Triathlons and The Hospital Experience...Getting Your Transition Times Reduced

tri·ath·lon
(tr-thln, -ln)

n.

An athletic contest in which participants compete without stopping in three successive events, usually long-distance swimming, bicycling, and running (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/).

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This past Sunday, St. Joseph Medical Center served as the official medical partner for the Kansas City Triathlon at Longview Lake (KCTri).

We had a great turnout of staff assisting and participating in the event:

From our Emergency Department: Barb S. (and her sisters) and Laurie S. From our Rehab Department: Jenn L., Stephanie B. and Christy R. Jenn let me know they would have a relay team next year including Stephanie B. and Christy - your committed now :)

Some of out physicians included: Drs. B. Brodine (Cardiologist), D. Dunker Cardiologist), P. Donnelly (Opthalmologist) and L. Wilson (Radiology).

Both Drs. Wilson and Donnelly finished 1st in their age division along with 7th and 17th place overall respectively. Dr. Brodine finished 3rd in his age division - just amazing.

It was my first triathlon (outside of a mini one I did a few months back) and it felt great...at least at the finish line!

Triathlons and hospital exeriences are similar in some ways:

Both focus on some core essentials...

- The triathlon has a focus on swimming, biking and running along with a waiting period before the swim and two transition points after the swim and bike.

- A hospital visit may consist of a trip to the emergency department followed by surgery followed by an inpatient admission. It may include a wait at the start along with two transition points...waiting/prepping to go to surgery and waiting/prepping to get to an inpatient unit after surgery.

Both scenarios improve their outomes with shorter waiting at the start and reduced transition periods. And for me, at least, the swim felt like an emergency visit!

Lindsay A., with our Quality & PI Department is in the process of working with a team to better define the entire patient experience along with key 'transition' points. This visual should further everyone's understanding of the expected patient experience and outcomes.

Enjoy some pictures taken by Laurie (note: The canned beverages were not consumed while working the Emergency & Rehab tent).

Special Thanks to those

who put on the KC Triathlon - well organized and many, many hours of preparation to keep us all safe.

Ryan Robinson
Race Director
sherpasports@gmail.com

Sandy Cohen
Marketing and Sponsorship
SCohen@UnionBroadcasting.com

Mark Neace
mneace@biggear.com

Jim Caskey
cjimlisten@hotmail.com

Way to Go Annnette!

Check out the pictures of Annette Small, our St. Mary's Medical Center CEO getting her Lifestyle Change Award.

Oh, and did I tell you she just completed her MBA!

Way to go Annnette!

We have the Greatest Volunteers & Auxiliary

Check out Jeri Grimes (front and center in group picture with Mary Ann, our President Elect of the Auxiliary), our Director of Volunteer & Auxiliary Services with our great group of volunteers.

Thank you all for attending the AHA Heart Walk.

The Happiness Project

This morning I hosted another CEO breakfast meeting.

The conversations are always so insightful. We spent a lot of the time on areas of communication and ways to continuously improve how we care and watch after one another. In addition, improve the consistency of what we communicate to each other (e.g., review key priorities and focus areas during staff meetings)

As always, the summary of information will be shared with our management team to discuss what processes and communication forums we could improve.

Kathy R. attended and shared the following blog. She let me know that this most recent post translates to all aspects of your life, including work.

http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2010/05/make-it-easy-to-do-right.html

Gretchen Rubin is a Kansas City native and now lives in New York. Her book was published in December 2009 and has been on the NY Times Bestsellers list.

Enjoy your weekend.

Have you Heard the Latest?

Kansas City is a very competitive healthcare market. I know, everyone thinks their market is competitive. We have over 20 hospitals in the area to provide some perspective. In many ways it is an overbedded marketplace. Many days, concerns circulate about different health systems. I have included a letter addressing recent concerns. It was sent to our medical staff from me and our Chief Medical Officer.

Since word gets around town quickly, I thought I could expedite things. Please let me know if you have additional questions.

__________________

Sent: May 18, 2010

Dear St. Joseph Medical Center Physician:

Perhaps never before has there been more challenge with regard to the business of providing healthcare. Our medical staff is extremely important to us and vital to our continued success. Please know we will continue to foster communication as we build our future. We felt the need to communicate with you and emphasize that Carondelet Health is in a solid clinical and financial condition poised to compete and gain market share.

