Skip to contents
In This Issue:
The most important assets of BWH are the people who carry out its mission each and every day. BWH is committed to following up on staff feedback obtained through each Staff Survey and being the hospital system of choice for both patients and staff. Research has shown that satisfied and effective staff will provide better care to our patients.
SubHead: Learn What Your Colleagues Are Doing to Improve Staff SatisfactionRead on to learn about how your colleagues’ time and energy as part of the Leadership, Communication, Teamwork, Spring Cleaning and Nursing Materials Management Teams has launched many beneficial initiatives—all inspired by your feedback from the last BWH Staff Survey.
Leadership Team: Building A Strong League of LeadersThe ICARE Leadership Standards, BWH’s organizational commitment to leadership development, was rolled out earlier this year. This team is now developing a Leadership Resource Manual to assist hospital leaders on implementing the standards. The manual is intended as an overview of existing resources for developing leaders. The team also focused on the leader’s role in providing feedback to staff. Christine Flanagan, RN and Nutrition's Kathy McManus co-lead the team.
Communication Team: Learning from the Best of the BestThe Communication Team offered several improvement initiatives to improve communication among staff, including the Best Practices Program and an effort to improve communication with those who speak Spanish as a first language. During the summer, Central Transport Service’s Bea Harris Lane was highlighted as a Best Practice communicator in BWH Bulletin. Other communication masters among our workforce will continue to be highlighted in Bulletin, with the help of employees’ input. Employees are asked to email BWHBulletin@partners.org to identify effective communicators in the organization and to explain what makes his or her style so effective. You’ll notice that the reverse side of this insert is translated in Spanish, making it easier for individuals with Spanish as a first language to interpret the progress of the Staff Survey process. Clinical Services’ Sandra Sloane and Volunteer and Community Access Services’ Kris Danna co-lead this team.
Teamwork Team: Taking the “Work” out of TeamworkData from the ‘99 and the ‘01 Staff Surveys indicated staff perceive communication and teamwork within departments to be effective. However, staff reported that there is room for improvement with interdepartmental collaboration. The Teamwork Team has created a process improvement tool to help departments improve collaboration and communication. The teamwork tool is being tested with Ultrasound and the Center for Reproductive Medicine—two areas that work together frequently. Email your thoughts on interdepartmental teamwork improvement to Cynthia Slater, RN or Radiology's Angela McLaughlin.
Spring Cleaning Team: A Year-Round EffortThe goal of the “Spring Cleaning Team,” was to respond to staff feedback about clutter and broken equipment. The team’s accomplishments to date include a unit-based inventory item database for the Tower pods; daily walkthroughs to identify broken equipment by operation supervisors to expedite needed repairs; a “who do you call” list of important numbers available on all Tower floors; a universal yellow Repair Request Tag available to complete and affix to the broken equipment; and the continuation of a biomed inventory every two years. Email your feedback on “Spring Cleaning” efforts to Patient Care Services’ Leo Buckley or Hospital Administration’s Martha Pyle Farrell.
Nursing Materials Management Team: Supplies and DemandThe Pod Initiative, a collaborative effort between Materials Management and Nursing, was launched to clean up and reorganize supply areas. This includes adjusting par levels, relabeling, replacing old bins with new color-coded bins, removing overstock, grouping like products together, and customizing pod profiles to better suit the needs of individual units. Expiration dates are also being checked. The Initiative has refreshed 44 patient areas and others are underway now. Email your feedback to Materials Management’s Andrew Madden or Nursing Administration’s Judy Hayes.
BWH’s third Staff Survey to take place in spring 2004Staff are asked to continue to do their part in the ongoing Staff Survey process and participate in the hospital’s third Staff Survey to take place in spring 2004. BWH is committed to this continual improvement process as survey data is analyzed, improvement is proposed, action items are implemented and progress is measured with each Staff Survey.