Erika Hatva

Daily Briefing Promotes Hospital-Wide Transparency And Patient Safety

Norton Suburban Hospital is undergoing a transformation, and will become Norton Women’s and Kosair Children’s Hospital (NWKCH). When construction at the hospital is completed in 2014, the changes will encompass much more than brick-andmortar additions. Inpatient and outpatient services for the whole family—men, women, and children—will be greatly enhanced, while the new hospital maintains its tradition of serving the entire community. Services at the hospital include one of the state’s highest volume obstetrics units, neonatal intensive care, breast health, bone health, pelvic health and women’s heart programs, cancer services, emergency care, intensive care, pediatric outpatient surgery, and pediatric emergency care. The ongoing transformation has created many hospital-wide challenges. Recognizing the importance of keeping open communication between and within hospital departments during the transition period, while maintaining an unwavering focus on patient care and safety, the Risk Management Department instituted a hospital-wide patient safety initiative. Members of the Biomedical Engineering Department found that the safety initiative unexpectedly solved a number of challenges they had been facing, while facilitating their transition to the new hospital.

Optimizing Staff Onboarding

When Henry Quiñones joined the University of Vermont’s Technical Services Program—now called the Technical Services Partnership (TSP)—as a biomedical equipment technician (BMET) in October 2004, he remembers sitting in front of the computer for two days learning about company policy, and then being told to go out and work at client sites. T.C. Bugbee had a similar experience in May 2000. “I remember thinking: What am I supposed to be doing here? Each [client] site has a slightly different contract, and I didn’t know what each contract was,” Bugbee recalls. Today, new hires have a completely different experience, as Mark Robinson, BMET II; and Chris Olden, BMET I, who both joined the TSP in early September, can attest. According to Robinson, “the process is very professional and involved. When they do release me to work with hospital clients, I will be very prepared.” Olden agrees. “They do a good job of training us on various types of equipment, and we get great tips from specialists.” The transformation from what Mike Lane, TSP’s associate director, calls a “give-and-go strategy,” in which new hires were given as much information as possible in the shortest period and had to go apply it, to an improved staff onboarding system, did not happen overnight. The team incorporated feedback from new hires, staff, and clients over a period of five or six years, adding several key elements.

Partnership with college solves staff shortage problem.

Archbold Medical Center, located in Thomasville, GA, is a four-hospital, three nursing-home system accredited by The Joint Commission. With high standards and three tenets—care, commitment to excellence, and community— Archbold’s Clinical Engineering (CE) Department found itself in a bit of a quandary in 2008. How does a first-rate facility hire trained biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs) in a rural location with starting salaries that are less competitive than those in a metropolis? Members of the Archbold Medical Center Human Resources, Administration, Engineering, and CE departments joined forces with administrators and professors at nearby Southwest Georgia Technical College (SWGTC) to implement an innovative, communityfocused, long-term solution to the shortage of healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals in their geographical area.