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By Jay Juffre

For whatever reason, when traveling, I prefer to get the earliest flight possible. Departing Fort Lauderdale at 6 a.m., can put you on the ground in Philadelphia by 8:15. This past Monday, that was the plan. Probably, like all the other passengers that morning, I was up at four something and headed out to the airport to navigate what would hopefully be a short TSA line. Minutes before boarding, the dreaded announcement came. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are still waiting on one crew member, once they arrive, we will begin boarding. Right now, we are looking at about a half hour delay.” Did this person hit traffic? Not likely at this hour. Arriving late, on an incoming flight? Doubtful as well.

As other passengers moaned and speculated, because of where I was seated, I had the inside scoop. ‘He probably slept in again.’ I heard the supervisor whisper to the gate agents, ‘we could be delayed for a while.’ A half hour turned into an hour. At the one hour 20-minute mark, I overheard the supervisor tell the agents, ‘Now, he says he is too sick to come in, we are looking for a sub.’ One hour turned into two. The tension and frustration from the other passengers continued to grow.

By the time they announced that anyone with connecting flights should start rebooking, I thought society was literally going to break down around me. Now, far be it for me, to compare healthcare to air travel, but the same thing may be going on in our organizations every day. Often, we can do everything nearly perfect, but one bad apple ends up ruining everything. We make excuses on why the receptionist, nurse, janitor, or whomever, keeps hurting what would otherwise be excellent patient care and experience. Who on your team is holding you back? Simply identify, retrain, or eliminate them. Your patients and their families will thank you.

Jay Juffre is Executive Vice President, ImageFIRST. For more information on ImageFIRST, call 1-800-932-7472 or visit www.imagefirst.com.