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In This Issue:
BWH teams are hard at work designing and testing enhancements to the service experience for patients and their families, as part of a Team Communication and Patient Flow Project. This effort is one of two focal points for Service Excellence in 2004, along with the Referring Physician Satisfaction Project.
Specifically, teams within General Medicine, Thoracic Surgery, Oncology, and Patient Transport/Environmental Services are concentrating on:
Executive sponsors for this project include AndyWhittemore, MD, chief medical officer, and Nancy Kruger, DNSc, RN, chief nursing officer.
More than 800 ideas were generated by 132 staff members participating in “deep dive” sessions in March and April designed for multidisciplinary teams to share perspectives and to generate innovative ideas for change. The best ideas become prototypes for testing and feedback. A few now in the field include: 1. Thoracic - Testing new multidisciplinary morning rounds involving fellows, physicians’ assistants, nurses, care coordinators, and others; 2. Patient Transport – Dedicating volunteers to the 75 Francis Street hospitality area to expedite round-trip discharge runs; and 3. General Medicine – Reorganizing 14CD pod workspaces to streamline administrative tasks for all providers.
“We have been thrilled at how receptive BW/F staff have been to the rapid cycle innovation and redesign process. They have come up with lots of wonderful ideas in a very short time,” said Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA, vice president for Clinical Excellence. “What we are seeing is the start of a cultural shift in how problem solving at BW/F is approached—away from an incremental and typically slower pace of change.”
Look for more details on current team communication and patient flow innovations underway in the July editions of the BWH Bulletin. Gustafson may be contacted for more information or with questions at mgustafson@partners.org.