health care planning Archives - HCO News https://hconews.com/tag/health-care-planning/ Healthcare Construction & Operations Wed, 07 Jun 2017 15:57:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.0.9 https://hconews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cropped-HCO-News-Logo-32x32.png health care planning Archives - HCO News https://hconews.com/tag/health-care-planning/ 32 32 Part II: Lead With Transition Planning https://hconews.com/2017/06/06/part-ii-lead-transition-planning/ Tue, 06 Jun 2017 22:00:55 +0000 http://hconews.com/?p=42397 Transition planning during health care facility construction is crucial to ensure improved care to the community.

The post Part II: Lead With Transition Planning appeared first on HCO News.

]]>
By Terry Thurston

During Part I of this two-part series, it covered the importance of transition planning during new hospital construction or renovations. Through the transition planning process, health care organizations receive invaluable intangible deliverables including the breakdown of department silos through increased appreciation for work in other departments, elimination of duplicative processes and cross-training of staff, as well as the benefits of change management and culture development.

Specific sequencing is paramount. There may be staff turnover from the original design teams to the phase of transition and activation.  New members and decision makers need to see and understand the reasons for design decisions and new standards.

Transition planning is critical in hospital transformation. The process helps to create a setting where hospital staff can deliver improved care to the community.

One major process that comes up in almost every transition planning engagement includes more effective and better ways to deliver medications to patients while minimizing unnecessary steps for the nursing staff.  The patient needs to receive the right drug, at the right time, in the right dose and route, every time. From the nursing perspective, medications need to be easily accessible, as close to the bedside as possible and available when needed. Pharmacists are concerned about the appropriate storage, accurate dispensing and controls to the distribution point of care. Balancing the needs of these various group to find a solution that works for everyone is possible if the right processes are employed.

Testing new processes through mock scenarios and drills is also integral to effective transition planning.  These drills help to test the new processes to assure that they fit the design of the new facility.  Typically, mock drills and simulations are staged approximately two-three weeks prior to activation after all equipment and supplies are in place. Those processes with the most change are tested and simulated with staff to ensure correct understanding of location of critical equipment, supplies and flows of patients, visitors and staff.

At Castle Rock Adventist hospital, the transition team managed the process beautifully. “In working through transition planning for the opening of our new acute care facility, the Transition Team provided the detailed guidance needed in designing an operation plan,” says Vicki Mettlach, Project Manager/Director of Quality Resources.  “This involved creating policies and procedures, developing process flow and testing mock patient scenarios.  This was very beneficial to us in our preparations to open successfully and smoothly by keeping us on track and on top of the overwhelming details that could otherwise be overlooked.”

Lean tools are the root of effective transition planning. Without good tools, it is impossible to create customer value, eliminate waste, promote flow, or test processes, all steps that are instrumental in eliminating waste.  The process map is an important tool that transition teams employ to establish roadmaps and guides for decision making in multiple healthcare processes and procedures.

Enthusiasm, Energy + Improved Care Delivery

Working hard to ensure the smoothest transition, a large proportion of staff will have put in extraordinary time in the months prior to the move. Day one is a time to celebrate. But in the months and years that follow, real success will always be measured by the care that is given. How seamless that care is, and its delivery will depend on the work that was done in the transition planning phase from the old facility and to processes in the new. The net result – patient safety, patient satisfaction, and operational efficiency — is ultimately the chief goal.

Optimizing the value of transitioning with all attendant changes is a significant moment in an institution’s history, which can depend not only on unique talent and expertise, but also extraordinary levels of enthusiasm and energy. Health care leaders can decisively include transition planning in their project scope from the outset, leveraging the excitement as well as bringing clarity and improvement to new facility processes.

Terry Thurston is the Healthcare Operations Planner with Indianapolis-based BSA LifeStructures. She can be reached at tthurston@bsalifestructures.com or 317.819.7878.

 

The post Part II: Lead With Transition Planning appeared first on HCO News.

]]>
Part II: A Great Strategy Needs a Great Champion https://hconews.com/2017/06/06/part-ii-great-strategy-needs-great-champion/ Tue, 06 Jun 2017 21:44:20 +0000 http://hconews.com/?p=42386 Starting off with a well-defined idea gets a project off on the right foot, but only solid execution can ensure real success.

The post Part II: A Great Strategy Needs a Great Champion appeared first on HCO News.

