Chapter 14: The Physicians Network and Final Thoughts on a Long Career
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Description
Mr. Brewer begins this chapter with a discussion of his role as Quality Coordinator of MD Anderson Physicians Network (2011 – 201). He notes that this role drew once again on his skills in building partnerships, in this case with community oncologists. His role was to study and measure physician practices in the community to improve processes and patient outcomes. He talks about the challenges of setting up these partnerships and the rewards of the work.
Next, Mr. Brewer talks about his retirement in 2014. He notes his work with a company he co-founded, Alcove Medical, and his continued work developing and marketing medical products.
In the final moments of the interview, Mr. Brewer gives an overview of accomplishments he is proud of and his perspective on his long career.
Identifier
BrewerCC_03_20190620_C14
Publication Date
6-20-2019
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS, Oral History Interview, June 20, 2019
Topics Covered
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Building the Institution; Overview; Professional Practice; The Professional at Work; Leadership; On Leadership; MD Anderson Culture; Beyond the Institution; Activities Outside Institution; Career and Accomplishments; Post Retirement Activities
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Disciplines
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oncology | Oral History
Transcript
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
And then I went on and I’ve—I went to work in the Physician Network, would work in the Physician Network and that was more of a community partnership as well because what the—in the Physician Network, we were developing community oncology programs and best practice, community oncology best practice initiatives These are the institutions that want to partner with MD Anderson for MD Anderson’s expertise, advice, exposure, but they are community oncologists. And the premise of doing that, as I understood it, was that if you want to partner, well, you have to meet certain standards, standards that are established by MD Anderson. And what our jobs were as coordinators in—of the—working in the network was to measure, go out and measure and study and evaluate these practices—physician practices in the community or community hospitals and we would—it was almost like doing a joint commission survey that we would—that you do. You go out, and you measure, and you document what your findings are, and you present your findings. And then you have the continuous process improvement project that goes on with the community partners where we measure their performance. We look at their documentation. Many hospitals at the time already had online documentation, so we can sit in our offices and monitor their practice and create reports and give them feedback on their practice whether the practice was meeting the expectations of MD Anderson. Because within the community—I mean within the Physician Network, there were—there are a number of physicians, many of them who are retired MD Anderson physicians, who were working in the partnership and serving as medical directors for various disease specialist. If you retired from Head and Neck, then you become maybe the head and neck specialist or the urology specialist or hematology specialist and so you have credibility within the community setting. We produced all of these evaluations and reports, and we would maintain communications on a weekly basis through teleconferences or telephone conferences. It was very sophisticated, or we would travel to this facilities and providing any kind of resources that they needed. So the partnership, they used to call, “We don’t have this, we need this. Can you facilitate this? We have this patient we’re trying to get in,” etc. Oh, it’s very dynamic and— Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. I know from talking with other interview subjects who’ve worked with these partnerships unit, there can be a real—it could be a subtle dance of how do you sync practice philosophies and values and everything. What were some of the things that you began to see of maybe challenges in setting up those partnerships and ways of dealing with them?
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
What I saw in Physician Network from challenges at my level of work were mostly respecting the community physician, respecting the community practice without being too overbearing from the large comprehensive cancer center, you know big brother. And I think the challenge was kind of balance that off with the expectation that we have, and the other challenge was getting it right. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Meaning what?
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
If you’re going to evaluate a physician’s practice or a hospital practice based on certain standards, it’s got to be accurate. So we spend a lot of time in Physician Network making sure whatever we were reporting or get—or presenting was accurate because there are lots of smart people in this world evident— Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Now, with the challenges, I mean where...? Why was it not self-evident to get an accurate report? Were there different styles of reporting or communication style? You know what was—
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Well, it’s all interpretation. When you’re writing a report, where do you get the data from? Is the data correct? The evaluator not seeing something accurately? And we double-check and double-check, maybe we missed something. Those are always challenges you know because it’s a critical. Remember, this could either be a positive for the practition—the practicing group or it could be a criticism. It could be just both, both sides. And then the other challenge was—there’s a lot of data. There’s a tremendous amount of data you have to keep up with, and timeliness because sometimes you’re dealing with time zones because you’re dealing with practices in other states. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Yeah, interesting.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
But the rewards are tremendous. You’re establishing relationships with these groups and these individuals, and you’re able to provide them with the information that they did not have prior to. You’re able to make connections with—to them for things that they need, maybe individuals with certain expertise that they need to talk with. Oh, it can be very rewarding, and to see a practice just kind of bloom. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Yeah, that’s very cool. You left that role in 2014, so why did you make the decision to do that at that time?
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Why did I make the decision to retire? Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Yes.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
To retire after 40, after 40— Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Well, you said—you have another thing on here, so you didn’t retire entirely.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
After 41 years in oncology, right? Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Yeah, yeah. (laughs)
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Yeah. I think it was time, it was time to retire. I’ve put in 41 years, enough, my wife was retired, and I wanted to just cut back on my activities and start a new chapter in my life. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. So what does that new chapter look like?
