Best Place to Work

Help Video

How to Find UBT Basics on the LMP Website

Learn how to use the LMP website:

LMP Website Overview

Learn how to use the LMP website:

How to Find How-To Guides

This short animated video explains how to find and use our powerful how-to guides

Learn how to use the LMP website:

How to Find and Use Team-Tested Practices

Does your team want to improve service? Or clinical quality? If you don't know where to start, check out the team-tested practices on the LMP website. This short video shows you how. 

Learn how to use the LMP website:

How to Use the Search Function on the LMP Website

Having trouble using the search function? Check out this short video to help you search like a pro!

Learn how to use the LMP website:

How to Find the Tools on the LMP Website

Need to find a checklist, template or puzzle? Don't know where to start? Check out this short video to find the tools you need on the LMP website with just a few clicks. 

Learn how to use the LMP website:

TOOLS

Alliance Path to Performance Companion Guide

Format:
PDF

Size:
18 pages 

Intended audience:
Unit-based teams with Alliance-represented workers and those who support their work, including managers, team co-leads, and sponsors

Best used: Share this interactive companion guide with your UBT so team members can familiarize themselves with what's expected at each level of team development. 

Related tools:

Videos

LMP at 25: Making Partnership Better

Loading the player...

(2:32)

Union members, managers and physicians share their thoughts on how the Partnership could be better in its next 25 years.

Mending a Staffing Shortage

Deck: 
KP and Alliance team up to train wound care nurses

Story body part 1: 

Time heals all wounds. But sometimes those wounds need help from specially trained nurses.

Nurses who are certified to care for wounds and ostomies are in short supply, at Kaiser Permanente and all over the country. And many are set to retire soon. There are only a few training programs, and they’re expensive and hard to get into.

The shortage of wound care nurses is an example of a much larger staffing crisis not only at KP but throughout the health care industry. KP, however, has a strategic advantage over its competitors: the Labor Management Partnership, which provides leaders and unions with the tools, structure and long-term relationships to respond to challenges creatively.

“We decided to look at what KP does best: We work with our labor partners to come up with a solution,” says Hazel Torres, RN, director of Regional Professional Development and Research Ambulatory Services for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group.

KP, several Alliance unions and other organizations came together to tackle this staffing shortage. Now more patients are healing faster, and union members are advancing in their careers at KP.

“I always wanted to do this but couldn’t,” says nurse Indra Winarso, a UNAC/UHCP member who had worked at KP for 22 years before entering the training program.  “The schools were far away, my husband traveled a lot for work, and I had a young son to take care of.”

She’s now a certified wound ostomy nurse providing home health in Orange County for KP patients.

Fortified with her new certification, Winarso says, “I have more knowledge and can do more. Colleagues ask me for consults, and they believe in me.” The benefits go beyond professional growth and a higher wage: “They see that I am different from before.”

All together for a solution

KP regional leaders from Southern California, Colorado and Hawaii joined with representatives from 3 Alliance unions and the Ben Hudnall Memorial Trust – a union-negotiated benefit – to customize a training program with San Jose State University. Participating unions include UNAC/UHCP, UFCW Local 7, and Hawaii Nurses and Healthcare Professionals.

“It was star-studded,” says UNAC/UHCP member Ianessa Ramirez, a newly certified wound ostomy nurse, marveling at the hard-won coordination. Before taking the training program, Ramirez was a home health nurse and intake coordinator at KP for 11 years.

The students augmented online training with 4 days of hands-on training at KP’s Irvine Medical Center in summer 2021 for 22 students. After that, they spent time with trained preceptors — experienced wound care nurses and union members working at KP — and then were hired into trainee positions at KP.

This innovation shows one way to overcome the barrier of experience requirements. It also illustrates the value of skilling up our current workforce.

“We showed how true the Labor Management Partnership is,” says Torres. “It’s not just a logo on a T-shirt. We believe in it because it gets our patients the best care possible.”

The entire program was at no cost to participants. Most are now working full time in their new careers at KP after years of working here in other capacities.

As a home health nurse, “I am a detective and a problem-solver,” says Winarso. “It’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you are going to get.”

 

Easing Back Into the Office

Deck: 
Tips for employees and teams to reduce stress

Story body part 1: 

Caretia Silva, a licensed clinical social worker, is a labor improvement adviser with the Alliance of Health Care Unions in Portland, Oregon, and a member of OFNHP. As many nonclinical employees prepare to return to the office, she offered advice about ways to reduce stress related to the latest challenges of COVID-19.

Many employees will soon return to the office. What feelings might they experience?

For some folks, working from home has been wonderful; for others, it’s been very stressful. Many people were managing a lot of competing priorities with children at home, online schooling, sharing “office” space with partners at home and extended family concerns.

Some people may experience anxiety, grief, excitement, anticipation — and many other feelings as they encounter unknowns — with returning to the office. For folks who have already returned to the clinics, they’ve had a gradual reintroduction and the process has been slightly more paced, although it hasn’t been without stress.

What tips do you have for staff preparing to return to the office and send their children back into the classroom?

There are bound to be challenges as we work out new routines. Anything you can do the night before to prepare for the next day is a good idea — set out clothes, load backpacks, make lunches. It can also be beneficial to have a consistent and routine bedtime, not just for your children, but also for yourself. If you have trouble settling down at night, try the Calm app.

In the morning, set yourself up for success for the day by building in “transition time” — this is time to get people from the house to the car, including all the needed gear for the day. Building in transition time allows for any last-minute items and reduces the stress of being late. If you arrive early at school with the kids, take advantage of the one-on-one time with encouraging words to pump them up for their day. It only takes a few minutes to make a meaningful connection with your kids.

How can team members set each other up for success in the workplace?

Coming back to the office or clinic is a major change compared to working from home.

And some folks never left the clinic. Everyone had their own unique experience over the last year and a half. This transition will take some adjusting. Fatigue among workers may be common due to the increased social interaction. In the beginning, people may feel some nervous energy bouncing off each other as they acclimate to the new environment. It’s important to give people the time and space they may need to reacclimate to an in-person work environment.

How can unit-based team co-leads support their teams?

People will acclimate to the office environment at different times. When people seem fatigued, be aware that they might need some space.

Sometimes people need to take a break and disengage from the group. It’s a process that allows them to realign and center themselves. Have empathy for staff adjusting to this change.

How can unit-based teams use LMP tools to help them through this time?

The Partnership behaviors are a solid foundation for teams to ground themselves, and the Free to Speak tools are also good to foster a culture of trust and engagement. This might be a good time for a UBT to take another look at its ground rules and see if the rules need updating. Interest-based problem solving can also be useful for teams struggling with processes that have been adapted or need to change.

What advice do you have for managers during this transition?

The success I’ve seen with managers is when they are authentic with their staff and allow themselves to be seen. They don’t have to reveal personal secrets, but when anyone is sincere and approachable, there is more trust and engagement.

What else is important to consider?

The world has changed in ways we never saw coming. The pandemic was catastrophic and, on top of that, we also dealt with social justice issues and political unrest. It’s important to acknowledge how these and other challenges — such as financial insecurity and housing insecurity — have contributed to stress and anxiety for many people. Self-care is crucial now more than ever.

How do I recognize signs of stress?

If close friends, family or loved ones have mentioned that you seem different, consider what they are saying. Are you more emotional — quick to cry, jump to anger or experiencing mood swings? Have your eating or sleeping habits changed? Changes and impacts to your daily living habits are signs that stress may be affecting you. Reach out to the Employee Assistance Program, find exercise you enjoy, or check out emotional wellness apps like Calm or myStrength.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Best Place to Work