Clinical Risk Consultant Angie Webster has one primary objective in her role at Physicians Insurance: Help Members ensure safe care, which in turn enables the best possible outcomes.
This focus comes to her naturally after a career of more than 30 years in healthcare.
“As I look back on my career, a lot of the jobs I’ve enjoyed the most involved looking down the road and asking, ‘What can we do right now to help a process have the best possible outcome?’” she says.
Angie uses her experience to help Members identify opportunities to improve processes and implement best practices. For example, she might ask: how can providers prepare for rare but complex emergencies? Or what risks might a new piece of medical equipment pose, and how can Members mitigate those risks?
Angie is especially enthusiastic about simulation training. Utilizing dedicated Physicians Insurance resources, risk consultants can, in some instances, facilitate practice clinical scenarios using an interactive mannequin simulator. This experience gives care teams the opportunity to optimize competency and fine-tune workflows in their natural care environment.
Sometimes participants can feel a little anxious at first, but Angie emphasizes that Physicians Insurance is their partner, committed to helping them succeed. “Simulations should be fun as well as a learning opportunity, so that when a real emergency happens the team is ready,” she says.
Angie brings this positive, supportive approach to all her professional interactions, from answering phone calls to writing guidance documents for the vast Physicians Insurance Resource Library. For example, at the time of this article’s writing, she was writing a guidance document on how to prevent drug diversion, which will join the many hands-on tools Members can use to inform practices at their own facilities.
“I understand patient care, as I’ve worked in many of those roles,” says Angie, who was a school and public-health nurse earlier in her career.
Before joining Physicians Insurance in 2023, she also served as Senior Quality Facilitator and Infection Preventionist at a not-for-profit healthcare system in Oregon. Additionally, she was Employee Health/Infection Control Nurse and Director of Clinical & Professional Development for an Oregon hospital.
One experience that stands out to her from that professional development role involved designing programs to support new residency nurses. “It was incredibly gratifying to bring in brand-new nurses, design programs for them, and support them as they transitioned into practice,” she says. “At the time, we couldn’t afford to lose nurses. We ended up with a fabulous retention rate.”
Angie achieved that objective by listening and giving staff the support they needed to perform their best—much as she does for Members in her position today.
“In my role at Physicians Insurance, having a relationship with our Members is what I love the most,” she says. “It’s a relationship built on trust.”
Looking ahead, Angie’s goal is to continue building relationships with Members so they feel comfortable reaching out. “At the end of the day, we want the safest care possible for patients, and the best outcomes,” she says. “The more readily available we are, the more likely that is to happen.”