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Format:
PDF
Size:
8.5” x 11”
Intended audience:
Frontline employees, managers and physicians
Best used:
This poster highlights a Mid-Atlantic States team that reduced patient transport times. Post on bulletin boards, in break rooms and other staff areas.
Format:
PPT
Size:
1 Slide
Intended audience:
LMP employees, UBT consultants, improvement advisers
Best used:
This PowerPoint slide features a Mid-Atlantic States team that reduced patient transport times. Use in presentations to show some of the methods used and the measurable results being achieved by unit-based teams across Kaiser Permanente.
Format:
PPT
Size:
1 Slide
Intended audience:
LMP employees, UBT consultants, improvement advisers
Best used:
This PowerPoint slide features a Northwest team that tried a unique approach to get more patients screened for cancer. Use in presentations to show some of the methods used and the measurable results being achieved by unit-based teams across Kaiser Permanente.
During the normal stress of being admitted to the hospital, it's not always clear to patients and their families who does what.
And if a nurse or clerk can’t answer a question on admissions, the patient can get frustrated.
So it was in the admitting department at Fremont Medical Center in Northern California, where patients gave low satisfaction scores regarding the process.
“Many different staff use the word ‘admitting,’ so we needed to make sure we stood out, and that patients knew when their admission officially began and ended,” says labor co-lead and admitting representative Joanna Nelson.
Team members thought one of their biggest challenges was making sure patients knew when they were dealing with admitting staff versus other employees.
They first tried using scripted language, the “Right Words at Right Time” (RWRT) approach to let patients know when the actual admission process had started and the representative’s role.
When that failed, the UBT added another level of patient service and rounding, which included a small gift and card.
The gifts were mostly Kaiser Permanente brand items including cups, tablets, aprons, vases or plants. Admitting representatives also gave personal cards to each patient.
“We came up with an extra-special plan for our new admissions. Once the patient was admitted, the Admitting rep went back up to the room—either later that same day or the next day—and gave our patients a welcome gift,” shop steward and OPEIU Local 29 member Nelson says, describing the gesture as a “thank you for choosing our hospital.”
And it worked.
In four quarters, polite and professional customer service scores improved 21 points, and efficient and easy customer service scores picked up three points.
The team also helped by letting patients know how all the pieces fit together.
“Personalize your admitting process,” says Fonda Faye Carlisle, manager, Admitting and Patient Financial Services. “Since the admitting department is not the only voice that says, ‘I will be admitting you,’ admitting needs to personalize so the patient can differentiate between them and others, such as nursing.”
There were team benefits, as well, beyond the scores. Department morale and attendance also increased.
“Our satisfaction is seeing our patients happy and watching our scores improve,” Nelson says.
Format:
PDF
Size:
8.5" x 11"
Intended audience:
Frontline employees, managers and physicians, and UBT consultants
Best used:
Post on bulletin boards and discuss in team meetings; use this tipsheet as a starting point for team discussions and brainstorming on improving outpatient service.
Department: Adult Medicine, Capitol Hill Medical Center (Mid-Atlantic States)
Value Compass: Service
Problem: Some individual patient transport trips were taking an hour or more, inconveniencing patients and impacting the unit's smooth operation. Staff members sometimes had to wait for a patient to receive medications or had to return to the unit to retrieve a wheelchair adequate for the height and weight of the patient.
SMART goal: Reduce staff time spent transporting a patient by wheelchair from the unit to the lab, pharmacy, hospital entrance or public transit stop from an average of 30 minutes to 15 minutes between May and September 2012.
Union co-lead: Louise Casa, nurse practitioner, UFCW Local 400
Management co-lead: Jacqueline Marshall, RN, clinical operations manager for Adult Medicine
Small tests of change:
Results: Reduced staff time to transport patients from an average of more than 30 minutes to 10 minutes.
A brisk walk by an able-bodied person from the unit to the train station takes about 15 minutes roundtrip—but struggling with an infirm patient in an outdated or inappropriately sized wheelchair could easily double that time.
Other issues included patient dissatisfaction, staff injuries and the added risk of patient treatment delays or falls, says labor co-lead Casa, noting that “we had to look at the problem from many angles.”
The Capitol Hill Medical Center opened with great fanfare in 2011. Hailed as a beacon for affordable and accessible care just as the national debate heated up on these issues, the center attracted attention—and many new members. One key factor that made the new facility so attractive—its proximity to a major public transit station in the District of Columbia—also turned into a potential Achilles heel.
That was until the Adult Medicine UBT rolled in with the right solutions.
The Adult Medicine team started by using performance improvement charting tools to log the time each staff member took to transport a patient to and from the Union Station subway stop or to ancillary departments within the medical center.
The team discovered many of the elderly or wheelchair-using members struggled to make the long trek from the exit doors of Union Station to the waiting room of the Adult Medicine unit, a medical center starting point for most patients.
The team lobbied for new wheelchairs—and for a new transporter position, an OPEIU Local 2 member who transports many of the patients and coordinates the trips that staff members make to the other departments.
In addition, the team now calls ahead to the lab or pharmacy to ensure tests and medications will be ready, or nearly so, when the patient is brought in. It also gives patients red cards to signal their priority status to lab and pharmacy staff.
Format:
PPT
Size:
1 Slide
Intended audience:
LMP employees, UBT consultants, improvement advisers
Best used:
This PowerPoint slide features a Gilroy team that shortened wait times at the lab. In presentations to show some of the methods used and the measurable results being achieved by unit-based teams across Kaiser Permanente.
Format:
PDF
Size:
8.5" x 11"
Intended audience:
Frontline employees, managers and physicians
Best used:
This poster features a Mid-Atlantic States team that has found a way to help new members transition smoothly to KP. Post on bulletin boards in break rooms and other staff areas.
Format:
DOC
Size:
1 page, 2 sides, 8.5" x 11"
Intended audience:
Frontline teams seeing new members in KP clinics
Best used:
This New Member Map, based on a tool developed by a team in KP's Mid-Atlantic States Region, helps new members find their way through the KP system. It can be adapted as necessary to meet the needs of patients and members in other regions. Use as a handout or template to help new members easily access KP services.
Format:
PPT
Size:
1 Slide
Intended audience:
LMP employees, UBT consultants, improvement advisers
Best used:
This PowerPoint slide features a Colorado UBT that saved money and reduced customer complaints by tackling a printer problem. Use in presentations to show some of the methods used and the measurable results being achieved by unit-based teams across Kaiser Permanente.
