A spoonful of fun makes QI projects more palatable
Ohio agency holds monthly QI contests
Quality improvement projects need not be the sour-tasting vegetable on the home care agency’s plate.
Given the right seasoning, a quality manager can make those projects tasty and fun for all employees. Just ask Liz Bever, director of community relations for Cambridge Home Health Care Inc. in Akron, OH. Her agency’s staff actually look forward to their monthly QI projects because it means they will have a little friendly competition and perhaps even win some prizes.
Some sample contests
Cambridge Home Health has a Medicare and a private-pay division, and the agency holds companywide QI contests, alternating each month between contests for the field and the office staff. Each office has its own prizes that range up to $50 total.
"This allows us to focus on different issues that might be related to customer service or professionalism, and we can highlight those issues that are what people need to be focusing on," Bever says.
"We believe in the contests and think they’re important to do and are fun and exciting," she adds. "It’s a nice way for us to remind staff about policies without nagging them."
Prizes are awarded to between one and three winners each month. Past awards have included a gift certificate for an oil change and a basket full of Christmas wrapping paper, cards, cocoa, chocolates, candles, and ornaments. The agency also has given out "pamper baskets" in which an employee receives a basket with all of his or her favorite little items, such as snacks, beverages, and scents.
Managers select the monthly QI contest based on what they think needs improving. It might be that the staff has become sloppy with paperwork and need to be reminded to be vigilant in this area, or it could be attendance has become a problem.
Here’s a look at some of the different QI contests:
• Improving attendance: One contest will focus on the staff’s attendance for a month. Each employee who has perfect attendance for a week will get his or her name in a drawing to win a prize at the end of the month. "By making this shorter term and having a quicker reward, this is has more punch to it," Bever explains.
It also makes an employee think a little more carefully about whether they want to call in sick over a headache, she adds.
• Encouraging staff to pick up short-notice cases: The agency often receives calls from referral sources who say they have a patient if the agency can handle the case within two hours. One monthly contest encourages field staff to volunteer to take on such a short-order case by putting their names in a drawing every time they do so.
"That would be something that came up that we didn’t anticipate and no one was assigned to," Bever says. "So here’s an opportunity for them to have their name put in a drawing when they pick up that patient."
This contest demonstrates the importance of team work and chipping in when unexpected circumstances arise.
• Turning in paperwork accurately and on time: This could even include time cards that employees forget to complete on time. During this monthly QI contest, each time an employee completes his or her paperwork on time, he or she will be entered in the drawing for a prize.
• Focusing on customer satisfaction: The agency typically holds this contest twice a year in an effort to assess and improve customer satisfaction. Office staff will conduct telephone surveys of four to five patients from each office. Using a questionnaire, the employees will ask patients to rate their overall delivery of care and the quality of the people who delivered their care. If the survey results have improved over the previous six-month period, then the employees who received the improved customer satisfaction results would receive a day off with pay or a day off plus a book or CD of their choice.
"We believe you can’t expect unless you inspect, and everybody knows we’re doing the survey and they’re eager for the results," Bever says. "Also, it’s a wonderful opportunity for the support staff to have communication with patients because that’s who we’re all here for."
• Improving phone skills: A monthly contest for office staff uses a monthly shopper to see how employees handle inquiries about the agency’s services. "We have specific things we’re looking for, and the staff knows ahead of time what we’re looking for because we give them a sheet saying we’re going to be listening for this and this," Bever says.
Whichever employee handles the mystery shopper call successfully will receive a free dinner or movie gift certificate.
• Liz Bever, Director of Community Relations, Cambridge Home Health Care Inc., 291 N. Cleveland Massillon Road, Akron, OH 44333. Telephone: (330) 668-1922.
• John Gaynor, President, John Gaynor and Associates, 670 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60610. Telephone: (312) 664-6980.
• Mary St. Pierre, Director of Regulatory Affairs, National Association for Home Care, 228 Seventh St. S.E., Washington, DC 20003. Telephone: (202) 547-7424. Web site: www.nahc.org.
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content