McBride Orthopedic Hospital manager excels with extra effort.
by James Coburn, Staff Writer
Whenever someone at McBride Orthopedic Hospital tells Acute Care/ER Manager Jeremy Podany, RN, what a great job he is doing, he always turns that recognition back to his staff.
“They put the hours in; they do the hard work to take care of these patients to the best of their ability,” Podany said. “I shine the light back on them to reflect what a great job they’ve done.”
Podany earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at the University of Oklahoma. And in the fall he plans on pursuing his master’s degree in Health Care Administration at Oklahoma State University in the fall or spring.
“Hopefully, that will lead me to chief nursing officer position,” he said.
His career began 10 years ago at Norman Regional Hospital in the surgery department. After five years Podany decided to specialize in orthopedics. He is grateful the leadership team at McBride hired him in 2012.
“I was in surgery for four years, and I’ve always been interested in the management side of things,” Podany continued. His talent did not go unnoticed. In November, 2015 the leadership team at McBride took him under their wing to invest in his leadership potential.
“They knew my interest. Since I didn’t have any management experience, they gave me an internship to see if I would like it — if I was able to do the management side,” he explained.
After six months of internship, on May 1 of 2016, his current position opened up. They liked what they saw in Podany and promoted him.
Nursing is a diverse field, he said, with many areas to concentrate on. Podany loves a new challenge, especially when it will continue to serve the betterment of patient centered care. Orthopedics combines all the skills he honed when galvanizing his career in Norman. And today he flourishes with confidence.
He graduated from Ida Bell High School in 2000. At first he was a pharmacy major at OU, but was called to nursing, and is glad he never looked back after being accepted in the nursing school program.
Nurses are sometimes overlooked for the hard work and dedication they give from their heart and learning path, he said. They are dedicated.
“Being on this floor in the acute care setting, there’s someone with these patients 24/7,” he said. “So it’s a never ending focus.”
It is important to Podany to recognize the nursing staff daily for the hard work they do while in a constant spiral of learning. The staff is educated to recognize other health problems patients have that interplay with orthopedic surgery. They do it with kindness and grace. Problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes are always considered.
Patients arrive for surgery with a good understanding of what to expect. Classes are available to them preoperatively to educate them according to their surgery and follow-up care.
“We keep the staff educated to the utmost level of care they can provide to these patients,” he said. “And most patients are very satisfied and happy by the time they leave.”
Podany became the Acute Care/ Emergency Care manager at a time of rapid growth and development. A new three-story medical/office building is under construction on campus. All of the McBride Clinic from downtown will be in the new building next to the McBride hospital. He anticipates the new clinical center will be completed in the fall or winter of this year depending on the weather. The transition of staff should begin in January.
“There will be a better collaboration between the clinic and the hospital,” Podany said of the streamlined approach.
This is a good time to be an orthopedic nurse in Oklahoma. As the baby boomer generation ages, the need for more nurses grows accordingly. Oklahoma is not the healthiest state, but McBride is helping to raise the bar.
“Bones get weaker as we get older and someone is going to need a total joint replacement,” he continued.
Knowing he is making a positive difference through the most difficult of days, Podany said it’s always nice to see patients during therapy walking and making progress.
“We have a great group of people that work with these patients with the proper encouragement to push themselves to see the results,” he reflected.
He couldn’t ask for a better, more qualified group of nurses to work with him.
“I have an open door policy,” he said. “In order to be successful in this position you have to be willing to put in the extra time and effort.”
He spends 10-12 hours a day doing what he loves.
“I take care of the staff, and when the staff sees I put in the extra time, effort to make sure they’re taken care of – and I show them they’re supported 100 percent – they’re going to give me in return the hard work back,” he said.
He likes to relax and have fun with his family during his leisure time. Podany likes to golf and go hunting.
He thanks Mark Galliart, CEO; Krista Reyna, COO; and the McBride physicians for giving him a leadership role.
“I’m very appreciative for this opportunity and most importantly humbled. I want to be the best of the best, and I strive daily to make McBride the best of the best,” he said.
