The images of cars stranded on Lake Shore Drive last week symbolized for the nation how crippling a major weather event can be to a community. In my mind, I was mulling over how monumental a task it would be for the city of Chicago to remove all of those vehicles from the roadway. What’s certain is that a great deal of behind the scenes effort took place to return the community to normal. With this thought in mind, I wondered how people at institutions like Continuing Care Retirement Communities fared. I talked to one of my colleagues, Holly Manda-Pawlak, at ARAMARK Senior Living Services, who shared this story from Friendship Village, in Schaumburg, IL. Read More…
Posted by: astanowski | February 7, 2011
Heroes in the Snow
Posted by: astanowski | January 20, 2011
Imaging Advances Will End “One Size Fits All” Cancer Care
I want to introduce a colleague, and good friend of mine, Dr. Brian Poplin, DHA, FACHE, CBET, who is the Executive Vice President of ARAMARK Healthcare’s Clinical Technology Services group. Brian talked to me about how imaging advances will end the ‘One Size Fits All’ model of cancer care. The implications for hospital operations are strong…if we can get more exact in treatment we can become not just more efficient in operations, but more effective in conquering cancer.
I wanted to share with you Dr. Poplin’s perspective on the subject through excerpts from the work by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Read More…
Posted by: astanowski | January 6, 2011
“Take a walk in my shoes.”
Trudi Stafford (center) with members of the Baylor All Saints host/hostess team
Stafford speaks with the team during a group session
With the start of a new year, the hope for a better tomorrow is couched with the need to get down to work to make that tomorrow happen. Chief Nursing Officer Trudi Stafford at Baylor All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, created a program that allows her to experience different perspectives to solve the problems at hand. Read More…
Posted by: astanowski | December 20, 2010
How Building a Gingerbread House Leads to Collaboration
Pictured are Bakery Chef, Amanda Garcia (right) and her two daughters Jennifer and Lisa with their finished product at ARAMARK Healthcare’s Gingerbread House event at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.
One of my childhood memories is the sweet smell of Christmas cookies. Maybe more than the actual taste, it was helping my mom with the pizzelle iron. For those who are unfamiliar, pizzelle are thin waffle-like Italian cookies. Making pizelles was more than just a tasty treat; it was part of being a family.
One hospital found a way to use the spirit of the season to enhance collaboration with nurses and support service teams. ARAMARK Healthcare hosts an annual Gingerbread House Decorating at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas (BUMC) that has turned into a way for the support service team to connect with nurse managers outside of working hours. The result is a stronger workplace relationship. Read More…
Posted by: astanowski | December 8, 2010
What does a Texas hospital and a Quebec Hotel have in common? The writing is on the wall!
At a recent ACHE Seminar at the Hotel Chateau Laurier Quebec, in Quebec City, I came across halls with written quotes. Take a look at the enclosed photos.
The quote from contemporary French author Frédéric Beigbeder: “Le plaisir présente un avantage: contrairement au bonheur il a le mérite d’exister!” In English: “The advantage of pleasure: unlike happiness it deserves to exist!”
“Non s’efforcer vers le plaisir mais trouver son plaisir dans l’effort mem s’est le secret de mon bonheur”, from the famous French author, André Paul Guillaume Gide. Translated: “Not in making an effort to find pleasure, but in finding pleasure in the effort, that’s the secret to my happiness.” Read More…
Posted by: astanowski | November 15, 2010
Engaged Employees
I was recently reading Modern Healthcare’s 100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare supplement and noticed that CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System in Texarkana, TX had garnered the number two ranking.
Since my employer, ARAMARK Healthcare provides environmental and food services there, I was able to drill down to see what our team did there and look at some metrics. For example, there is a low turnover rate among our support services employees over the past several years. While some turnover statistics can be chalked up to a tough economy, the overarching strategy for employee engagement also has had a direct impact.
So I drilled into the low turnover rates and found that support service employees at CHRISTUS St. Michael follow a strategy called I-Impact. They use a concept called “rounding,” where managers regularly spend time talking with employees to make sure they have the tools and support to do their jobs. Employees in turn “round” on other important stakeholders, such as nurses, to determine if they can help to improve any aspect of their jobs.
The culture is one of recognition. I found out that when an employee does a good job, managers regularly send thank you notes to their homes. Employees are also encouraged to send notes to their partners within the hospital to recognize special effort.
Some other common processes include a training program where support service employees are coached on how to talk with patients. Employees are presented with key words that they can use to talk with the patients at key times. This helps to reduce anxiety for both the employees and patients.
Empowering employees to become part of the hiring process is another part of the strategy. When an opening for a new team member becomes available, leading candidates are interviewed by department peers. This helps determine cultural fit and also provides winning candidates with mentors to help them along once they start.
Anyone familiar with the Studer Group will recognize some of these tactics. In fact, Studer plays a large part in Modern Healthcare’s conference.
The ARAMARK Healthcare support service team’s performance is consistent with St. Michael’s overall performance. This comes as no surprise to an organization ranked as one of the best places to work in healthcare.
Posted by: astanowski | October 11, 2010
Food can make a difference.
A September 21, 2010 article based on an interview with Trent Haywood, MD, JD, chief medical officer, VHA, Inc., Irving, Texas, and former deputy chief medical offer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Healthcare Financial Management (HFMA) talked about how less-than-stellar patient satisfaction results are dragging down hospitals’ value-based purchasing (VBP) scores—a tally that CMS intends to use in calculating Medicare reimbursements beginning October 1, 2012.
There are many things that hospitals need to do to improve patient satisfaction scores. Haywood states, “With HCAHPS, there is a much wider distribution (in scores). While many hospitals are starting to focus on patient satisfaction, many still have room for improvement.”
It is hard to improve scores…patients don’t really want to be in a hospital….it’s a somewhat strange environment for most … and patients lose a lot of control over their environment. Some hospitals are trying to give patients back some control, over something that they are very familiar with…food.
I saw this video featuring Leonard Votion, Director of Food & Nutrition Services at Trinity Mother Frances Hospital, a 395 bed acute care hospital in Tyler, Texas. Votion is interviewed on KETK NBC 56 about the room service program that they started to offer in August 2010. Said Votion: “Food is healing. It is a real satisfier.” Votion added that TMF provides ” What they eat, to when they eat, at no additional cost for the patient.” Room service staff works with patients and their medical team to help ensure that patient dietary wants work in harmony with the dietary needs necessary to properly aid in a quick recovery. I love the quote at the end from the host —food can make a difference.
Food is not part of the HCAHPS survey, but I feel that it has a halo effect. Sure it does NOT make up for poor care…but it does provide an additional level of comfort and control for patients who are being well cared for clinically as well. As patient satisfaction scores become a part of CMS’ Value Based Purchasing program, hospitals that gain an edge by finding cost-effective ways to create satisfied patients —and strong clinical outcomes —will succeed.
Posted by: astanowski | September 23, 2010
Putting the health in health care
USA Today ran an interesting article about a hospital CEO who finds time to run fitness classes for her staff. Her participation and outlook on health has really helped the hospital system embrace health and wellness. In fact, in the past year “the hospitals’ bottom line has improved, employee morale is up, patient satisfaction numbers rose, and market share grew.” While I don’t imagine this approach is a feasible option for many other hospital CEOs, this CEO makes an important point about the importance of building a health care system based on disease prevention and health promotion – -based on a personal interest and commitment. She’s demonstrating a great way to think about connecting hospital operations to her community and to her staff, with a personal credo that helps to guide everyday decisions. Will this make my employees or our community healthier? Will it lead to healthier outcomes?
Healthy Lifestyles can include many other issues relevant to employees around healthcare. I know leaders, like ARAMRAK Healthcare President Tim Campbell that incorporate running and working out into their lifestyle (I see him in the gym in the mornings!). The President at MD Anderson, John Mendelsohn, I understand, is passionate about healthy food choices – and this is incorporated in the food service to the employees and to the patients. The example that is set from the top surely reverberates throughout the organization.
Posted by: astanowski | September 13, 2010
Getting Children to Wash Their Hands
On a recent visit to Advocate Lutheran General Children’s Hospital, Park Ridge, IL, administrative fellow Laura Leahy demonstrated one of the teaching tools that encourages children (and staff) to wash their hands.
A unique hand-washing basin is located in the reception area of the children’s hospital.
Using a waterfall design, children are encouraged to wash their hands along with “grown-ups”. A raised adult sink with faucet allows for a gradual flow of water as it slowly but pointedly cascades to a drain in the lower sink. Using art, and a “cool” factor, children learn the importance from staff of washing their hands. By watching what adults are doing, the child mimics adult behavior.
Is there a connection between education of children and a low infection rate? Well, I say that if an organization puts its mind to it, and is clever enough to develop a way to engage its youngest patients to be part of the “care team”…then it is no accident that it a leader is decreasing infection rates. Patient education is certainly a part of the approach!
Posted by: astanowski | September 2, 2010
One In Four US Hospitals To Be Penalized for Performance
An article from Hospitals and Health Networks points out that the data from Federal FY 2011 will begin to impact payment provided in Oct 2012. “Starting October 2012, all acute care prospective payment system hospitals with sufficient volume will be included in the value-based purchasing initiative. Funded by inpatient DRG payment withholds of 1 percent in FY 2013 and rising to 2 percent in 2017 and beyond, bonuses will be based on a yet-to-be-determined formula that must include established process measures for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care; clinical outcome measures including hospital-acquired infections; patient perceptions from the HCAHPS survey; and efficiency measures, including Medicare spending per beneficiary.”
Hospitals will need to improve quality measures up to avoid penalties. Being one of the bottom 25th percentile of all US Hospitals will lead to negative financial impact. My feeling is that hospitals that are attuned to this are going to be pulling away from the pack.
