Value Compass Concepts

• Standardizing the workflow for collecting specimens and ordering lab tests
• Educating physicians about the medical assistants’ workflow and the couriers’ pick-up schedules
• Treating errors as an opportunity for coaching rather than discipline

What can your team do to collect and analyze data to make workflow improvements? What else could your team do to encourage everyone to speak up and share concerns, ideas and suggestions?

• Negotiating education funding as part of the national agreements between Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions
• Carving out time for workers to attend classes in how to reduce waste and use non-toxic cleaning products
• Mobilizing environmental services workers to educate other KP employees and managers about green practices in a variety of departments

What can your team do to build career resiliency and adapt to change in the workplace? What else could your team do engage everyone in lifelong learning?

• Gathering caregivers from a range of disciplines to meet and round on patients together
• Listening with respect
• Encouraging nurses and other care givers to speak up, ask questions and offer suggestions

What can your team do to build an environment where workers feel safe sharing ideas and concerns? What else could your team do to engage everyone in performance improvement efforts?

• Creating more space for storing breast milk
• Forming a parent support group
• Installing video cameras so families could see their babies from home 

What can your team do to include the voice of the patient in your improvement work? 

• Acknowledging and addressing resistance to change as the team experimented with changes
• Setting a clear goal of wanting to reduce excessive overtime 
• Deploying more workers to the night shift

What can your team do to improve workflow and enhance the experience of our members and patients? What else could your team do to make KP the best place to work and receive care?

• Conducting a motion analysis of sorting and delivering packages
• Purchasing more carts and hand trucks
• Enforcing an existing agreement with suppliers to split deliveries among departments

What can your team do to engage co-workers in a conversation about safety? What else could your team do to identify the next potential injury for employees and patients?  

• Cultivating a culture of partnership and freedom to speak up with new ideas
• Enlisting a physician champion to approach the regional medical director
• Researching the new technology, including its money-saving potential 

What can your team do to identify the barriers that stop employees from speaking up? What else could your team do to encourage everyone to share ideas, suggestions and concerns?

• Checking HealthConnect when female health plan members come in for flu shots
• Working cooperatively among different departments to ensure patients get preventive screenings
• Building time into clinic schedules for same-day appointments

What can your team do to collaborate with other departments and help make the care experience even better for our members and patients?  What else could your team do to make KP the best place to work and receive care?