{"id":11416,"date":"2025-10-20T14:05:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/ihqi\/?post_type=directory&#038;p=11416"},"modified":"2025-10-20T14:05:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:05:53","slug":"emily-kertcher-phd-otr-l","status":"publish","type":"directory","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/ihqi\/directory\/emily-kertcher-phd-otr-l\/","title":{"rendered":"Emily Kertcher, PhD, OTR\/L"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Emily Kertcher, serves as the Program Manager for UNC Health\u2019s GROSS (Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff) Program, a system-wide initiative designed to empower teammates to identify inefficiencies, elevate their workplace experience, and drive meaningful change. With over 15 years of clinical and administrative experience at UNC and UNC Health, Dr. Kertcher has a nuanced perspective rooted in Occupational Therapy, systems thinking, and healthcare operations. Her work is grounded in human factors engineering, aiming to reduce friction in daily workflows and promote a culture of wellness and continuous improvement for UNC Health teammates. Dr. Kertcher is deeply committed to amplifying frontline voices and creating sustainable solutions that support both patient care and worker well-being. Her IQHI interests include TeamSTEPPS (Master Trainer), Engaging in the UNC Quality Structure, Quality Improvement Methodology, Project Planning, System Analysis, Gap Analysis, Root Cause Analysis, Sustainment, and Mentorship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Emily Kertcher, serves as the Program Manager for UNC Health\u2019s GROSS (Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff) Program, a system-wide initiative designed to empower teammates to identify inefficiencies, elevate their workplace experience, and drive meaningful change. With over 15 years of clinical and administrative experience at UNC and UNC Health, Dr. Kertcher has a nuanced &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/ihqi\/directory\/emily-kertcher-phd-otr-l\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Emily Kertcher, PhD, OTR\/L\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11417,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-11416","directory","type-directory","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Emily Kertcher, PhD, OTR\/L - Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/ihqi\/directory\/emily-kertcher-phd-otr-l\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Emily Kertcher, PhD, OTR\/L - Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Emily Kertcher, serves as the Program Manager for UNC Health\u2019s GROSS (Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff) Program, a system-wide initiative designed to empower teammates to identify inefficiencies, elevate their workplace experience, and drive meaningful change. 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