The Clinical Center Customer Service faculty was presented with a Distinguished Service Award at the Training Officers Conference in Washington, D.C., on June 10. The conference provides a forum for federal training professionals to network and benchmark with their peers. Established in 1938, a series of nine monthly programs and an institute conference are offered annually. At the recent conference, an award was presented to project leader Deborah Gardner; Denise Ford, deputy chief of organizational development and planning; clinical research nurse Larry Bauer; and Karen Kaczorowski, chief of ambulatory care services.

Honored at the recent training conference were Clinical Center employees (from l) Larry Bauer, Karen Kaczorowski, Deborah Gardner and Denise Ford.

Two years ago, the CC identified customer service as a key initiative in its strategic and annual operating plan. The goal was to improve the level of personal care and positive communication between staff and patients as well as among CC employees. Training sessions were designed for front-line employees, clinical/nursing staff, managers, supervisors and senior leadership. The aim was to create a shared vision of excellent customer service, to ensure that all staff maintain skills for effective communication, and to equip CC'ers to deal with difficult customer situations and build strong partnerships.

As a result, 110 training sessions were provided to 2,200 CC employees at every level of the organization in 2002. The courses, designed by Gardner and taught by employees of the Clinical Center with occasional outside consultative assistance, received overwhelmingly positive feedback.