Serving close to two decades as a cardiology nurse practitioner at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic, Jane Linderbaum, RN, MS, FNP, AACC, has developed an outstanding ability getting patients from point A to point Z in their care without running the gamut of the entire alphabet. While this particular talent stems from the Mayo Clinic itself – as it is the first and largest medical group practice to implement integrated care – it also derives from Linderbaum’s own team-based clinical expertise.

“Part of my job is figuring out things or finding innovative ways to work a very challenging patient through the system in an efficient manner, or making sure a patient with a knowledge barrier or deficit understands how important it is that they for example, take a particular medication or come back for a follow-up appointment,” says Linderbaum, who was recently honored with the inaugural Distinguished Associate Award at this year’s ACC Annual Scientific Session and Expo. “I think those skills of perseverance and problem solving, you can adapt in a million different things you do.”

Embodying Linderbaum’s streamlined management tactics is her role as the associate medical editor of AskMayoExpert, an online point of care clinical decision tool that is used by the greater majority of the facility’s clinicians. The iPhone, iPad, and desktop-accessible application is capable of taking evidence from the guidelines, trials and papers, and put it at the fingertips of the clinicians, providing information on when patients should be referred, flags signs of symptoms and testing that should be considered, and offers medication charts, all for treating patients in a cost-effective, timely fashion for the disease or condition that’s been diagnosed. Combining this resource with the fact that the Mayo Clinic has all its specialists under one roof, patient care is a hive of productivity.

“Many of our patients go through diagnostic tests or procedures the same day we initially see them,” says Linderbaum. “We are absolutely able to provide an expedited itinerary for the patients. Sometimes those non-integrated systems would take several weeks to complete and we’re able to complete it in several days.”

Currently partnered alongside Rick Nishimura, MD, MACC, helping him see more patients with valvular heart disease and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at a higher level of continuity, quality and communication than he could otherwise see without her, Linderbaum admits that keeping things running smoothly is its own kind of complex patient. “To do my job and do my job well I really need to be thoughtful,” says Linderbaum. “As time and technology continues, we need to be even more efficient, and I think that’s something I work on every day.”

Visit the Cardiovascular Team Center at CardioSource.org/CVT.

< Back to Listings