UM Upper Chesapeake Health Appoints Jo Anne Thomson As Vice President of Patient Experience

University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health (UM UCH) has appointed Jo Anne Thomson, MN, RN-BC, CPXP, as vice president of patient experience.

Thomson comes to UM UCH after 21 years at University of Maryland Shore Medical Center in Easton, also a University of Maryland Medical System hospital. For the past six years she served as director of patient experience, where she expanded the role to include strategic direction, leadership and regional oversight for improving the patient experience. She implemented a comprehensive service excellence approach called HEART that focused on several areas including team building and supporting and sustaining a culture of caring and accountability. Thomson also led "best practice" initiatives such as rounding, bedside shift report, employee recognition, service recovery and discharge. In addition, she leveraged technology to support and enhance patient experience in such areas as interpretative services and connecting patients and families virtually.

"Jo Anne Thomson's extensive background will help us as we strive to make every patient experience a quality one," said Lyle E. Sheldon, FACHE, president/CEO of UM UCH. "Providing an excellent patient experience is a top priority and forms our community vision of every patient, every family, every encounter, every day. We are pleased to have Jo Anne join our team."

Thomson also served as director of nursing informatics and practice innovation, nursing informatics project manager and nurse manager during her career at the University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH).

She has also been a member of the nursing faculty at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was a staff nurse at Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Thomson holds a master's degree in nursing and adult health from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor's of Nursing from the University of New Brunswick. She also completed the Healthcare Leaders Institute program, a collaborative venture between the University of Maryland Medical System and the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Thomson is a Certified Patient Experience Professional (CPXP) from Patient Experience Institute; is board certified in nursing informatics from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC); has LEAN Certification from the Maryland Patient Safety Center and holds a Certificate in Patient Experience and Advocacy from the Beryl Institute. She participated in the Cleveland Clinic's Patient Experience Leaders Forum in 2017.

Among her honors, Thomson was named director of the year at UM SRH in 2013 and was a finalist for the Nursing Excellence GEM Awards presented by Nursing Spectrum.