There are thousands of health care facilities in the United States. I imagine there are mock surveys and actual surveys everyday somewhere. And during each one, many regulations and requirements are checked for compliance. An increasing focus is being paid to regulated medical waste or RMW. Most health care facility professionals understand the need to…
Do have your 2011 yearly goals written down yet? I sure hope you do. If not, while no one is looking, get busy and do it already. Do you have your 90-day goals written down? Your weekly goals? How about your daily goals? Unfortunately, the vast majority would have to admit that they do not…
What? You are housekeeping, not plant operations! Why should you care about life safety you ask? For 2011, all hospitals, including critical access hospitals, will have a life safety surveyor for at least two days of a Joint Commission survey. Those hospitals with more than 1.5 million square feet will have a third day. Yet…
Wondering when your HCAHPS scores will be on the public reporting site? Here is the list for HCAHPS Public Reporting April 2011 through April 2012. Presented here are the calendar quarters of HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey results that will be publicly reported on Hospital Compare (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov) from April 2011…
At our hospital we are in year three of a Service Excellence Initiative. Partnering with Custom Learning Systems we have been been teaching all our staff hard and soft skills to improve customer service through service excellence. Being on the Service Excellence council has given me many opportunities to directly and indirectly influence the process…
On April 29, 2011 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today issued a final rule (42 CFR Parts 422 and 480) that sets forth its policies for the hospital value-based purchasing program. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the VBP program will pay hospitals based on their actual performance on quality measures,…
What is Clostridium difficile? Clostridium difficile is a spore-forming, gram-positive anaerobic bacillus that produces two exotoxins: toxin A and toxin B. It is a common cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD). It accounts for 15-25% of all episodes of AAD. Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that may develop due to the prolonged use of antibiotics during…
According to John L. Mason these are some of the qualities that make a good leader. . Leaders are always full of praise. · Leaders learn to say “thank you” and “please” on the way to the top. · Leaders are always growing. · Leaders are possessed with dreams. · Leaders launch forth before success…
“BUT” is a word that usually signals negative speech. For example, “Jason is a nice guy, BUT he can’t get his work done.” or “Robin is a good cook BUT I can’t stand her taste in clothing.” When we speak negatively about another person we try to excuse ourselves by asserting the truth of the…
We have our staff We love them so They scrub and clean To make things glow With smiles and cheer They take each task With hope their cleaning Is going to last They move the chairs And gurneys to Driving out dust bunnies With determination and care So to each one we do Say with…
Want to start making more progress toward your goals or business targets? If you do, here is a simple process, which is guaranteed to work for you so long as you use it. It’s based on a weekly, 3 step process of; reviewing, learning and taking action. Although the focus is on weekly progress, by…
You’ve heard the saying…. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Mark Twain. That Mark Twain saying, may seem kind of cliché… but think of it that you are hearing it for the first time; It’s pretty powerful. The quality of ‘fierceness’…
Far too many people spend more time planning their weekends than their lives. Then they suddenly realize that life has passed them by and they weren’t even aware it was happening. When you intently study what you most desire in life, you begin to focus your mind and concentrate your energy upon that which you…
Having diverse strengths has always been a bonus, but in the past, you may have been able to get by with a fixed set of abilities or specialties more so than we can today. Those around you that you see as successful are employing everything from shrewd business acumen to honed writing skills and the…
Not everyone wants to be a leader, but I think it is safe to say everyone wants a leader. And not just any leader, but someone who inspires, who creates, who energizes. What if you want to be a leader, and you don’t know how. No problem, just hang around a leader you want to…