The recent passage of healthcare reform begins what will be years of changes and challenges. We are just beginning to realize the impact of this legislation and what it will mean for hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers. While consistent and sustained volume has been a challenge for us in recent years, we are a strong and vital health system. The difficult decisions we have had to make this year are putting us in a position to earn capital for reinvestment in our organization. We are turning our organization around to experience the type of growth and success that has kept St. Joseph Medical Center strong for more than 100 years. Although we have had to make some changes similar to many businesses in the current economy, we have been unwavering in our decision to do what is needed to maintain a nurse-to-patient ratio which you know ensures the highest quality care for your patients.

There is no denying that the past few years have been challenging for the Carondelet Health family. We firmly believe that we now have a solid foundation on which to build for many years to come. We appreciate the hard work of all our physicians, associates, nurses and volunteers as they provide the high quality, compassionate care for which St. Joseph is known. As we continue to focus on growth initiatives, we look forward to updating you on the many successes we know are in our future. Thank you for your ongoing support of St. Joseph Medical Center.

Sincerely,

Scott Kashman Steve Stoops, MD
Chief Executive Officer Chief Medical Officer

Feeling Stressed?

www.bized.com/stress.gif

As a society with busy lifestyles, we understand the importance of time management. There are many demands on us so it is important to stay mentally, physically and spiritually strong. I was recently asked what helps keep my stress level down. At first I joked as long as you don't go on vacation and start to relax, you never realize the stress you take on daily.

On a serious note, running hospitals is similar to training for me. For me, a daily dose of exercise (I try for 7 days and usually exercise 5-6) and eating clean (I try my best) helps me keep the stress down. In particular, I enjoy marathon and triathlon training programs. Almost everyday, there is someone who pushes me (in person, by phone, email or text). Jenny, my wife, always keeps me motivated through her own exercise and eating regimen. Dr. Mark pushes me 2-3 days a week through running and biking. Dr. Luke and the master swim group keep me going hard in the pool and Brad keeps me honest with push-ups every Sunday (balanced on 3 exercise balls). By the time I get to work, I am ready to go....and much more relaxed. Taking on my work day is a joy relative to the beatings I take through exercise.

I run 3 days/ week (I follow the program in the book Run Less Run Faster by Pierce, Murr and Moss) biking 1-2x, swimming 2-3x and strength training 1-2x. Given the long hours at work, I usually start at 5:30a and work out for an hour. I exercise around 3 hours Saturday morning (golf is not on my schedule unfortunately). This allows me to spend evenings (when not at work functions) and most weekends to spend with my family. This schedule gives me a fighting chance for some sort of work-life-family balance.

All about training for life.

Other stress management tips you would like to share?

Success Stories...Medical Records Processing Team

Yesterday I had a chance to meet with our Medical Records Processing team. We have a great team and we had a very good discussion. Barb B., the Regional Director shared a couple success stories. The success stories were both around helping get the documentation and charts ready for coding.

Recently we needed to make a change in reducing our time of scanning documents after date of service to viewable scanned images to support a shorter coding goal. This new scan goal was established so that we could have the charts available to the coders in a shorter time from discharge to assist in reducing the time from being coded to bill drop. Therefore, we put the issue before the Record Processing Team and asked for their input on what we as the scan team do to reduce the time from discharge to scanned image.

The team jumped in with solutions. One staff person is now going up to the units and gathers part of the charts for patients discharged when she gets in at 5 a.m. instead of waiting for the regular staff person who comes in at 8 to bring the charts down at 9. This allows staff coming into work at 6:30 to start the prep sooner and allowed for one team member who can begin the scanning as soon as some charts are prepped. This adjustment in the process now starts about 4 hours earlier in the day. The staff discussed and implemented a plan to assist the person who took on the chart pick up with some of her regular duties so that those duties did not fall behind. Thus we have meet our new scan goal for 4 consecutive weeks.

The second scenario was that everyone in Record Processing is being made aware of what physicians that we need to complete documentation that is need for the code team to be able to final code and drop the bill. We monitor that list physicians, communicate in person and via faxes to the doctors office that we need that doctor to complete documentation so that the coders can do the coding and drop the bill. Everyone is made aware of that list and is on the watch for what charts need to be completed for this purpose, we flag the charts as priority so that when that doctor comes in he/she knows it the dictation is needed ASAP. We then communicate with Transcription to let them know when the report has been dictated and then transcription notifies the coding staff when it is available for viewing.

Thank you Barb and Vicki for your leadership. Your team truly helps make SJMC the preferred place for physicians to practice medicine.