Leaders Focus on Resilience and Patient Experience
CHI St. Vincent leaders from hospitals and clinics gathered on Sept. 20-21 for the quarterly Leadership Development Institute (LDI). As always, a major focus was on performance with our nine Living Our Mission measures. Among many celebrations was a “spotlight award” given to the Measurement Team for outstanding work to align our organizational goals.
The Amazing Race theme was an appropriate one, said CEO Chad Aduddell during opening remarks, noting that like the contestants on the reality show, CHI St. Vincent coworkers work together to overcome obstacles as a team, think creatively and have resilience when we fail. He also discussed year-end results for our key measures, and celebrated the significant gains in our FY’17 focus area: coworker engagement. Chad also talked about our FY’18 focus area: patient experience.
Nursing leaders Nancy Brown and Bryan Williams took the next leg of the Amazing Race to further share where CHI St. Vincent stacks up on HospitalCompare.com, the website that publishes patient experience results. Participants voted on which hospitals have highest ratings for nursing communications, physician communication and other “key drivers” of performance. What they found is that our ministry is within reach of achieving goals, but we are not yet at a high-performing status. Nancy and Bryan shared 9 ways to improve:
- Active listening
- Non multi-tasking
- Eye contact
- Tone of voice
- Appropriate speed of speech
- Appropriate use of touch
- Appropriate use of humor
- Physical positioning
- Energy mirrors the needs of the patient
They also spoke about the importance of key tactics, including the 10-5 rule: acknowledging people we see at 10 feet and speaking to that person when we’re five feet away. As well, the Values in Action team reviewed their new #AlwaysGreeting initiative for October-December that encourages photos of people who demonstrate this value of Reverence.
A new tool that will launch this year to give feedback to departments was reviewed by Bubba Arnold. Called the “Support Card,” the online survey will encourage positive and constructive feedback and give departments a measure of their performance. A pilot of the survey was fielded in Morrilton over the summer, and will launch at each hospital and clinic in early November. We expect to field the survey 3-4 times each year.
Dr. Wayne Sotile, a clinical psychologist with 40 years of health care experience, spoke on Choosing Resilience in our lives. He said the absence of struggles does not guarantee resilience. He provided 10 evidence-based practices that allow people to become more resilient high-performing team members:
- Joy
- Gratitude
- Serenity
- Amusement
- Hope
- Interest
- Inspiration
- Pride
- Awe
- Love
Dr. Sotile also suggested bringing more joy to your life by journaling three good things that happened each day and how it made you feel. The exercise – which takes less than a minute a day – will begin to pay dividends quickly. He noted research shows that scanning for uplifts in your daily life can uplift your mood by the fifth day of the exercise – and the benefits can continue for six months. Sotile said the secret sauce for resilience is self-compassion—treating yourself with interest, kindness and acceptance.
The next coworker forums in November will recap many of the concepts learned.