Steve Gurney

This series of prompts is all about us creating "better health outcomes in older adults". The first suggestion I might throw on the pile is for us to reframe and remove "older adults" to and for us to work towards creating better health outcomes for "adults or unique individuals". None of us want to be viewed as "older adults" Next, as providers reflect on what makes a difference when a health provider talks to YOU and provides care and guidance to YOU. Think about the actions and qualities of your favorite practitioner . . . and your worst practitioner. Are you modeling the qualities that you would want to receive? Is the healthcare system limiting your abilities? Are you overworked or understaffed?

Whether discharge is from a hospital, assisted living or nursing and rehab come up with a system to follow up with the client and/or the family. Right or wrong, many families can feel pushed out even if they really don't want to be in our settings. Having an opportunity to do some follow up after they are discharged, gives you the opportunity to hear more candidly how the experience was and help future families. Since we are all overworked in these settings, this can be a great task for interns, front desk or other staff if they have downtime. Our families will appreciate the follow up and if they have questions for specific staff your team member can always initiate the follow up or pass along the answer.

Budget time each day/week to reviewing articles, etc. in your segment. Platforms like LinkedIN are great for this because you can interact with other professionals in your space that you might not be connected with and get their insights on the article or topic. If you are using social media platforms to stay up-to-date, take the discussion to the next level by posing a question to help you clarify your understand or to be critical of the viewpoint. Oftentimes you can learn more about additional resources if the discussion gets going!

Most folks outside of the healthcare/senior living industry have not heard about patient-centered care or person-centered care. Just like all the acronyms we use, we need to assume that most people entering our system (usually in crisis mode) don't know the "language". So the best first step is to listen and explain things in an easy-to-understand format and stop and check in with them regularly to make sure they understand.

One practice that has really helped me build meaningful lasting relationships is to always have a focus on what I can do to help my connections (outside of them becoming a customer). I want to stand out in their sea of connections as someone who really listened and helped them. I used to call this "guilt" marketing. Giving someone so much - that they feel obligated to help you with something without you asking for it!

Validating my business ideas is one of my favorite exercises. I usually take the attitude of "expect the best and prepare for the worst" and then modify appropriately. One of the key elements is drawing a line in the sand in advance regarding your time and budget to explore a new idea. Having a clear set of benchmarks that need to be achieved to continue moving forward. That being said, I am a fan of flexibility and I am always looking for the better idea that you trip over while trying to validate what you thought was a great idea.