Impact By Design Pro PLLC

I have seen so many healthcare leaders struggle to engage their frustrated nursing workforce, and this has only gotten harder in the past few years. Often, leaders make the mistake of saying the situation is going to get better without their efforts resulting in any tangible improvement, and this makes the nursing workforce that much more frustrated. I have been playing around with the idea of a free training that would help leaders like you engage your nursing workforce in a way that gets them excited about their work again. If this is something you would be interested in, comment below and let me know!! #Healthcare #HealthcareQuality #PatientSafety #Nurse #Nursing #QualityImprovement

A leader expressed concern to me that someone was writing pretty terrible things about their facility. Things like they can't keep staff, they need a lot of new tech and equipment, they have lost several service lines, and that they need tons of help to survive the long game in healthcare. All of these things were true, and there was a clear correlation between the facility's leadership and what was being said. The reason that they couldn't keep staff was that leadership did not offer competitive salaries. They needed a lot of new stuff because almost all requests for new tech and equipment over the last several years have been denied. The low salaries and outdated equipment made it harder to keep specialty service lines, and overall the leadership had failed to support this facility for the past several years. Of course there is way more context that goes along with the situation, however the gist of it is that a fish rots from the head. Now I don't know if that's a literal analogy, but basically it means that if those in charge are not doing a good job supporting the whole, the rest of the whole will suffer. The midlevel leaders were certainly doing what they could to support their teams of people who do the work, but if leadership is not setting a clear mission for where they were going, vision of what that would look like, and values to establish how the team would accomplish the vision, it leaves the team left speculating on what to do and how to do it. If you are in a similar situation, a few things you can do today to get the support you need include: 1) Speak up. Be vocal about what you and your team need, whether this is a clear mission/vision, resources, a pat on the back, etc. 2) Report & document. If something goes wrong because you don't have what you need report it, keep notes/documentation of what happened and what you did about it, and keep track or follow up until you get a resolution. 3) Support each other. You can support others even if you are not getting support. Fill others cups and they will support you in turn. This may be your boss, your peers, or your direct reports. It doesn't matter, just support others because this is far more effective than stewing or trash talking. Let me know if this was helpful, Anna

In my last post I talked about how no one is coming to save you, and not everyone enjoyed that post. It was an honest homage to my experience working in healthcare facilities at times where we were waiting on more staffing... or CPOE.... or an EMR.... We were waiting on something or someone to come save us from our current situation working in healthcare, and what I shared to be my truth is that no one is coming to save you. We can't continue waiting for someone to come save us from our current situation, because we each have the capacity to make improvements within our area today. This idea probably ruffled feathers because that's the answer we do not want to hear. We don't want to hear that we can take responsibility for our situation, become aware of what is within our control, and make incremental change for positive patient impact. Why? Because then we have to do something! Then we have to roll up our sleeves and get to work. But we are not in this alone. We can, and must, work together to take responsibility for improving the culture and quality of care for our patients. So are you ready to roll up your sleeves and improve patient care? If so, ask yourself and your teams: - What is the biggest problem or area of opportunity we have right now? - What can I do today to begin working towards improving this problem or area of opportunity? - How can I support and empower my team to make improvements in this area? Jot down a few notes related to these prompts and what you accomplished, and let me know if this was helpful at the end of the week!

One of the most important lessons I have learned over the last decade and a half in healthcare is that no one is coming to save you. No one is coming to save you. No, really... It won't be additional staff, the latest EMR, new leadership, more education, AI, or any other oncoming change. These things may help for sure, but you cannot rely on them to "save you." So what does this mean? You are the only one that can save you. You are the only one who can motivate you to do what needs to be done in your life, in your career, and in your situation today. No one else is looking out for you like YOU are, and that is so powerful. Now multiply that by all of us, because that's the power we can have if we are all working together to improve healthcare within our area of expertise. So as you go into this week, consider what can you do to improve your situation? Have your best week, Anna

Is healthcare getting harder to work in, has everyone gone mad, or am I just struggling on an island by myself? I've probably gone mad... Regardless, I have been speaking with tons of leaders and patients lately, and I have noticed a trend of the top 3 things patients complain about while in the healthcare setting. They all happen to start with a C so we're going with the 3 C's. Cleanliness. Patients don't always know what quality care looks like, but they know what a clean floor looks like. If their surroundings do not appear to be clean they wonder how dirty everything really is. Communication. We need to be communicating to the point that it feels like overcommunicating to our patients. They don't understand what to expect or what's going on unless we tell them, and we may need to tell them and then tell them again and then keep them updated so that they really hear what we are saying. Caring. I was originally going to say kindness, but it's doesn't start with a C and it feels weird to call these the three "ck's." Act like you care. If you don't actually care, or you feel like you can't possibly give any more energy to acting like you care, take a deep breath and try to act like you care anyway. If we do our jobs without at least pretending to care patients and families will zero in on this. Even if we are giving exceptional care, saved their life, and their outcomes exceed our expectations. We have to act like we care. Join my email list https://lnkd.in/eD7pPGzJ

I was having dinner with my husband and witnessed the following exchange at the bar... Customer: Can I get a glass of wine? Bartender: Yes, we have a Pinot, a Rose, and a Shiraz. Customer: I'll take the Pinot. Bartender: Ok (picks up a bottle of Pinot Grigio and starts to pour) Customer: Oh wait, is that for me? I thought it was a Pinot Noir. Bartender: Oh. No. It's a Pinot Grigio.... Customer: .... Bartender: .... Customer: Can I get a glass of something red? Bartender: ..... sure.... These types of miscommunications happen ALL. THE. TIME. In healthcare, however the outcome of a miscommunication can be detrimental, so we have to up our communication game by communicating clearly and often. How are you supporting your teams to communicate clearly this week? #cpps #cphq #cphrm

