2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award
Pat Mueth Smith ‘74
A graduate of the Class of 1974, Pat Mueth Smith serves the St. Louis Metropolitan area in a number of ways through her professional, personal, and charitable contributions. Pat serves as the Director of the Program Management Office at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in Saint Louis, Missouri. With over thirty years in healthcare, Pat now serves primarily in healthcare informatics and healthcare administration. She is responsible for the coordination and synchronization of numerous multi-million dollar IT projects that facilitate the quality and safety of the patient care experience at Barnes Jewish Hospital.
While a student at Bishop DuBourg High School, Pat attended the future nurses club which sparked her first interest in a career as a nurse. Pat graduated from the Jewish Hospital College of Nursing in 1977, and later graduated from Tarkio College in1983 with a Bachelors of Science in Information Systems. In 1991 Pat received her Masters in Health Services Management from Webster University.
Pat is a registered nurse who worked in acute care bedside nursing at Jewish Hospital until a Clinical Information System was purchased in the early 1980s. She was asked to design and implement the system at Jewish Hospital, which began her involvement with health information management. After the system implementation, Pat decided to pursue a career in Clinical Information Systems. She left Jewish Hospital and began working for McDonnell Douglas in 1984 as a clinical specialist. While at McDonnell Douglas, Pat was key in designing clinical applications that would meet the growing needs in healthcare for physicians and nurses. In 1987, she joined SMS as an Account Executive and traveled throughout the United States and Canada, helping clinical areas automate their manual processes.
In 1989 Pat returned to Jewish Hospital to get back into direct patient care. In 1990, she moved into a role of Manager of Special Projects. Following the merger of Jewish Hospital and Barnes Hospital in 1993, Pat became responsible for all clinical documentation development; both manual and automation. This has laid the foundation for the Electronic Medical Record at Barnes Jewish Hospital. In 2000, Pat became the Director of Medical Records with the directive to automate the manual process and install an Electronic Medical Record at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. In January 2008, she was promoted to the Project Management Office to continue enhancing the electronic medical record by directing and coordinating the implementation of numerous information system projects to enhance the patient care experience, a role in which she still serves.
A product of Catholic education, Pat was a typical south St. Louis kid. Her family owned Mueth Plastering Company, and she grew up serving the families of St. Stephen Protomartyr parish. In 1987 Pat was an early pioneer to downtown living. Living in a single family home that allowed her to walk to Cardinals’ and Rams’ games. In 1992 Pat married her husband Larry, at St. Alphonsus Rock Church. Together they have a son Brian, who is in the 5th grade at Cathedral Basilica Catholic Grade School, where Pat, Larry, & Brian spend much time serving the needs of the school, parish, and families of both. Currently Pat serves as the President of the Cathedral Basilica School Board, and they preside in Cathedral parish. Pat and Larry actively support the ministries of Cathedral through their efforts with annual Trivia nights and Lenten fish fries. Brian loves playing baseball, basketball, and soccer.
In addition to her roles with Cathedral Basilica School and Parish, Pat is the President-elect for the Midwest Gateway Chapter of Health Information Management System Society. She is an avid Cardinal Baseball Fan, and the proudest mom in the world.