image_pdfimage_print

By Jay Juffre

Recently, I was asked to participate in a Webinar hosted by the Beryl Institute, an organization committed to transforming the human experience in healthcare. The topic they gave me was an interesting one. How can hospitals and other providers link important safety items like infection prevention to key business drivers like staff engagement and patient care? The fact is, this is not only possible, forward-thinking leaders, know it should be encouraged at every level. Health systems on the leading edge of enhancing the human experience, realize that the path to success is by aligning what’s most important and then communicating it so that the team understands the connection. For example, take something as mundane as ensuring cubical curtains are replaced and sanitized as needed (and immediately after an isolation case). Something like this would normally involve IP fighting with EVS who is fighting with admissions to get the room prepared quickly. It’s exhausting. But when you look to educate everyone on what the infection preventionists know, 42% of all cubical curtains tested in the U.S. tested positive for VRE and 22% with MSRA, the why really starts to come into focus. Changing those curtains suddenly becomes about the patient who is going to be around them all day, their family and loved ones who are going to visit, and the staff who will touch those panels constantly throughout the day. Linking the mundane (but important) to human experience is the key to success in 2023. Get creative. Look for ways to link everything to important metrics like revenue, patient care, staff retention. It is amazing when doing one thing can simultaneously drive other items. Too often initiatives get siloed into one department or isolated because we do not take the time to either understand or communicate how they are inter-related. Get the team focused on linking everything and make 2023 your best year yet!

 

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