]]>
By Michelle Mader

In Part I of this two-part series, a project champion was defined and now the focus is on executing the project strategies. Starting off with a well-defined idea gets a project off on the right foot, but only solid execution can ensure real success. This is particularly true in the complex arena of health care design, where projects can take a decade or more to be realized. As important strategic and operational decisions are translated into action, there are many ways in which a project could potentially derail. Garnering the project team’s interest begins as early as the feasibility study, during which the project is vetted. Maintaining interest over the life of a project can be a challenge if care is not taken continue to engage and involve all participants throughout.

In most cases, stakeholders are excited and motivated at the start of a project. The challenge is to maintain momentum long after the kick-off meeting. If the stakeholders find that they are still working on an initiative after five years and the goal still is not in sight, they will just want to be “done” with it. Most people take a lot of pride in being able to complete something, and they become frustrated and apathetic when they don’t have a feeling of accomplishment.

Sometimes the issue with momentum is related to the scale of the initiative; it simply cannot be accomplished in a short timeframe. Setting achievable interim goals provides stakeholders with measurable accomplishments. In other cases, the issue is related to the size and agility of the team tasked with meeting the objective. Unfortunately, too many champions feel compelled to include as many stakeholders as possible in the process for fear of the negative feedback if someone feels left out. As a result, it is harder to schedule meetings, harder to gain consensus, and harder to move things forward. If the implementation team is small and agile, and the strategy does not require input from many other stakeholders, then the team can efficiently move forward.

The fact is, leadership by committee doesn’t necessarily move mountains. A champion must determine the optimal size of the team and identify the key stakeholders required to move the strategy forward; otherwise, it will take too long to develop and complete it. Those organizations that can look at the schedule and cut it in half to be first to market are the most successful.

Getting Back on Track

Unfortunately, too many good strategies get derailed along the way. One common cause is overwhelmed, multitasking staff who are unable to focus on the new initiative. If people feel overwhelmed, then they typically do one of two things — retreat or prioritize — and either way, the initiative loses momentum.  One can identify this by looking for root causes for a loss of momentum and discerning that staff are fatigued. One solution is to stretch out the timeline for an initiative by setting achievable interim goals, rather than setting an overly aggressive end goal that risks staff fatigue and burnout.

Another common cause is the emergence of a “reverse champion” — a boss who disagrees with the priority level of the initiative, or another stakeholder who thinks that a different course of action is equal to or better than the champion’s initiative and therefore doesn’t work to achieve the initiative. Bottom line: if the champion cannot get all the stakeholders to reach consensus on the value and priority of the initiative, then it is likely to go off the rails.

There will always be bumps along the way, and the industry is constantly evolving, so every organization needs effective champions to push initiatives forward and to keep them on track. And when there is a bump, the champion must find a way to persevere or adjust the strategy to get it back on track.

Timely Decision-Making

One tactical approach is to treat the bumps as side issues; that is, do not allow that one opinion to dominate the conversation and everyone’s thought processes and to consume their energy.  Communicate that the stakeholders will find a solution if everyone keeps working and keeps moving forward. Meanwhile, the stakeholders need to “park” that topic, stay focused and keep moving ahead. It is also important to reemphasize that the strategy is directionally correct and the plan is headed in the right direction.

For example, conversations about patient safety goals have a tendency to go off on tangents, explore every opportunity, and, at least at the outset, delve too deeply into the details, such as handrail placement, availability of assistive devices, etc. The champion needs to bring the conversation back to its point, asking, “What are we trying to accomplish? What are we doing on patient flows to ensure patient safety? How is each component making our patients safe?” These kinds of questions move conversations back to the center and enable teams to make timely decisions.

At the end of the day, a champion may have done all the right things, including determining an idea’s viability, formulating a clear strategy and implementation plan, assembling an agile team, making timely decisions and maintaining momentum. Nevertheless, the strategy may fail unless the champion is, fundamentally, a great leader. Healthcare champions, like all great leaders, must be passionate about their ideas and they must believe in the subsequent strategies behind these ideas. Moreover, they must be able to inspire others to follow them in pursuit of the goals that will benefit their patients and their organizations.

Michelle Mader, MBA, MHA, is the president of Catalyst, FreemanWhite.

The post Part II: A Great Strategy Needs a Great Champion appeared first on HCO News.

]]>