Encourage an employee hunt to prepare for survey
It’s one thing to ask nurses where they can find the sharps container or policy books. It’s quite another thing to watch them scramble madly about the office trying to find these items so they can win a scavenger hunt.
Wendy Calvert, RN, staff development coordinator for Susquehanna Regional Home Health Services of Williamsport, PA, decided to add a little spice to preparation for a February 1997 survey by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in Oakbrook Terrace, IL.
She created a 30-item, two-page scavenger hunt that forces employees to find essential home care items and information. "It asks them the name of a [hazardous] product you might use in home care and what action you would take if it got into your eyes," Calvert says.
Susquehanna Regional Home Health Services is a nonprofit full-service agency that serves a 40 mile radius surrounding Williamsport in northeastern Pennsylvania.
"I’ve gotten really positive feedback," Calvert says. "They were relearning some things they had forgotten, and they really enjoyed it because it was getting them ready for the Joint Commission survey."
Calvert says it’s easy to prepare a scavenger hunt. Here are a few of her tips:
• Choose about 30 items and their locations that staff will have to know for the survey, including the fire extinguisher, contaminated waste box, and safety equipment.
• Write up the items in a question format, so they have to answer the questions before they know which items to find. Calvert made this a little more challenging by asking questions that required some additional effort. One example was she asked the staff to find the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of Washington, DC, poster and then to list one point on the poster. "Some can do this from memory," Calvert states. "But more than anything, the idea is to make them aware of where it is in our agency."
• Include questions about certain employees, such as the contact person regarding an illness or injury.
• Have the entire staff participate in the game in large or small groups at times that didn’t conflict with patient schedules. Calvert’s scavenger hunt sessions ranged from groups of three to 20.
[Wendy Calvert, RN, staff development coordinator, can be reached at Susquehanna Regional Home Health Services, 1201 Grampian Blvd., Suite 3A, Williamsport, PA 17701; or by calling (717) 323-9891.]
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