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Currents To Medical Center Employees: Last week a retreat was held for our management team to review our progress over the last five years and to examine best practices from other hospitals to achieve operational and service excellence. Clearly we have met with much success in recent years and the future is ripe with opportunity.   The keynote speaker for the retreat shared with the management team proven methods to fully embrace service excellence throughout every aspect of our work.  Our current operational policies, tactical plan goals and initiatives now being led by tactical plan work groups provide a strong foundation to build upon and take our organization to the next level of service excellence.    The tactical plan update by Carol Younker, Risk Manager and Champion of the Provider of Choice committee, highlighted below in this newsletter, provides concrete examples of the service-oriented behaviors and characteristics that we all must demonstrate.   In the months ahead we will be undertaking an array of initiatives to fine tune our operational policies and practices to address a range of key issues fundamental to service excellence. Key areas of focus will include employee involvement and satisfaction, frequent reporting by leaders on progress toward attainment of goals, recognition and reward, clear performance standards, new hire selection and expectations and other related matters. Everyone will have a stake in our pursuit of service excellence.   On another matter, as we enter into the hurricane season  everyone needs to be familiar with Medical Center policies related to weather emergencies including: Medical Center Staffing During Emergencies and Disasters policy A-42; Medical Center Emergency Weather Plan policy A-64; and Medical Center Human Resources policy #13. We will soon be issuing additional details to remind everyone of our communication tools and other procedures for weather emergencies.   Thank you very much. W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center Provider of Choice strategy outline Carol Younker’s presentation on provider of choice survey results revealed that goals are still not being met on the question, “Would you recommend?” though neither are they getting worse. A chart tracking percent response of  “Yes, definitely,” “Yes, probably,” and “No” demonstrated the need to move respondents in the “Yes, probably” category to “Yes, definitely.”     Younker outlined the strategy to move survey results toward the goal beginning with a charge to leadership to set the expectation and uphold the standards. Service Excellence Standards Attitude: It is the mission of the MUSC Medical Center to provide excellence in patient care, teaching and research in an environment that is respectful of others, adaptive to change and accountable for outcomes. Personal Appearance: Wear a smile when we interact with our customers. Follow the dress code policy for our organization and our individual departments. Wear name badges with picture facing out, clearly visible and between the shoulder and waist levels at ll times at work. Wear clothing that is clean, in good repair, the correct size, and which meets our departmental standards. Worksite Appearance: Keep our work areas clean and clutter free. Not eat in patient care areas, Never walk past trash on the floors. Wipe up our own spills. Meet and Greet in Public Areas: Look up as we walk and acknowledge each person we come in contact with by making eye contact. Offer to help to get a lost or confused person to his/her destination, even if they do not ask for help. Offer to get a wheelchair for any customer having difficulty walking. Keep noise and conversation to a minimum inorder not to disturb others. Meet and Greet When Entering a Patient Room or Exam Room: Knock before entering and wait for a response before entering. Establish eye contact and smile. Greet the patient by title and last name. Give name, title and purpose for being there. Before leaving, ask “Is there anything else I can do for you? Phone Courtesy When Answering the Phone: Maintain a pleasant and enthusiastic tone of voice. Never eat or drink while on the phone. Provide full attention to the person we are talking with. Answer every call within four rings. State your service area, name and “How may I help you,” clearly and slowly. Take notes of the pertinent information the caller provides. Close the call with a farewell greeting. Phone Courtesy When Placing a Caller on Hold: Record Audix messages while standing and smiling. Ask the caller’s permission (and wait for an answer) before putting a call on hold. Acknowledge the caller on hold at least every 60 seconds. Offer to call the customer back as an alternative to putting him/her on hold; make sure to follow through. Customer Waiting: Acknowledge every customer who enters by making eye contact and saying hello. Keep customers informed of delays and approximate times for being seen; update every 15 minutes. Explain reason for delays without making excuses. If patient is separated from family, make sure to advise family of delays. Look for ways to eliminate or reduce delays. Develop ways to make wait times more tolerable. Privacy: Never have discussions about or with patients in public areas. Close patient room doors when procedures are being performed; at other times, ask if the patient wants the door open/closed. Closely monitor employees who are accessing patient information. Call Lights/Bells: Answer call bells in a caring and courteous manner, asking “How can I hlp you?” Answer call bells within 60 seconds. Enter the patient’s room, stating your name and title, and ask “How can I help you?” Customer Education and Information: Explain to customers the best way to access services provided at MUSC. Respond in a timely and courteous manner to requests made for information and education. Provide requested information in concise and understandable terms. Include family members in education unless requested otherwise. Giving consistent messages: Each service area will examine opportunities for providing consistency in communications with customers. Scripted messages (“key words”) will be developed, used and monitored by individual departments. Service Recovery: At times when we do not live up to customers’ expectations, the first person on the scene owns the problem. Acknowledge and apologize. Commit to help fix/repair the situation. Report the issue to a manager who can intervene to prevent a repeat of the problem. Thank the customer for allowing you to address their concern. Younker concluded with a Covenant to be followed: “I [your name] do hereby make a covenant with MUSC Medical Center and my fellow employees, to do my part every day to promote excellence in customer service. I promise to abide by and practice all of the Service Excellence standards adopted by our organization.” Review of Automatic Transfer Switch Outages for Main Hospital Fred Miles announced planned power outages in the main hospital only as automatic transfer switches to emergency power are tested. Miles explained that the tests are a requirement of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, would last about 20 minutes and occur mostly in the middle of the night on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. JCAHO Update Lois Kerr reported, “They came. They saw. We conquered.”     Kerr heaped unequivocal praise on the performance of hospital staff during the JCAHO unannounced survey last week. “JCAHO surveyors (nurse and life safety code specialist) conducted a for-cause unannounced survey to review complaint allegations related to provision of care, treatment and services, leadership, and management of the environment of care.” Kerr said that only two supplemental findings were issued, no formal follow up tp JCAHO is required from this survey, issues cited are to be corrected within 90 days, and important EOC information is to be readdressed with the staff. Staff should be able to demonstrate knowledge of fire and procedures and evacuation routes for work area. To report facility/building maintenance problems of concerns, 792-4119 (phone manned 24 hours/ seven days a week). To report radiological and/or HAZMAT incidents or issues, 792-3604 (after hours, phone has message with instructions on how to page on-call staff member). To contact and report equipment problems, 792-3984 (after hours, phone has message with instructions on how to page on-call staff member).  Kerr said that the Periodic Performance Review (PPR) is to be completed by May 22. Any standard not in compliance will require Action Plan to outline steps toward compliance. She also pointed out an updated MUHA JCAHO web page with links to the 2005 Hospital Standards Manual, links to valuable information from JCAHO and links to facility information.     New Tools include: JCAHO Tracer Methodology and Sample Questions: “What to Expect at MUHA” Scoring of Standards and Elements of Performance. Nurse Manager Appointment Carol Dobos announced the interim appointment of Katherine Chase, R.N., as the interim nurse manager of the Neonatal ICU, 8 Special Care Nursery,  ECMO, Infant Home Monitoring, and Pediatric Meducare effective May 16. Cynthia Snyder, the former manager has transferred to a full time hospital services coordinator position.      “Kathy Chase has 13 years of experience in our NNICU functioning as a clinical nurse leader, developmental care coordinator, and most recently as operations coordinator,” Dobos said. Chase can be reached at 792-9943 or pager 12447.   Friday, May 20, 2005 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.