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Something different, another challenge. You know I’m not the one to retire. I’m a busy bee. I’m still involved in my innovations. Well, I’m still involved in my patents. I’m still involved with things just in the community with my—with Prairie View as far as helping out with the education process and the—of nurses and alumni affairs, and just a number of things that I do to keep—no, no, I don’t do things to keep busy. I think I do things that are meaningful, and I’m also working on some other project—other product developments and affairs with my partners in product development. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Can you talk about any of those?
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Well, I can say that I work with a group called Alcove Medical. We are located in Salt Lake City, Utah. And I’ve been associated with them ever since we started developing the patents, the 3C kits and nasal spray. And we’re working now on several products to bring to market. One has to do with the textiles for hospitals. That’s one and—which is a big thing. That’s the innovation that could revolutionize how patient—how linens are used for patients in a world where you have limited—may have eventually limited resources for how they are processed. So that’s a big—that’s a very big project. [1:49:57] Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. What do you do for fun?
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Oh, I keep myself busy; I’m fun. You know I’m a busy bee, I like—I don’t think—I like—see, I like—I have fun being innovative. I have fun being innovative. I like solitude, I like just to think, I like outdoor life, you know. Do you play golf, do you play…? No, I have golf clubs, yes, I’m too old to play basketball anymore and football and all that stuff. I spend a lot of time with my grandchild, granddaughter. She is very involved in her school activities with— Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. What’s her name?
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Oh, [Brooke?]. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Brooke?
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Uh-huh. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. And what’s her mom’s name. Your son’s name is Keith, right?
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Uh-huh, uh-huh. Finesia, F-I-N-E-S-I-A, and her dad’s name is Steven. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Steven.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
And we spend a lot of family time together you know that— Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Nice.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Actually, this weekend—she’s a junior Olympian and— Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Oh, wow.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Yeah, and she’s a champion. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Another person in the family to be proud of.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Oh, yeah, I’m very proud of her. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Yeah, of course.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
She’s 13, she’s going to ninth grade this year. She’s one of the keynote speakers at her graduation from junior high to high school a couple of weeks ago and so we’re very proud of her academic pursuits as well, and so... [01:51:32 Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Well, looking back, what are you really contented about in those 41 years, and what do you hope people will carry on from what Cecil Brewer has left at MD Anderson?
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Looking back 40 years, and so what am I proud of? I think I’m proud of being able to have li—to have worked and had a career during the formative years, the innovative years, the challenging years of cancer and oncology progress. I think that’s kind of what I—what would I like them to carry away from my actually being here is that there was somebody who cared about the patients, who cared about finding solutions to improve patient care, who wanted to help others to become oncology nurses or to become health care professionals regardless of the level of practice. That I was one who saw people as good people not as bad, that everyone has potential when given the appropriate exposure and environment to practice in. And that my name for this little country boy from Rosser, Texas, whose father was a sharecropper, has grown up without a father from the age of 12 to have enjoyed success beyond anyone’s possible dream to become a part of—not only graduated from college—high school and college but also joining a profession of nursing during a time when men were not joining the profession and the profession was taboo for men, and to have succeeded beyond any doubt and have worked in the most prestigious oncology hospital in the world and has sat on the stage with the greatest scientists, the greatest physicians, some of the greatest nurses and administrators in this world. As well as I’ve touched—I’ve been touched and then interacted with some of the most powerful folks in this world through my MD Anderson exposures by serving on steering committees to build the Alkek Tower and having seen how the process really works behind closed doors, the wheeling and the dealing that go on with philanthropy. I think just having those things that happened to me to be able to say if I can do it, if I did it, anybody can do it. Because I have—I am a true walking story that it’s not—your past does not dictate you. If that was so, I will be working on a farm today or not be in the place that I’ve been. MD Anderson exposed me to the opportunities far, far beyond I ever, ever dreamed about from being a little staff nurse—a little student nurse to being a staff nurse to being the first male, first black male to lead nursing units to working on from a segregated environment to a very integ—desegregated environment, it was just unbelievable. It was just unbelievable, the exposure that MD Anderson afforded me to work in and to be able to not only care for patients independently, innovatively but also to sit on the stage of the scientific community of this world by having—being asked to speak at a scientific conference for physicians as the only nurse. It’s unfathomable. I just can’t believe it. I mean I touch myself sometimes and say, “Did this happen? Did this really happen?” And yes, it did happen and then a lot more things happened after that as far as my career and the amount of things that I was able to accomplish, the rewards that came along with it, both tangible and intangible rewards. I’m able to retire comfortably and to continue to lead a productive life after leaving MD Anderson. But also, I am still called upon by former colleagues who work at MD Anderson, who don’t work at MD Anderson for advice from—not only from a management perspective, oncology perspective but for general advice about careers, life, health, wealth and just created a nice community of friends and colleagues. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. That’s a wonderful legacy. I want to thank you for talking to me.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Well, it’s been great talking with you, and I hope that this interview will be of help for someone. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, Ph.D. Yeah, I’m sure, it will. I’ve already made little notes of passages I think are really great, and they’re going to find some use, so... So I want to thank you very much. And I just want to say for the record, I’m turning off the recorder at quarter of 5:00.
Recommended Citation
Brewer, Cecil C. RN, BSN, MS and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 14: The Physicians Network and Final Thoughts on a Long Career" (2019). Interview Chapters. 916.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/916
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