radiology

Stop the Line Audit Form tyra.l.ferlatte Wed, 05/01/2013 - 16:38
not migrated
Stop the Line Audit Form
Tool Type
Format
Running Your Team

Format:
Word document

Size:
8.5" x 11" 

Intended audience: 
Frontline teams

Best used:
Use this form as is or adapt it for your department's needs so team members may use it to report when something isn't right—helping to create a speak-up culture. 

You may be interested in reading Safe to Speak Up?

stop the line audit form

This form, used to report instances when care is compromised or there is a deviation in the agreed-upon workflow, was developed by teams in South San Francisco. Its use has helped empower employees to speak up when something isn't right. Featured in the Spring 2013 Hank.

Non-LMP
Tyra Ferlatte
Released

Poster: Reduce Patient No-Show Rates

Submitted by Shawn Masten on Sat, 03/03/2012 - 00:11
Region
Tool Type
Format
Topics
Content Section
Taxonomy upgrade extras
bb_CO_no_show

This poster provides tips on how to cut no-show rates.

Non-LMP
Tool landing page copy (reporters)
Poster: Reduce Patient No-Show Rates

Format:
PDF (color and black and white)

Size:
8.5” x 11”

Intended audience:
UBT members, co-leads and consultants

Best used:
Post on bulletin boards, in break rooms and other staff areas to demonstrate
 how reminder calls can reduce patient no-shows.

 

Released
Tracking (editors)
Classification (webmaster)
Workforce Development
Obsolete (webmaster)
poster
PDF
bulletin board packet
not migrated

Sick Days Are Not Days Off

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 12:48
Headline (for informational purposes only)
Sick Days Are Not Day's Off
Deck
Team explains attendance policy, boosts morale
Topics

Employees calling in sick was having a negative impact at the radiology lab.

Those serving the South San Francisco Medical Center and Daly City Medical Office Building had to work harder to fill in gaps.

Morale was sinking. And tired employees were vulnerable to getting sick, creating a downward attendance spiral.

Recognizing a crisis, the UBT issued an anonymous attendance survey and found there was widespread confusion about sick leave.

Wanting to encourage teamwork in improving attendance and to boost department morale, team members agreed to create department-wide goals, a department-wide educational effort, and a group celebration.

But the true aim was clear—help all staff members make their goals and encourage them to attend the party. They also wanted employees to have a clear understanding of expectations.

In setting the new targets in the attendance guidelines, the team defined clear goals. By announcing the guidelines at a staff party, it also set an upbeat tone, says labor co-lead Donna Haynes.

The new targets included:

  • no more than one tardy per two-week pay period (a tardy is three minutes past start time)
  • no more than two sick leave absences per quarter; and
  • no more than two 'danglers' (forgetting to clock in or out) per pay periods.

Supervisors met with each employee to review his or her attendance trends and to discuss concerns or needs. The staff found the meetings supportive.

"They asked, 'What can we do to help?’ They were trying to encourage you," says labor co-lead and lead mammography technologist, SEIU UHW, Adie Hoppis.

Employees who met the guidelines were invited to a quarterly lunch—complete with white tablecloths, silverware, wine glasses (for nonalcoholic beverages), music and catered food. Managers served the staff members.

"We're there to celebrate the staff," says Tracey Fung, service unit manager. "They were really floored. There had never been anything like this before in the department."

Hoppis says the lunches are a powerful positive reinforcement.

"They’re really nice. You’re treated special.”

With more employees at work, patient waiting time has decreased.

"Employees are happier, and patients are, too," Hoppis says.

Request Number
pdsa_SSF_Radiology_Attendance
Only use image in listings
not listing only
Long Teaser

Once sick leave guidelines were clarified, the South San Francisco Radiology department fixed its attendance issues.

Communicator (reporters)
Non-LMP
Notes (as needed)
Needs box
needs photo, tlf, 7/18
Learn more (reporters)
Management co-lead(s)
Union co-lead(s)

Adie Hoppis, Adie.Hoppis@kp.org
Donna Haynes, Donna.Haynes@kp.org

Status
Released
Tracking (editors)
Date of publication
Obsolete (webmaster)
Migrated
not migrated

Poster: Creative Use of Closet Space Speeds Service

Submitted by Kellie Applen on Thu, 06/02/2011 - 10:55
Tool Type
Format
Topics
Content Section
Taxonomy upgrade extras
bb_creative_closet

This poster spotlights a Radiology team that sped up service by converting a closet into a dressing room for members.

