Frontline Physicians

• Making phone calls to help make appointments and answer questions
• Creating a "road map" on how to navigate Kaiser Permanente and utilize services
• Greeting new members when they come in and provide useful information

What can your team do to welcome new members? And what could your team do to leverage its members' unique strengths and knowledge?

• Opening the lab a half-hour earlier to prevent long lines at the open of business
• Shifting work schedules and staggering lunch hours to have more staff covering available time
• Cross-training staff to register patients, process specimens and draw blood

 What can your team do to improve its workflow? 

• Having medical assistants take vitals instead of waiting for LPNs
• Huddling twice daily to discuss needs and concerns
• Dividing labor and shifting schedules where necessary

 What can your team do to huddle more often and more effectively? 

• Educating about the proper use of VTE orders for post-operative patients
• Coordinating with pharmacists and other teams to ensure orders are followed
• Outlining how the Joint Commission's SCIP guidelines can help improve compliance

 What can your team do to work with other teams to improve outcomes for patients? 

• Identifying the number of patients off telemetry monitoring for longer than 3 minutes and why
• Huddling to discuss the severity and consequences of the problem
• Creating reminders to check monitors, and make it part of the routine

What can your team do hardwire improvements you make into your workflow?

• Surveying employees about attendance policies
• Creating guidelines around sick days, tardiness and dangling (not filling out time cards)
• Rewarding successful employees with a formal lunch

What can your team do to reward and recognize one another?

• Identifying which tests oncology patients actually need
• Creating and issuing a "golden ticket" to get patients to the front of the line
• Fast tracking the processing of labs before seeing the doctor

What can your team do to adjust your workflow in a way that puts the patient at the center?

• Using key phrases in malnutrition assessment to catch the attention of physicians
• Bolding their recommendations in notes to doctors
• Speaking directly to physicians about potentially malnourished patients

What can your team do to improve cooperation between physicians and other members of the care team?

• Communicating with the team
• Asking how the team prefers to communicate or meet
• Allowing team members to earn rewards for attendance

What can your team do to improve communication among its members?