The three R's of staff engagement: Relationships, rounding, and recognition
Staff in the OR must be fully engaged each day to ensure they are providing excellent patient care. But finding time to develop that engagement is particularly challenging for OR leaders. “The OR environment is intense and dynamic, changing minute by minute,” says Amy Bethel, MPA, RN, NE-BC, from UnityPoint…
No time to waste: A children's hospital Lean team streamlines its turnover process
Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) is renowned for patient care, but by early 2013 the increased complexity of new technology and other factors had eroded efficiency. Orthopedics had fallen to the bottom quartile compared to national benchmarks for turnover times, and executive leadership called for change. Within orthopedic surgery,…
Getting all OR staff to buy into debriefing process boosts efficacy
The main distinction between good and bad debriefings comes down to the level of staff engagement. That’s what the surgical team at the University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora, learned during a project designed to improve the quality of the 30- to 60-second conversations held after surgery. “In a good debriefing,…
Be constructive, not combative, with union staff
Union membership has declined steeply in recent decades. Increasingly, organized labor is targeting the healthcare industry as a growth opportunity. This is creating a leadership challenge for OR directors and managers. In 2012, approximately 21% of hospitals in the US had a union nursing staff. That percentage could soon increase…
You can't say that: Using social media in the healthcare setting requires sound judgment
It is hard to have tea with a friend or brag about a school soccer victory without involving social media. What was once a private or family matter no longer seems real until it is texted, posted, or even turned into a movie. Healthcare organizations, including ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs),…
Vanderbilt adds new twist to M&M tradition with focus on improvement
The morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference is a traditional forum that provides clinicians with an opportunity to discuss errors and adverse events. Most are discipline specific. When a mortality or significant morbidity occurs in the OR, however, it is rarely owned by a single discipline. Multiple disciplines take care of…
Executive walk rounds open gates to communication with staff
“Each year, diagnostic errors result in the deaths of an estimated 44,000 to 80,000 patients, and many thousands die because of teamwork and communication errors affecting their care or because they do not receive necessary evidence-based interventions,” according to an article published online last year in JAMA. No one would…
Multiple OR multidisciplinary team huddles promote ownership of process improvements
Huddles are hot. Experts cite them as effective patient safety tools, and many hospitals have implemented them on nursing units at the start of the shift. The perioperative services team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, broadened the huddle concept to include several disciplines and a structured format,…
Rounding tool off to a good start in improving patient satisfaction
A mobile, web-based rounding tool is allowing the perioperative leadership team at Vail Valley Medical Center (VVMC) in Vail, Colorado, to collect, analyze, and report on information gathered from surgeons, staff, and patients to improve quality of care and move toward high reliability. Software designed by MyRounding Solutions in Littleton,…
Tracking tool streamlines scheduling, enhances communication with surgeons' offices
Sacred Heart Medical Center RiverBend in Springfield, Oregon, began OR optimization efforts soon after moving to a new facility in August 2008. Because of the US economic downturn around that same time, the hospital launched several initiatives to make the most of available resources, including a Lean process to improve…
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