An industrial kitchen can be a dangerous place, with its sharp knives, wet floors, plentiful grease and hot temperatures.
Vanessa Bethea, a lead hospitality associate and member of SEIU UHW, still remembers when she witnessed a colleague being injured by a huge meat slicer.
The kitchen at the Panorama City Medical Center, where Bethea works, is a 54-member department, covering two shifts with staggered start times. It was also among the most injury-prone groups at the medical center, so hospital leadership asked the department to come up with a plan to improve its safety record.
The nine-member representative group for the UBT came up with the idea of dividing the department into two teams (simply named Team A and Team B) and sponsoring a friendly competition between them for a pair of movie tickets.
This motivated—and liberated—the staff to approach their colleagues who might be performing a task unsafely and suggest an alternative approach.
“We were ‘big brothering’ each other, which helped us catch things that could have led to an accident,” Bethea says. “It kept a friendly flow throughout the day and created more awareness of safety hazards.”
The team went nearly a year without any accepted claims for workplace injuries, down from about one injury a month.
Bethea says naysayers wanted to infect others in the department with negative attitudes, but the team overcame the hurdle by emphasizing how improving safety will help the whole department.
They also encouraged those naysayers to join the UBT’s representative group.
For more about this team's work to share with your team and spark performance improvement ideas, download a powerpoint.
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pdsa_Panoram City FANS_WPS
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Long Teaser
A Food and Nutrition Services department in Southern California goes injury free for 11 months after engaging staff members in a friendly competition for movie tickets.
The NICU at Panorama Medical Center wasn’t happy with their pain management rating.
But they also knew that managing pain for babies was completely unlike managing pain for adults.
So they felt it was incumbent upon them to explain to concerned parents how they were treating their infant.
“Our patients can’t tell us what they feel,” says Casey Koenig, one of the unit’s RNs. “And we know there are times we might cause pain.”
Those painful procedures might include when a nurse pricks a baby’s heel to draw blood or needs to starts an IV.
The caregivers’ challenge was not only to manage the baby’s pain but also to alleviate parents’ anxieties and manage their expectations. Less-than-stellar scores further motivated team members.
To improve their communication,they created a script to help explain what was going on. This included the type and severity of pain their newborns might experience. and what steps providers would take to manage it.
After the changes, scores jumped to 100 percent.
The scripts also helped nurses to deliver better service as they realized they needed to start coaching parents as soon as babies are admitted to the NICU.
After all, moms have just given birth and concerned parents may be distracted.
“It may not sink in the first time,” Koenig says.
For more about this team's work to share with your team and spark performance improvement ideas, download a powerpoint.
Caption information for photo/artwork (reporters)
Emma Luz Yabut, RN, a UNAC/UHCP member, cares for one of the infant charges in the Panorama City NICU.
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pdsa_Panorama City_NICU_pain mgt
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Long Teaser
The Panorama City NICU team boosts service scores by focusing on early, repeated, consistent communication between nurses and parents to educate families about managing pain for newborn babies.
Chris Covin, MD, head of Pediatrics at the Martinez Medical Center, says patients need whole teams of caregivers pitching in to help provide the best possible care.
Communicator (reporters)
Non-LMP
Notes (as needed)
Photo attached. Note: Photo dimensions are funky. Can we do a more horizontal crop to get rid of some of the white space?--JL
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" (two copies print out on each 8.5" x 11" sheet)
Intended audience: Frontline staff and management
Best used: For members to remind laboratory patients to check in with the receptionist. Can be printed in black-and-white or color, and laminated. Available in English and Spanish.
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" (two copies print out on each 8.5" x 11" sheet)
Intended audience: Frontline staff and management
Best used: Print in black-and-white or color, then laminate and distribute to members as needed to remind them to check in with the clerk at the pharmacy. Available in English and Spanish.
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" (two copies print out on each 8.5" x 11" sheet)
Intended audience: Frontline staff and management
Best used: Print in black-and-white or color, then laminate and distribute to members heading for the Radiology department to remind them to check in with the receptionist. Available in English and Spanish.
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" (two copies print out on each 8.5" x 11" sheet)
Intended audience: Frontline staff and management
Best used: Print in black-and-white or color, then laminate and distribute this visual reminder to members who have had an in-office biopsy as needed. Available in English and Spanish.
This check-in card can be given to members who have had an in-office biopsy as a reminder to check in with the receptionist to see whether they have a co-payment.
