MUSC Excellence at Medical Center
Award receives
makeover, AIDET reinforced
Service Pillar: Serving the public with
compassion, respect and excellence May Standard of the Month: Adaptability and Accountability
Adaptable—As a member of the Medical Center staff, I will be a team player. I will remove the phrase “It’s not my job” from my vocabulary. Accountable—I will support a culture that finds solutions rather than one that makes excuses or blames others. Look for more information to come on May’s Standard of Behavior.
Children’s
Hospital ED Patient Satisfaction Team MUSC Children’s Hospital Emergency Department (ED) is committed to providing excellence in pediatric emergency care services. The multidisciplinary team is dedicated to principles of family-centered and culturally sensitive care of children and families. Their goal is to achieve 100 percent patient satisfaction.
The Children’s Hospital ED patient satisfaction team has been meeting since February to develop an action plan to increase patient satisfaction for MUSC pediatric ED patients and families. Efforts include: working to increase use of volunteers; using “rounding” in the waiting room; conducting AIDET training for physicians; implementing check out rounding so the physicians can meet families; inclusion of the chaplain with rounding; and informing patients and families why they are waiting.
Main hospital and CMH EDs on the move
As of March, the collective patient satisfaction scores for the main hospital and Charleston Memorial Hospital Emergency departments have more than doubled. This success is attributed to the commitment of nurses, techs, physicians, secretaries, greeters, registration, environmental, security and chaplain staff.
Following are a few highlights of accomplishments:
- ED Team triage—This 12-week pilot program will run from 2 to 8 p.m. Mondays. It was established to streamline the Adult ED’s efficiency so that more patients can be seen and treated in less time while maintaining very high patient and staff satisfaction survey results. According to Christine M. Carr, M.D., the Team Triage group consists of an emergency physician, an emergency nurse and an emergency technician. This team will see and evaluate patient’s complaints in triage as soon as they come into the Adult ED. If labs or tests are needed, they will order those from triage.
- Patient information whiteboards—Information whiteboards are in every ED patient’s room. A pilot on the B-side was successfully completed. The remainder of the boards was received this week for the A-side. The boards provide information to the patient, such as the names of their caregivers (M.D., P.A., R.N., and Tech).
- Bedside “hand-off” report—During any change in caregivers, staff will introduce their replacement at the patient bedside to decrease anxiety of the patient and family.
- Waiting room upgrades—The waiting room received a makeover. New paint, art, window treatments and chair upholstery will be completed this week. Although the space consistently receives poor satisfaction scores due to size, it is hoped that these cosmetic changes will help to improve patient satisfaction.
- Televisions—Thanks to a generous patient donor, the ED is in the process of installing TVs in every patient room. It is hoped this will increase patient satisfaction, in conjunction with other MUSC Excellence initiatives.
Adult Inpatient Satisfaction Team's AIDET cart
One of the primary goals of the Adult Inpatient Satisfaction Team is to reinforce the use of AIDET at the bedside to increase patient trust in caregivers. Ultimately, AIDET is an effective communication tool that any employee would want to observe if their loved one were a patient.
Members of the
Adult Inpatient Satisfaction TeamAn AIDET Role-Playing Cart was created and equipped with all of the necessary tools for reinforcement of AIDET at the bedside. In the past month, hospital leadership and the Adult Inpatient Satisfaction Team accompanied the AIDET Cart to the adult inpatient nursing units on day and night shift. Staff who demonstrated AIDET skills were rewarded and recognized for excellent service. Based on employee feedback and patient satisfaction survey results, the AIDET Role-Playing Cart may expand to other areas of MUSC, including outlying areas.
Medical Center celebrates National Hospital Week
The Medical Center plans to observe National Hospital Week, May 6-12, and salute employees for their commitment to providing excellent patient care.
Hospital Week unites hospitals across the country and serves as a reminder of the crucial role that hospitals and health care workers play within their communities. According to the American Hospital Association, the celebration of National Hospital Week began in 1921 in an effort to educate the public of modern advances and to build a positive public image. The first National Hospital Day observance fell on Florence Nightingale’s birthday and the annual celebration is held during the week of the nurse’s birthday, a tribute to her “lasting impact on health care.”
This year the Medical Center will celebrate with activities to recognize employees. The week will begin with senior leadership serving employees with bagels and fruit. Other activities include department scrapbook contest, benefit information sessions, dessert making contest and thank you gifts.
People Pillar: Fostering employee pride and loyalty
April Benefit of the Month—retirement plans
Anyone who receives a paycheck from the Medical Center (and the University) has the option to put money into several retirement plans. Many employees already participate in either the State Pension plan, the Optional Retirement Plan or the SHARP plan. The 401K, 403B and 457 plans can be used to supplement these.
If an employee needs help understanding these investment choices, pick up the literature at the Benefits Desk or call 792-9320. Personal retirement counseling is also available and Human Resources department offers seminars to address this.
Reward and Recognition Team revises criteria for Applause award
An initiative of the Reward and Recognition Team was to revisit criteria being used to recognize staff with an Applause award. The team did this to bring value to the award since many of the nominations solely recognized MUSC Medical Center’s standards of behavior and customer service. As a result of this review, revisions were made to the criteria used for the award.
Criteria for Applause awards are actions that are outside the scope of an employee’s job description or are performed above the expected level of service. Examples of nominations that no longer meet the criteria are “you’re so nice” or “thank you for working hard.” In the event a nomination does not meet award criteria, the following letters are sent to the recognized employee.
If the nomination was submitted by a patient or visitor: The recipient (employee) receives a letter stating, “You got caught doing your job very well! Thanks. This Applause Card was submitted by a patient or visitor for the service you provided. Thanks for performing within the MUSC Standards and Behavior. While these actions do not qualify for the Applause program, we wanted to pass this Thank You on to you. Thanks for doing a great job.”
If the nomination was submitted by a fellow employee a letter is sent to the employee submitting the nomination explaining why the nomination did not meet the award criteria. This is conducted so all employees understand the difference between “You Got Caught” and Applause awards. This letter thanks the individual for recognizing a fellow employee and suggests they present the employee with a Star Card instead.
Impressed with CARTA Express
CARTA (Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority) Express enables employees to park at designated locations within their Tri-county community and ride a CARTA bus. MUSC offers employees discount passes ($5 per month). Approximately 385 MUSC employees are participating in the program.
Medical Center Town Hall meetings in progress
All staff are encouraged to attend one of the following meetings: April 27,7:30 a.m., 2W Amphitheater; April 27,11:30 a.m., 2W Amphitheater; April 30, 11 a.m., Storm Eye Institute Auditorium; May 1, 10 a.m., SEI Auditorium; May 1, 1 p.m., 2W Amphitheater; May 2, 7:30 a.m., Institute of Psychiatry; May 2, 2 p.m., 2W Amphitheater.
Friday, April 27, 2007
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
catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island
Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.