI Is Our Second Chance to Fix Healthcare (If We Don’t Repeat the Same Mistake)

Electronic health records were supposed to transform healthcare—but instead, they digitized broken workflows. In this episode of After the Chaos, the conversation explores why EHRs increased complexity instead of reducing it, and what healthcare can learn moving forward. Key topics include: * Why EHRs failed to improve care coordination * The disconnect between technology and clinical workflows * The importance of clinician-led design * How to avoid repeating the same mistakes with AI AI presents a new opportunity—but only if healthcare moves beyond digitization and into true redesign.

How Nurses Calm Healthcare Technology’s Chaos: A Conversation with Dr. Melinda Kidder, Chief Nursing Officer for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT

What happens when healthcare technology is built without the people who use it most? In this episode of Success in Chaos, Angela and Kandice sit down with Dr. Melinda Kidder, DHA, MSN, RN, CENP, MPHC, Chief Nursing Officer for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, to unpack one of the most overlooked drivers of success in healthcare innovation: frontline clinician involvement. From her journey as a CNA to shaping national health technology policy, Dr. Kidder shares hard-earned lessons from the early days of EHR adoption—and why those same mistakes are now being repeated in the age of AI. You’ll learn: * Why nurses must be involved from day one—not as an afterthought * The biggest disconnect between tech design and real clinical workflows * What most organizations get wrong about AI adoption * How to build governance models that actually work * Why “closing the loop” is the most overlooked step in implementation If you’re a healthcare executive, operator, or innovator trying to make technology actually deliver outcomes—not just features—this episode is a must-listen.

More Data. More Detection. More Chaos.

What happens after we detect disease? In this episode of After the Chaos, Angela and Kandice reflect on their conversation with Dr. Dan Durand of Prenuvo and unpack a critical shift in healthcare. As whole-body imaging and AI accelerate early detection, healthcare is facing a new challenge: managing the explosion of data and ensuring it leads to action. They explore: * The future of preventative care in a single visit * The rise of consumer-driven healthcare and demand for insight * Why the system isn’t built to manage what it finds * The growing gap between information and care * How AI is reshaping roles, research, and leadership Detection is improving. But without follow-through, outcomes won’t.