Deirdre McCaughey

Deirdre McCaughey, Ph.D., MBA, PT - Dr. Deirdre McCaughey is an Associate Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary, Canada. Prior to taking on her role in Calgary, she was healthcare management faculty at the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB). She was also the inaugural Program Director for UAB’s graduate programs in H­­­­ealthcare Quality & Safety; building both a certificate and a Master’s degree in quality and safety. Prior to her academic career, Deirdre’s broad work experiences include being a physical therapist at the St Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, working in a variety of leadership positions in the retail private sector, and independent consulting for a variety of organizations including the Canadian Federal Government and ARAMARK Healthcare. Deirdre completed her degrees at the University of Manitoba (PhD, MBA, & BMR-PT).­­­

Deirdre’s research involves examining organizational factors (e.g. systems and processes, leadership, and organizational culture) in healthcare institutions that influence healthcare provider and workforce wellness and subsequently optimize organizational and patient safety and quality outcomes. She is completing a Black Belt in Lean/Six Sigma and has extensive experience working with healthcare systems on quality improvement initiatives. Her goal in Calgary is to bring her process improvement expertise to quality/safety improvement initiatives and research projects throughout the heath system and university; ultimately contributing to optimizing healthcare in Alberta.

Her research is published in journals such as Journal of Healthcare Management, the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, and Health Care Management Review.  She is a nationally recognized speaker at conferences for the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the National Association for Healthcare Quality, and the Academy of Management.

Dr. McCaughey is currently accepting graduate students who are seeking to complete research in quality improvement and patient safety.