UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #581
KLIMPEL, DONOVAN D.

KLIMPEL, Donovan D. (1940- )
Graduate Student, Hospital Pharmacy; Clinical Instructor, School of Pharmacy; 
  	Director, Pharmacy and Central Services, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics
At UW: 1966-1998

Interviewed: 2002	
Interviewer: Ann Peckham
Length: 99 minutes

Background; Pharmacy school and internship; Masters program in hospital planning at UW-Madison; Unit dose; Planning and construction of new hospital; Food and mail delivery systems; Buying consortium; Old hospital; Move to new hospital in 1979; Gordon Derzon; Privatization; “Just-in-time” inventory system; Bill Davis.

First Interview Session (April 23, 2002): Tape 1

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:26	Donovan Klimpel talks about growing up on a farm in Minot, ND.   He says that he attended Minot State Teachers College on scholarship for a year before volunteering for the draft, and that he then completed school and got married.

00:02:35	DK recalls that a friend recommended that he consider pharmacy school.  He says that he moved to Fargo with his wife and he completed a pharmacy degree in 1965.  He describes his internship in a V.A. hospital in Louisville, KY.

00:04:17	He says that he visited the pharmacy school at Madison and decided to start a Masters program in hospital pharmacy in 1966.  After he completed his degree, he was given a dual appointment in the School of Pharmacy and the hospital.  He lists his changing appointments.

00:06:22	DK describes the three main types of pharmacy work: hospital, retail, and research.

00:07:52	He talks about "unit dose," an innovation begun by several pharmacy programs, including UW-Madison, in the 1960s.  The concept of unit dose was important to the design of the pharmacy and materials management part of the new hospital.

00:09:15 	He says that the planning for the new hospital began in 1974.  He describes the role that two management engineers, Dick Reynolds and Francis Chung, played in the new design.

00:11:07	DK talks about the construction of the hospital in 1976 and then the move to the new hospital in 1979.

00:12:49	He describes the Gordon Friessen concept around which the new hospital was designed.  The goal was to bring the doctors and nurses as close to the patients as possible.  He talks about the automated delivery system that was implemented, and says that many processes were centralized at Central Services.

00:15:38 	DK says that pharmacy was part of Central Services for many years until the two were split; the non-pharmacy section was renamed Materials Management.  He says that he opted to become director of Materials Management.

00:17:39	He explains how purchasing decisions were made and how this changed after the hospital became public authority.

00:19:29	DK talks about his time in the military and then in the reserves. During Desert Storm he was called to Germany, where he spent three months working at the 44th General Hospital. 

00:27:19 	He describes the display on the 44th hospital that he organized after it was deactivated in 1995.  He talks about summer training, which involved setting up the entire hospital in tents. 

00:30:50	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:30:55 	DK continues to talk about setting up the 44th hospital in various locations and lists some of his commanders.  He says that it was very difficult for people to leave their families during Desert Storm.

00:34:13 	He says that the hospital relies on many handicapped workers in its reprocessing areas.

00:35:58	DK talks about how the hospital’s laundry is processed off-site.  He mentions that he was also responsible for food delivery.  He describes how carts were used to deliver food and also drugs.

00:39:33 	He says that the mail delivery was not automated, but instead hand delivered.  Small items were delivered by pneumatic tube.  He talks about the services that were built into the interstitial spaces between floors.

00:42:40 	DK talks about the hospital’s goals and how outreach has become more important.  Central Supplies also provides supplies to the satellite clinics.  He talks about just-in-time inventories, meaning that supplies are reordered in very small batches instead of a large inventory being stored.  The process has become less centralized over time.

00:46:07 	DK mentions that the university has become involved in a buying consortium, particularly with drugs.  This allows hospitals to compare their purchases with other hospitals.

00:48:39 	He says that he retired in 1998 and talks about his activities since then, which include traveling, mentoring and involvement with retired faculty.  He talks about his children and the committees with which he is involved.

00:53:23 	DK talks about several individuals who influenced him, including David and Marianne Zilz.  He expresses his satisfaction with the deans in the school of pharmacy.  He talks about a few of the deans of the medical school, including Dean Philip Farrell.

00:57:33	End of side.  End of tape.

Second Interview Session (April 30, 2002): Tape 2

Tape 2/Side 1

00:00:22 	DK recalls when he was hired at the hospital’s old location in 1968.  He joined the hospital when it was beginning to convert to the new “unit dose” system.  He describes what unit dose means.  This system saved money and reduced the potential for errors.

00:03:16 	DK describes the physical layout of the old hospital at 1300 University Dr., including the pharmacy section.  One of the rooms in the basement was called the “ether vault,” where drugs were kept.

00:06:32 	He says that in 1974, the state decided to spend $120 million on a new hospital.  He mentions a few of the hospital administrators he knew, including Jim Varnum, Jim Tinker, and Ed Connors.

00:09:42	Many organizations helped with the move to the new site in 1979, DK says.  He describes how the patients were moved using ambulances, volunteers and the army.  Since 1979, there has been constant construction on the new hospital.

00:11:51 	DK talks about traveling to visit two other hospitals in order to see their delivery systems.  He describes the automated delivery system that was selected, which was designed by the American Chain and Cable Company and which used overhead delivery of carts.

00:15:56 	He describes the consolidation in functions between the old and new hospital that resulted from the new delivery system.

00:19:56 	DK talks about how the plant engineering group was responsible for maintenance.  He describes similar systems that were used in other hospitals.

00:22:35 	He describes the nurse servers–little closets in the entryway to the patients’ rooms where supplies are kept–and their role in the automated system.  He talks about team support areas and the use of pneumatic tubes.

00:28:17 	DK talks about Gordon Derzon, the CEO of the hospital.  He says that unlike many hospital CEOs, Derzon was extremely concerned about patient care.

00:30:54 	End of side.

Tape 2/Side 2

00:31:00 	DK says that during a strike in the 1970s, Gordon Derzon helped out in the mail room and the receiving docks because of his concern.  He mentions Les Brower’s work with Derzon.

00:32:50 	DK talks about Gordon Derzon’s areas of responsibility.  He describes how well he knew Derzon.

00:35:00 	He says that one of Derzon’s goals was privatization and that he tried to increase the hospital’s independence from the university to improve efficiency.  He describes public authority and how it affected the hospital-university relationship.

00:37:33	DK talks about the “just-in-time” system of inventory and how it improved efficiency.

00:40:12	He gives credit to Bill Davis for his involvement in the planning of the new hospital, the move, and the purchasing of new equipment.

00:41:43 	End of side.  End of tape.

END