Graph/Improvement - Color

• Training staff and physicians about advance directives
• Developing a “smart set,” a standardized phrase, to track advance directives in Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect
• Creating a process for medical assistants to verify, update and offer information about advance directives to radiation cancer patients

• Creating ID system for new members, such as highly visible yellow stickers on member cards
• Training staff and doctors about the importance of new members and how to make them feel welcome
• Making outreach calls for the new member's first appointment

What can your team do to welcome new members to KP? 

• Reviewing upcoming ultrasound appointments to schedule reminder calls
• Dividing call duties among different assigned staffers to ensure privacy
• Calling a day in advance of appointments to discuss patient instructions

What can your team do to reach out to patients? And how could your team work with other teams to improve service? 

• Following the successful practice of another team that solved the same problem
• Offering kid-friendly food like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• Creating restaurant style menus with imagery of zoo animals

What can your team do to listen to the voice of the patient? And how could your team learn from other teams that have tackled challenges similar to yours?

• Establishing a baseline measurement for how long moms are getting skin-to-skin contact with their new babies
• Creating talking points of the benefits for both new baby and mother about this critical bonding
• Communicating with staff to ensure a minimum of 60 minutes of skin-to-skin contact occurs post delivery

 What can your team do to explain the "why" behind what you are doing? 

• 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?

• Showing providers how to code for accidents and workplace injuries
• Teaching pharmacies how to ID medications related to injuries and accidents
• Using electronic drug information system for better cross-referencing

 What can your team do create smoother workflows? And how could your team work better with other UBTs to improve performance? 

• Identifying the problem of lab wait times and its root causes
• Employing a "one-on-one" style of service so more staffers help reduce the queue
• Having lab technicians handle patients from check-in to blood draw

 What can your team do to find out the root cause of a nagging problem?

• Having lab assistants, not runners, pick up blood samples at 6 a.m. and drop off specimens every half-hour
• Using clinical lab scientists from other departments to help process blood in the morning
• Moving weekend shifts for clinical lab scientists to 6 a.m. instead of 9 a.m.

 What can your team do to shift its workflow for the benefit of patients?