Identify and overcome barriers to create more cohesive and effective environments
We develop goals, initially. Right from the start, we try to develop some goals of the project. And yes, there is resistance, and thats expected. But one of our primary goals is sustainability. So we like to work with the individuals to develop sustainability. One thing that we are aware of with change is what may work for me, may not work for you. And this is where we like to have everyone involved.
A minor change such as changing language on a scheduling form may impact a surgeons office. They may have an electronic scheduling platform. So even though it seems a minor change to us, its a major change to the physicians office. So at that, wed like to work with everyone that will be affected. And thats a big piece of it.
Certainly, we dont meet with every single nurse, every single person. But we want to understand who will be affected by any change, and seek their input. How can we help them. What do they need to do to achieve this goal? Many times we modify our goals. Well look at what we can do. Where do we need to go? What will help us achieve our goals?
So through change management, its listening. Its listening to our client. Its listening to our staff. Listening to our physicians, and our patients. We want to understand their concerns. We want them to be a part of the solution. Its not top down with surgical directions. We have national benchmark guidelines, and best practices that work. But we know its not a plug and play. Thats why we dont hand over a manual and say, here you go. This is best practice.
We know that this is where we want to get based on best practice. But how were going to get there, we do it together. And thats what drives our change management, and our success for sustainability. We want to have a variety of people involved in the change process so that they can offer their suggestions. And wed like to have leaders that will make it happen, and constant reinforcement.
And we monitor. We monitor change to see if it has been effective. We develop KPIs, key performance indicators. We audit processes, and we do observations to see what has changed, and what do we need to continue to work on. Culture is one of the key components for staff retention. And Ive been in nursing for quite a while. And the behaviors that I used to see in my personal life many years ago, its not acceptable. It was not acceptable, then, and its not acceptable today.
We truly believe in no tolerance. We identify what some of the challenges are, and we work with whomever the individual is that may not be culturally appropriate within the organization to help resolve these issues. Disruptive behavior is common in perioperative services. A lack of DEI is common in perioperative services. And this is where we work with leadership, and staff to identify what are the problems in the organization, and how can we resolve this. And we look for solutions that also have accountability. So there will be oversight and holding people accountability to follow the guidelines to improve culture, and the workforce environment.
