Have you ever wondered why some individuals with average talent achieve great success while others with exceptional talent see their careers derail? In sports we witness this all the time. Players with great talent often find themselves on the bench orout of the game. It may be a lack of commitment, desire or emotional intelligence.I have always appreciated the dedication and commitment of New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter. He clearly has talent, but his desire to continuously improve, his love of the sport, and his respect for all is why he will always be admired for his achievements.
What about the world of business? Do you feel that you have reached your full potential? If not, why not?
The following are a fewsuggestions to assist you to reach your full potential:
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To get our readers ready for National Nurses Week, we wanted to share a great new video from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that asks the question “What is a Nurse?”
The traditional view of the nurse as direct caregiver and bedside attendant to patients is really a limited view of the expansive and critical role nurses play in our healthcare system. As more and more change arrives in our system, nurses have taken on a myriad of other roles in the care process: research, community outreach, education, counseling – all of these represent departures from a “stereotypical” view of the role of nursing, and the video highlights the growth in these and other areas.
At Manage My Practice, we would like to thank all of our readers in nursing for delivering quality patient care in so many of our healthcare settings. Happy National Nurses day on May 6th, 2013!
NOTE: CMS has just added additional presentations of the webinar below – please check the end of the article for added dates. MPW
What is PQRS?
History is full of marketing disasters, and some are funnier than others. One addition to the ranks is the recent Cheat Death campaign created by North Carolinas Caromont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia. Intended to promote healthy eating and increased exercise, the medical marketing campaign backfired badly when local government leaders had to step in and ask the hospital to reconsider the slogan. Apparently community members responses ranged from amusement to outrage, with some thinking it was silly while others considered it blasphemous. We have no way of knowing how much the failed campaign cost the hospital but one thing is certain: the money would have been better spent on market research and testing ahead of time.
Step #1: Conduct Market Research
Some organizations will use the terms essential and non-essential workers as a way to distinguish between who needs to be on site in the event of an emergency, and who does not. I do understand the purpose of this distinction, however, it’s very important that businesses not give the impression that some employees are more important or valuable than others. (more…)
Many colleagues I speak with have a sense of or some experience with the tenets of “Lean.” But how does it really apply to healthcare – and is it really a way for medical practices to do more with less and maximize their resources? I recently spoke with Lean Healthcare Expert Mark Graban about where the rubber meets the road in healthcare.
Mary Pat: Most people have heard of Lean or have had some experience with it – can you explain what Lean is? (more…)
This is Patient Safety Week. Patient safety may bring to mind infections acquired in hospitals, but we know strides are being made to make hospitals, health centers and other patient care facilities much safer for patients.
But what are medical practices doing?
According a recent article in JAMA, primary care practices need to work harder at patient safety, but for reasons that might surprise you. The article cites communication and process issues as key to creating potentially unsafe situations for patients.
On Friday, February 1st, The Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released their final regulations on the Physician Payment Sunshine Act that was passed as a part of Heathcare Reform in 2010. The PPSA or “Sunshine Act” mandates that any manufacturer of medical supplies, medical equipment or pharmaceuticals will disclose to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) any payments, gifts, or “transfers of value” over $10. The resulting disclosures will be publicly available in a database of transactions so that there will be “sunshine” on any financial relationships, direct or indirect, between providers and manufacturers. All of the disclosure requirements are the responsibility of the vendor, but the public nature of the resulting data has implications for day to day operations in your practice, as well as any relationships you might have with prominent manufacturers.
What is the Purpose of the Sunshine Act? (more…)
During the holiday season we are reminded to give thanks and extend our best wishes to family, friends, and colleagues. It’s a time to step back and reflect upon the accomplishments achieved in collaboration with your team, and feel a sense of gratitude for what you have.
Do you take the time to acknowledge the contributions of others? Do you have a full appreciation for the importance of giving praise?
Many years ago I had an eye opening meeting with an engineering director named Pete. The purpose of the meeting was to update Pete on the progress of my work with several members of his team. I facilitated a process improvement initiative that ended up saving the company over one hundred thousand dollars. In spite of this outcome, the group had very low morale. One day I stopped one of our meetings and asked the team why they were so upset. They said “Pete doesn’t value us.” I asked “Why do you feel this way?” Their response was “He never shows appreciation for our work.” I shared this story with Pete in an attempt to provide him with a valuable insight. His response was “I don’t need to tell them how much I value them, they are engineers and should know how well they are doing.” I said “Pete, everyone wants to be appreciated. It’s not based on one’s position or degree. You need to express to your team how much you value them.”
To this day, I can still see Pete struggling to understand the importance of giving thanks.
The following are a few suggestions for leaders regarding expressing thanks:
In 2001 the Institute of Medicine published Crossing the Quality Chasm, a report on the quality of healthcare in the United States and on the needless deaths that occurred in the healthcare system. The report listed ways to overcome the inadequacies in the system. The report was widely quoted and led to many quality improvement efforts at healthcare sites across the United States.
Now, eleven years after the issue of Crossing the Quality Chasm, the IOM has issued another report on the state of healthcare in the U.S.: Best Care at Lower Cost. It draws upon many of the successes in delivering better care at a lower cost in order to foster more widespread changes that will improve care while saving a great deal of money. Since this is the focus of the work that I do, I will take this issue of Making Good Healthcare Better to highlight some of the recommendations from the report. Before I do that, let me present a few quotes from a September 7, 2012 Associated Press articleHealthcare System Wastes $750B a Year in its review of the report:
