The case study selected is from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Lincoln Health Hospital mission and vision statement is to provide efficient, compassionate, high quality and cost-effective health care services for individuals in the community. These core values ensure a promotion of health and education of health care professionals to participate in adequate medical research. Lincoln Health hospital is a busy hospital in Damariscotta, Maine. This hospital serves individuals in the community regardless of their health insurance status or immigration status. Patients opinions and customer service satisfaction is essential and beneficial in organizations. When a patient seeks medical assistance Lincoln Health automatically mails out customer service satisfaction and improvement surveys. This allows leaders to implement changes and focus on consumer needs and gratification. The surveys allowed patients to express their ideas based on the hospitals safety culture. The wait time for patients in the emergency department was over thirty minutes in order to see a doctor for medical care. The hospital implemented TeamSTEPPS principles. This is a system that allows trainers and teamwork between healthcare professionals. This helps improve communication and boosts patients quality of care and safety. Miller and Sawyer are Nurses in the facility and they are master trainers of the TeamStepps implementation. Miller and Sawyer built a team consisting of front line staff from all departments involved in admissions to the hospital from the ED, which included staff from ED, inpatient units, and shift supervisors, as well as patient registration, administration, and environmental services staff. (Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, 2020). This allowed employees to meet on a weekly basis in order to understand workflow from the emergency department to inpatient care and understand the barriers and process that are lacking and slowing patient admitting time in the emergency room. The nurses implemented a checklist and trained every employee in the ER on the new process in order to reduce the time and increase teamwork throughout the facility.
The organization was facing challenges before the implementation of the new method and Miller and Sawyer new method allowed employees to meet for nine months based on feedback and progression of the program. The changes made an effective quality improvement and the wait time for patients in the ER were reduced to less than thirty minutes. In 2016 the wait time was over forty five minutes and in 2019 the wait time reduced to twenty five minutes. The hospitals overall quality of care rating improved. Surveys were continuously provided to patients and the scores improved. This allowed the team, to understand each other’s roles and appreciate roles as a team and work in different areas of the hospital.
The implementation allowed healthcare workers to develop relationships across different departments and servile lines. The teams implemented a great idea, to place stop sign magnets with an estimated time room ready on empty patient room doors that are in process of being cleaned and sanitized. Healthcare professionals are able to visualize the rooms and are able to determine how long rooms will be available for patients. This improved the overall environment and individuals were able to work efficiently without interruptions with phone calls and questions regarding room availability. This overall implementation reduced tension and improved ethics, and morale in the organization.
The organization was facing challenges before the implementation of the new method and Miller and Sawyer new method allowed employees to meet for nine months based on feedback and progression of the program. The changes made an effective quality improvement and the wait time for patients in the ER were reduced to less than thirty minutes. In 2016 the wait time was over forty five minutes and in 2019 the wait time reduced to twenty five minutes. The hospitals overall quality of care rating improved. Surveys were continuously provided to patients and the scores improved. This allowed the team, to understand each other’s roles and appreciate roles as a team and work in different areas of the hospital.
The implementation allowed healthcare workers to develop relationships across different departments and servile lines. The teams implemented a great idea, to place stop sign magnets with an estimated time room ready on empty patient room doors that are in process of being cleaned and sanitized. Healthcare professionals are able to visualize the rooms and are able to determine how long rooms will be available for patients. This improved the overall environment and individuals were able to work efficiently without interruptions with phone calls and questions regarding room availability. This overall implementation reduced tension and improved ethics, and morale in the organization.