Administrator to Know: Sandy Berreth of Brainerd Lakes Surgery Center

Sandy Berreth, RN, MS, CASC (Brainerd Lakes Surgery Center, Baxter, Minn.). Ms. Berreth is the administrator of Brainerd Lakes Surgery Center in Baxter, Minn., a multi-specialty ASC that performs general surgery, gynecology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, facial plastics, ENT, urology, podiatry and pain management. She has been with the center since it opened in 2005.

Ms. Berreth has been in ASC management for 10 years, but her career has spanned many facets of the healthcare industry. She worked as a staff nurse for a few years and then moved to the OR. She worked for 12 years in the "open heart room," and for 10 of those years she was in a middle manager position. After earning another degree, she started an ASC for the hospital where she worked before earning yet another degree and arriving at her current position.

When it comes to managing her staff, Ms. Berreth says, with a sense of humor, "I'm obsessive-compulsive, and I expect my staff to feel the same passion I feel about the highest quality healthcare and customer service." She notes that she has a list of accountabilities and competencies that her staff must know and implement. "The best and smartest [people] will work their hardest if they know they are valued. They will be your resources for best initiatives that will lead to the best and safest care."

Ms. Berreth considers her staff the center's greatest attribute. "The power of an ASC is the staff," she says. "They must be recognized for the champions they are."

She also says her favorite part of working as an administrator is having the "ability to change what needs to be changed." As she explains, "It's the Serenity Prayer in practice: Change what can be changed, accept what has to be accepted and have the wisdom to know the difference."

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