Motivate your staff: Get involved in goal-setting
Set department-specific goals
Anna Dapelo-Garcia, director of patient admitting services at Stanford (CA) Hospital & Clinics, says that since staff have become involved in setting specific goals, she has noticed "an increase in their engagement. They are excited and proud to be part of their unit, department, and organization."
Although senior leadership of Stanford Hospital and Clinics identify hospital-wide goals, patient admitting services managers work with their staff directly to set departmental goals.
The goal-setting is done at an annual offsite retreat. The previous year's goals are reviewed, and goals for the coming year are discussed.
During the all-day meeting, a facilitator, admitting managers, and a hospital vice president speak about current and future hospital initiatives. "The offsite retreat is also a celebration of the work done in the prior fiscal year," says Dapelo-Garcia. "To ensure progress is made on our goals, they are reviewed each quarter during the year."
Staff, in their own words
Stanford's patient admitting services department goes the extra mile to be sure that staff are involved in setting goals. To create a presentation, "The Voice of Patient Admitting Services," staff were videotaped and asked to speak about what improvements could be made regarding employee engagement, patient experience, and operations.
"The videotape was then shown at the annual offsite [meeting] to inspire and inform goals for the upcoming year," says Dapelo-Garcia. "It was quite poignant, and everyone enjoyed watching it."
Below are some of the goals that were set for fiscal year 2009 at the annual offsite retreat. All of these were achieved.
Improve the organization of the admission process and the courtesy of the emergency department registration staff.
Improve the patient experience by installing language line phones to help non-English-speaking patients during the registration process.
Create a call-in program, where patients can call a dedicated phone number to renew the labels that are used when undergoing tests and procedures. "This was popular with patients who then did not have to wait in line to renew their registration labels," says Dapelo-Garcia.
Reduce the average check-in time in the emergency department to four minutes.
Reduce patient wait time to register in main admitting from fifteen minutes to 10 minutes.
Implement department-wide staff meetings, which include representatives from each of the six units that comprise patient admitting services.
Establish a staff advancement program with curriculum so that staff are aware of what steps they need to take to be promoted within the department.
Revise and improve the financial clearance policy.
Staff also contributed to achieving many "unplanned goals," says Dapelo-Garcia. For example, a professional image program was conceived. Navy blue blazers with the Stanford Hospital & Clinics logo were selected for main admitting and ancillary registration staff, and navy blue polo shirts with the logo were selected for ED registration staff.
"This created a cohesiveness among the staff and management who radiated this professional image," says Dapelo-Garcia.
Staff also were involved in creating a revised patient admitting services intranet web site. New and improved sections were added, which included a suggestion box, resources for end-users, and convenient features.
"It is very inspiring to see individuals bloom and become leaders. This positive energy is contagious," says Dapelo-Garcia. "Their co-workers get excited and eager to become involved as well."
[For more information, contact:
- Anna Dapelo-Garcia, Director, Patient Admitting Services, Stanford Hospital & Clinics, 300 Pasteur Drive, Room H1105B, M/C 5224, Stanford, CA 94305. Phone: (650) 723-9292. E-mail: [email protected].]
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