Quality

• Using a checklist of important topics as a teaching tool for new parents at discharge with their new baby
• Speaking with them at a time when they are most likely to understand and take in the information
• Creating a script for nurses that doesn't feel rehearsed or fake

What can your team do to improve your communication with patients?

• 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?

• Sorting and metering mail at fewer locations
• Centralizing facilities mail processing for greater efficiency
• Adding meters, offering overtime, and negotiating lower rates for needed vendor services

What can your team do to consolidate supplies or services? What else could your team do to reduce waste?

• 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? 

• 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?