'Risk management hero' award prompts staff
Staff respond best to positive feedback and to seeing that their participation results in a meaningful change in the workplace, says Denise C. Myers, RN, MS, CNAA, CPHRM, director of risk management at Monongalia Health System in Morgantown, WV.
Staff at Monongalia can be designated a "risk management hero" if they make a significant contribution. They receive a special certificate that recognizes them for "being an active member of the risk management department by being proactive in preventing/reducing risk. This official document may be shown to one and all as proof of their contribution to Monongalia's goal of actively managing patient and employee safety and satisfaction."
Risk management heroes also receive a coupon for a free meal in the cafeteria and recognition in the hospital newsletter. The first two recipients of the Risk Management Hero award were employees of the laboratory services department who developed a special label to use when sending lab results while the hospital's pneumatic tube system is down. The label clearly identifies that the envelope contains confidential laboratory results, and the envelope is blue instead of the usual tan color.
The bar is purposefully set low for being deemed a risk management hero so that staff are encouraged to report themselves or another person and a lot of people can be rewarded for their effort, Myers says.
"It's part of becoming more of a proactive organization," Myers says. "We want to encourage people to report everything they even think might be a risk management concern, so we don't mind sending out an 'attaboy!' every time someone reports a loose railing in the stairway or a leaky pipe that could cause someone to slip and fall."
Staff respond best to positive feedback and to seeing that their participation results in a meaningful change in the workplace.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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