By Erin Register
Lisa Nagel, 36, grew up in the small rural town of Botkins, Ohio, with a population of around 1,154 people. She graduated high school with approximately 52 classmates in 2002 and attended Owens Community College in Perrysburg, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo, Ohio, from 2002-2005. There, Nagel earned an associate degree in applied science with a major in radiography. She graduated first in her class, Summa Cum Laude. Currently, Nagel is a supervisor at Mercy Health St. Rita’s Women’s Wellness Center in Lima, Ohio.
Mercy Health Regional Director of Medical Imaging Sandy Michalski nominated Nagel as a Rising Star.
“Lisa showed great potential as she walked into a new role at a very busy women’s imaging center and hit the ground running,” Michlalski stated. “She has immense knowledge of regulatory, quality and safety issues, as well as being very organized. She is an honest, strong leader and builds trust easily. Lisa excels with process improvement, and her strength is attention to detail. She manages the operations well but also understands the behaviors necessary to be an excellent leader. I envision a very bright future for Lisa.”
ICE learned more about this Rising Star in a question-and-answer interview.
Q: Why did you choose to get into this field?
A: I had been accepted to the nursing program at the University of Toledo but changed my mind at the last minute because I received an opportunity to job shadow and learn more about radiology. I was fascinated by the technology and being able to take images that would allow you to see the inside of the human body. This was the perfect profession where I could use science to help people. As I learned more about the field, I became fascinated about mammography. I had the prospect to train in mammography in 2011, and ever since then, it has become a true passion of mine.
Q: What do you like most about your position?
A: I enjoy being a part of such a great team dynamic! Everyone is so patient-care oriented, that has been a true blessing to get to work with all of the team members daily.
My supervisor position has also helped me grow as a leader by getting the opportunity to work on the day-to-day operations of the department and staying very involved with processes and workflows as part of the patient care team.
Q: What interests you the most about the imaging field?
A: The continuous advancements in the imaging field are what interest me the most. Attaining experience deriving from the conversion from film-screen to digital, and now tomosynthesis within mammography, has been truly astonishing. There is always more to learn in the imaging field. The technology is always changing. These new innovations increase quality and enable us with patient care by helping us catch diagnoses earlier.
Q: What has been your greatest accomplishment in the field thus far?
A: My greatest accomplishment was in my previous position as quality imaging specialist, incorporating development and implementation of the tech QA process that we built into our EMR system. We were able to modify some of the tech QA selections within our EMR system so they could be used to fulfill the new MQSA EQUIP regulations when they were implemented. The team was fortunate enough to go to the EPIC headquarters in Wisconsin to present the process we had created, which was a great experience.
