Intranet keeps staff updated on news, policies
Easy access, limitless space proves tool effective
(Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part series that examines the use of computers and networks to communicate with employees and physician offices. Last month, we looked at how an outpatient surgery program can use the Internet to tie physician offices into the scheduling system. This month, we evaluate the use of an intranet to communicate with employees.)
Using the Internet to promote communications between physician offices and outpatient surgery programs is a good way to connect with your surgeons, but have you considered using an intranet to communicate with employees?
"Our intranet was up and running the day we opened the surgery center in 2003," says John J. Goehle, MBA, CASC, former administrator of Brighton Surgery Center in Brighton, NY. "I knew we would have a lot of information to share with employees throughout the first months, so I knew we needed an accessible, easy-to-update communications tool," he explains.
While the Internet is accessible by anyone, an intranet is a network that is accessible by only a specific group of people, in this case, the employees of Brighton Surgery Center, Goehle explains. The 65 Brighton Surgery Center employees access the intranet by using a computer within the center to access the surgery center web site, then choose "administrator" to go to a page that asks for a login and password, says Goehle. From that point, employees can see the company calendar with meetings, special events, and parties that are scheduled, staff meeting notes that are posted for departmental meetings, and staff news updates. "At first, I updated the staff news section on a daily basis, but now it is updated every few months," he says. Not only was there a greater need for constant updates when the surgery center first opened but by posting new information each day, he ensured that even employees who were not computer-savvy were getting in the habit of checking the site daily for information, he says.
In addition to ongoing communications, the intranet also has a module that contains all of the policies and procedures for the surgery center, says Goehle. "This is extremely helpful because it is searchable, so if you are looking for policies that relate to admissions, you can search for the word "admissions" and have all of the applicable policies appear," he says. The Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) surveyor liked this system because it is easy to find policies, Goehle says.
Another module on the intranet contains staff training in video and audio formats and links staff members to policies that relate to the training session, says Goehle. "At this time there is no automatic documentation of training feature, but the system does print out a form the employee can give to the supervisor," he adds.
Accounts payable records and contracts also are accessible on the intranet, but only to select employees who need access to those items, says Goehle. At this time, employees cannot access the intranet from outside the surgery center, but the administrators are examining how to safely allow outside access, especially for investors, says Goehle. "There are a lot of possible uses for our intranet, but we have to make sure our information stays protected," he adds.
One use of the intranet that did not work as well as anticipated is the computerized communication log for nurses, admits Goehle. "The idea that nurses could complete or access the logs from any computer is a good idea as opposed to the nurse looking for the paper copy of the log," he says. "The problem is that it is a more complicated system to use and requires more training than we've been able to provide at this time."
If you are interested in setting up an intranet for employee communications, look for a web designer who is familiar with content management systems, which is a subset of web site design, suggests Goehle. "The top products, Mambo [www.mamboserver.com] and Joomla [www.joomla.org] are free, but if you don't have the information technology expertise on staff, it is necessary to pay for help," he says. Because he enjoys setting up web sites and is knowledgeable, Goehle designed the intranet site for his center. "It is unusual for a surgery center to have someone on staff with the knowledge and the time to do this," he admits.
While teaching employees how to use the intranet is simple, it is important to make sure you have several employees who are responsible for updating sections of the intranet, suggests Goehle. If you want your intranet to be useful as a communications tool, it requires more than one person to stay on top of the information, he says.
Employee input on content is solicited, and several good suggestions have enhanced the content, says Goehle. "The most surprising suggestion, which has resulted in the most popular section of the intranet, was a recipe section," he says. "Employees routinely posted copies of recipes from parties, staff dinners, or get-togethers in the employee lounge, but it was awkward for employees to copy the recipes. Now, the recipe is on the intranet for everyone to see and print out if interested."
Source
For more information about using an intranet for employee communications, contact:
- John J. Goehle, MBA, CASC, Vice President of Finance, Surgery Consultants of America, Riverwalk Building., Fourth Floor, 8540 College Park, Fort Myers, FL 33919. Telephone: (585) 594-1167. E-mail: [email protected].
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