Trichelle Phillips, RN, BSN
Head Nurse, Adult Primary Care
NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens

Trichelle Phillips, a head nurse in the ambulatory care clinic at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, contributes to her facility’s quality of care in many ways, but among the most important is her focus on improving population health and leadership as a change agent for that goal.

Early this year, after tracking and studying medical clinic metrics, Phillips led a drive to reduce uncontrolled hypertension among the clinic’s patients. She persuaded an attending physician to be the physician champion for the campaign and provided in-service education to her staff about hypertension and diabetes. In just five months, the rate of controlled hypertension rose from 71 percent to 76 percent. “A monumental achievement,” she marveled.

Phillips started as an agency staff nurse in 2011, came aboard two years later and has worked her way up the ranks with her unusual combination of expertise and personality. She has a wealth of clinical knowledge and an innate ability to share it among her team. She’s also known for her skill in handling patient concerns and complaints in real time, often diffusing situations triggered by misunderstanding or frustration. It’s not just her personal touch. She does her homework, thoroughly researching a patient’s medical record in order to help them – an approach her staff emulates.

“What motivates me is my natural compassion and need to assist,” she says. “In a world lacking in humanism and care for others, I want to exemplify the true meaning of those values.”

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