Non-LMP
Tool landing page copy (reporters)
Creative Use of Closet Speeds Service

Format:
PDF

Size:
8.5" x 11"

Intended audience:
Frontline employees, managers and physicians

Best used:
This poster, suitable for bulletin boards in break rooms and other staff areas, spotlights a Radiology team that sped up service by converting a closet into a dressing room.

Released
Tracking (editors)
Obsolete (webmaster)
not migrated

Smaller Teams Help Radiology Department Improve Performance

Submitted by Laureen Lazarovici on Tue, 12/21/2010 - 12:44
Request Number
sty_radiology_woodlandhills
Long Teaser

Turning its diversity into an opportunity, a once-struggling radiology department achieves success.

Communicator (reporters)
Laureen Lazarovici
Notes (as needed)
use links in "highlighted" section for "related tools" links on home page when story gets posted; but they shouldn't be featured in a box in the story. tlf, 12/29/10

no caption w/photo. tlf, 1/11/11
Photos & Artwork (reporters)
Only use image in listings (editors)
not listing only
Status
Released
Tracking (editors)
Story content (editors)
Headline (for informational purposes only)
Smaller teams help Radiology Department improve performance
Story body part 1

After a false start, the diagnostic imaging department at Woodland Hills Medical Center has found its stride. Its results are impressive: By drawing on the wide experience of the team, it’s improving workflow and boosting attendance.

To get those results, the department created one large UBT with several subcommittees and involved a physician champion. Two radiology summits, which were held to set priorities, included the whole team: 

  • More than 160 employees and physicians who see a quarter-million patients a year.
  • Staff in eight far-flung clinics as well as throughout the medical center. They range in age from late teens to 40-year veterans of Kaiser Permanente.
  • Team members in eight areas of expertise, including ultrasound, MRI, CAT scan, nuclear medicine, mammography, general x-ray, and special procedures.  

From confusion to clarity

At first, the team’s diverse skills and experience flummoxed the department-based team (the term Woodland Hills uses instead of unit-based team).  

“We didn’t know the scope of our work,” says Selena Marchand, a lead sonographer and labor co-lead. “The old DBT got stalled talking about things like the doctors’ parking lot.”

Lessons for large teams

  • Ensure your representative group is truly representative: strive to create a structure that includes someone from each location, modality, shift, etc.
  • Include physicians
  • Reach out to trained facilitators for help
  • Focus on what your department has the power to change

A secret society?

In addition, says Marchand, the representative group—which was working without a facilitator—didn’t communicate with its co-workers about the DBT’s projects. “They thought we were some sort of secret society,” says Marchand, a member of SEIU UHW. 

The team restructured in October 2009, electing one delegate from each “modality,” as the areas of expertise are known, to the representative group.

“Pushing responsibility and accountability back to different modalities has been one of our successes,” says Mike Bruse, the department administrator and management co-lead. “We’re focused on things that we can control in our department.”

Summits get everyone involved

The co-leads convened two department-wide summits to focus on improving team performance and set priorities. Staff members brainstormed about what the challenging issues facing the department were and wrote them on flip chart pages on the wall. Then, each employee attached a sticky note to the issues that most concerned them. The team and managers set out to tackle the seven issues that received the most tags. As the work got under way, progress reports were posted in the employee break room to keep everyone on the team—not just the representatives—informed.

Better workflow

The department also improved the way it distributes film to radiologists, so that patients’ results get to primary care physicians faster. Before the change, technicians were forced to constantly interrupt doctors to read films. Now, there is a tally sheet on each radiologist’s door indicating how many films he or she is reading. This allows techs to know who is available to read a film—and allows radiologists to work undisturbed. An aide to the technologists tracks the process, acting as a traffic controller.

“It was a relatively simple thing that improved satisfaction and patient care a lot,” says Mark Schwartz, MD, who represents physicians on the UBT. “And it didn’t cost any money.”

Better attendance

The team also improved attendance, decreasing last-minute sick calls by 14 days from the end of 2009 to October 2010. They beat the Lab Department in a friendly competition two quarters in a row and were rewarded with a barbeque. To do this, team members simplified presentation of attendance data and posted up-to-the-minute metrics.  

Beyond these gains, management co-lead Bruse says the most significant change is employees’ confidence in their own ability to make improvements.

“Our meetings used to be ‘complain to Mike,’ ” he said. “These days, when people see a problem, they take steps to solve it themselves.”

Obsolete (webmaster)
Migrated
not migrated