Best Place to Work

• Placing a Gratitude Jar in the entrance of the department (a prominent position)
• “Planting” a Gratitude Tree on a wall
• Buying playful fruit-shaped sticky notes to write their gratitude messages and post on the tree 

What can your team do to measure and reduce stress? 

• 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? 

• 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?

• Identifying the problem was with the needle supplier
• Filing a Responsible Reporting Form, and working together to arrive at the solution
• Switching needle suppliers to improve care and safety

 What can your team do to listen to the voice of the patient? 

• 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? 

• 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?

• 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? 

• Creating a daily stretching routine, and discussing work safety on a regular basis
• Discussing proper lifting and pushing techniques, and also the proper use of equipment
• Posting safe-driving and other safety awareness tips, and highlighting the number of injury-free days

What can your team do to reduce injuries and keep one another safe on the job?