The Media Analysis and Distribution team's work can be seen throughout Mayo Clinic. They are behind every form, booklet and brochure around campus. In this "Meet My Team" column, learn how they contribute to patient care, what they'd look for in a new team member and what they'd be called if they were a band.

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Mayo Clinic is a team of teams — many, many teams. So many that it's impossible to know what each of them does. This column will put that question to teams throughout Mayo, giving them a chance to share how they contribute to patient care and support colleagues throughout the organization.

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Shelly Suhr loves puzzles.

That comes in handy in her work as an assistant supervisor in Media Analysis and Distribution.

"This role offers many opportunities to try to fit pieces together and set others up for success," says Suhr, who has been in the position for two years. Before that, she worked on the team as a media analyst — another great fit for a puzzle person.  

Suhr also loves people, especially the ones on her team.

"They have a willingness and desire to be problem solvers in almost any given situation," she says. "Also, they're funny as heck and, in general, really great people to have surrounding you."

The News Center team asked Suhr to answer questions about her job and her team.

Tell us about your team. What is it your team does?

Our multi-talented team of media analysts, assistant media analysts and document designers handles all MC-numbered projects from soup to nuts, including version control and archiving.

Media analysts serve as the hub of all projects, touching every step of the process from intake to design to printing and delivery. They review all requests for new MC-numbered items, including forms, flyers, brochures and booklets. Any material that an area wants to create that would be distributed widely and represent Mayo Clinic makes a first stop with this team for review. They ensure that the request is appropriate for Mayo and a good use of our resources. If those criteria are met, media analysts provide guidance on things like required committee review, size, type of paper or other material, and color options to try to minimize obstacles further down the road.

Assistant media analysts do much of the same work that media analysts do, only for revision requests. This group makes sure that the person requesting the change has the authority to do so, ensures that none of the requested changes will require additional committee review, and generally clears the way for the project to sail through all downstream steps.

Our document designers are Mayo's premiere form design experts. They are wizards at setting up and laying out forms to maximize space and ensure that they are user-friendly. They also work on designing flyers, brochures, booklets, service cards and personalized letterhead. The team often catches issues that may have been missed earlier in the process.

On top of their design duties, the team also coordinates the proofing review documents that our collective team uses to give a final proof to all materials.

How do you spend most of your day?

Days often resemble cat herding.

No two days look the same for anyone on our team. Like much of Mayo, we do our best to keep up on email, Teams messages and phone calls. We spend time working through queues to analyze and create new requests, revise existing items or suggest alternatives. We design, proofread, edit, check copyright information and order printed materials.

Every single thing that you encounter that has an MC number on it has been through at least one contingent of our team. Our work is in every Mayo building, in every clinical area and work unit.

Shelly Suhr

We also collaborate as a team to establish best practices, share ideas to move projects forward and troubleshoot roadblocks. We network with buyers, outside agencies, the internal print shop, and other teams throughout Mayo to aid in the delivery of printed and digital products in a timely and cost-effective manner. If there is any time left in the day, we share a fun meme or joke with the rest of our team to keep us all grounded and coming back day after day.

What might surprise people about the work your team does?

Some people may be surprised that we exist! 

We often hear of cases where clinical staff have gone to great lengths to create materials on their own because they didn't know that there's a team completely dedicated to doing just that. Every single thing that you encounter that has an MC number on it has been through at least one contingent of our team. Our work is in every Mayo building, in every clinical area and work unit. From posters on the wall to complex patient care forms, from marketing collateral to employee information flyers — that's all us! 

Everyone at Mayo contributes to caring for patients. How does your team do that?

We are on the front lines of making sure patient-facing forms are clear, concise and easy to understand. We also ensure that the right committees review the right information on all materials. For example, the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee reviews drugs and dosages, which may be on forms or other materials. Our primary goal is to ensure that we are distributing safe, consistent information and standardized care across all sites.

You're going to hire a new team member. Describe your ideal candidate.

Fun! A little bit nerdy. A great sense of humor. 

Oh, you meant work stuff? Strong attention to detail. Process-oriented. Friendly with excellent customer service skills. A great communicator. 

What is a recent team success that you're proud of?

This response may feel like the easy way out. Our team tends to have many small successes daily rather than one big success we could easily pinpoint.

This team is fantastic and managing chaos and pivoting to pull rabbits out of the hat so that the needs of the practice are met.

Shelly Suhr

Each and every day we receive requests to get something new created or an item revised to meet a seemingly impossible deadline. Regulations change, speakers for events change their topics, wording on a form needs to change ASAP, or the Mayo Clinic logo undergoes an update and every single thing with an MC number on it needs to be updated. This team is fantastic at managing chaos and pivoting to pull rabbits out of the hat so that the needs of the practice are met. I'm always proud of how this team manages time, sets priorities and rallies to get the job done.

If your team was a band, what would it be called?

Controlled Chaos.

If you had to describe your team's work in six words, what would your six-word story be?

Quirky band of geniuses working miracles (daily). (We'll give them that extra word.)