This is a hill I will die on - Education is a mitigation strategy, but it is not THE mitigation strategy we want to consistently rely on. Allow me to explain... I once supported a perioperative unit who had an event where the patient wanted to take a surgical specimen home. The patient let the team know up front, filled out all the appropriate paperwork to take the specimen home, and reminded the care team at each point leading up to the surgery. On the day of the procedure the patient reminded the team about taking the specimen home one last time and signed one last form. And then, the team did not follow through with getting the papers where they needed to go, and the Director's action plan was to educate the team. When I saw this, I asked a simple question: Will educating the team prevent this from happening next time? During the investigation we learned the team knew what they needed to do. They needed to get the papers to pathology department so pathology didn't dispose of the specimen. This did not happen, and while we know that it didn't happen we don't know exactly how and why it didn't happen. A few questions I had for this team include: Who was ultimately responsible for getting the papers to pathology? Did this person know they were responsible? Is there a way to build the process in a more concrete way to prevent this from happening in the future, like letting pathology know ahead of time and placing a bright sticker on the specimen container that states something like "Patient to take specimen home"? Where is the provider's responsibility in this process, since the provider was well-aware of the patient's request and also the one performing surgery to remove the specimen? So next time your action plan includes education, make sure that's not the only action item to mitigate the event. Especially if you ask the team will education prevent this from happening in the future and the answer is no. I discuss this and much more in my course Orientation to Patient Safety. The course provides up to 4 hours Certified Professional in Patient Safety continuing education, and is currently on sale for $55 while I re-record and reinforce parts of it.

Healthcare is super broken right now, and we may be part of the problem. We could be here for hours talking about all the ways it's broken. One area that has been an issue since the beginning of my nursing career is staffing... and I'm not just talking about direct patient care staffing. While we know direct patient care staffing has been an issue for at least one decade, in the past 5-ish years I have noticed we are moving leaner and leaner in leader, supportive, and corporate roles (like patient safety, quality, risk, etc.). If you are seeing my page you are more likely to fall into one of these categories, and I'm sure you are experiencing what I have been seeing. As your department gets leaner you are expected to take on more and more in addition to your regular workload. Before you know it you are working longer hours, feeling overwhelmed and never feel content with the amount of work you accomplished because your to-do list is so long. In the past, individuals in these roles could more easily accomplish their workload within a 40-hour workweek and use any extra time to help out in other ways. These days, however, you are only able to accomplish the bare-minimum, the must haves, and the quality of your work is diminishing. If this is you, please consider whether you are exacerbating the problem by working extra. If we all work 50 hour weeks in an attempt to keep up with the increasing expectations, it would only take four of us to make up for an FTE. A company doesn't believe it has a problem when you are working extra long hours to fix it. So let's all walk into this week working in order of priority, getting the must-haves done, asking for help with the rest, and looking for innovative ways to feel accomplished without burning ourselves out. Have your best day, Anna #patientsafety #healthcarequalilty #healthcarerisk #cpps #cphq #cphrm Of note - we are not talking about those in direct patient care here. Those roles typically get paid hourly for their services. Here we are focusing on those working 50+ hours per week in salaried positions without being adequately compensated.

Working in healthcare can feel hard on a good day and impossible on a bad day. In my experience these last few months, "overwhelming" is the word that seems to be used most to describe what we are all feeling. The workload is overwhelming, the competing expectations are overwhelming, and where to start is definitely overwhelming. Many professionals I have spoken with recently feel frozen, unable to reconcile what the next best step is to move forward. They know what they are doing is not working, but don't know what they need to do differently to make an impact. I think we get so caught up in the day-to-day tasking of it all that we lose sight of our accomplishments over time. So what do you do in this situation? How do you move forward when you feel so stuck you don't even know the next best step? Consider showing your work by documenting everything you do. Keep a notebook with you and write down what you are working on each day. Or list your deliverables in order of priority and update their status weekly. Then share this list with your leadership, mentor, or someone else. Talk through how you have your work prioritized and what you can be doing differently to make a larger impact. When you feel overwhelmed, review your notes to see how far you have come in the past week, month, or year. This has been working for me lately, and I hope part of this is helpful for you to! #Healthcare #PatientSafety #Healthcarequality #CPPS #CPHQ #FACHE

I'm over all the finger pointing within healthcare. The complaints to Executive Leadership, side conversations about why our efforts aren't working, and bad mouthing other departments internally has to stop. These situations are happening every day. I hear it and you do too. They are a wasteful use of resources and do not accomplish anything but contribute to a bad culture. So what do we do instead? In my opinion, we would be using our energy much more wisely to collaborate and support each other. Even when it's hard. Especially when the decision will impact patient outcomes. Run towards supporting and collaborating each other, because if we don't support each other who else will? When we refocus our attention on support and collaboration something magical happens. We start to see progress. We see small wins that were not present before. Something as simple as updating a policy goes from being an argument to a conversation with humility at the table. It's our responsibility as Patient Safety professionals to make sure teams are collaborating and supporting each other. Let's work on breaking down walls and building the bridges necessary to fix healthcare. #patientsafety #CPPS #healthcarequality #CPHQ #nursing #FACHE