Consultant Corner | Diana Tubera – An Alaskan Adventure
When Diana Tubera first connected with the team from iMethods on LinkedIn, she did not expect to build a relationship with her recruiters as quickly as she did. Her experience with staffing firms in the past had been highly transactional – she’d be placed in a role if her skills and experience fit, then receive very little if any follow up.
That’s not been the case with iMethods. From the very beginning, Diana felt essential and appreciated by her recruiter, Michée Zydiak, and her client results manager, Jason Sweet. The team initially presented her with a remote consulting project in Anchorage, Alaska, with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) which went very well.
Later, when an onsite opportunity with the Southeastern Alaska Regional Health Consortium became available in Juneau, they reached out to her again. A resident of California, but comfortable with the travel required of consultants, she was not swayed by the distance, the weather or the pandemic. An onsite engagement in beautiful Alaska was exactly what she was looking for. It was a means for her to make a difference at the health system and see a part of the country she had not yet visited.
Diana’s path to working in Alaska is an interesting one. She became a consultant only five years ago, after a 25-year career in nursing, determined to find ways to expand her knowledge, better serve patients, advocate for her colleagues and achieve her ideal work-life balance.
Originally a long-term care nurse, she moved to ED Level 1 Trauma, inpatient care and critical care ICU. In 1999, after reading the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) 1999 report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, Diana decided she could do more to impact the quality of patient care and better support clinicians by serving in hospital management. She returned to school in 2000 to pursue two Masters’ degrees: one in Administrative Studies in Nursing and one in Healthcare Informatics.
Her dual focus on nursing and informatics turned out to be the perfect intersection of her interests and expertise. As a nurse super-user of the Cerner EMR, Diana had first-hand knowledge of potential enhancements to improve the clinical user’s experience. Moving into the Clinical IT department was a natural next step. Informatics was the center of the people, process, and technology “trifecta,” as she calls it – right where she wanted to be.
She enjoyed the flexibility her new perspective gave her. She was able to work in the IT department, the Professional Development & Education department, the PI department, Change Management Department and more, with her expanded knowledge and experience. A constant learner, she appreciated the opportunity to see how different areas of the health system operated and what they prioritized.
While satisfied in her roles, the consultant’s life appealed to her, and she made her move in 2015. According to Diana, “What motivated me to become a consultant was the lifestyle. I love to travel, and it was a great way to continue making important contributions to healthcare while meeting my personal goals of seeing the world. I also liked to see how different health systems approach different challenges and build best practices. Every engagement offers a new way to see things and expand my knowledge!”
Fast-forward to the Alaska engagement, and Diana couldn’t be happier. The client extended her project beyond the initial one-month term to nearly three months. She has taken advantage of the opportunity to roll up her sleeves and help out the health system in innovative ways, all while embracing the state’s beauty. She saw the Aurora Borealis for the first time and was able to hike the Mendenhall Glacier. An avid hiker, Diana has spent as much time as possible on the trails of our 49th state while there.
When an unexpected early snow fell on Juneau, Diana made urgent call to Michée and Jason to help her negotiate an upgrade from her rented Prius to something more weather-appropriate. Diana commented, “They took such great care of me! There was no way a Prius would get me around safely in a foot of snow, and they were genuinely concerned. That’s just one example of how iMethods has been exemplary. Michée and Jason are always checking in on me to make sure I’m doing well and making progress. It’s refreshing.”
“For now, I’m focusing on continuing to provide value to SEARHC and making the most of my last weeks in this beautiful place. I’m so glad I found iMethods and look forward to working with them on future projects.”
