Insights
As the COVID-19 pandemic worsens, I have not left my block in twelve days, but I have had a lot of time to think. Many of my thoughts drift to my time in healthcare, and in particular, all the people I’ve met who strive daily to save lives.
Read MoreWhen I first started in process improvement, the launch of a project would mean having lengthy discussions to convince team members that we needed metrics. As an engineer, I love data. Give me a cup of coffee and a thousand rows of data in excel and you’ll get some hot charts. Data tells stories, creates shared understanding, and builds change in an organization. Including metrics in all of my project work is essential.
But over the years, metrics in healthcare have taken on a reactive and pejorative tone, leading to destructive ends.
Read MoreAs a licensed attorney, now practicing in health care strategy and operations, I have been able to experience how the law plays out in practice. Upon first glance, many Federal health care regulations intend to protect patient interests. However, in practice, those same Federal health care regulations are problematic operationally, and result in processes that are not value added to the patient or the organization. Compliance can become especially burdensome on the revenue cycle of health care organizations.
Read MoreSpecialization is everywhere in healthcare. The depth of knowledge and experience needed is vast, whether it is to provide direct care to patients, give consultations based on the latest research, or even to understand insurance and the revenue cycle. But it has a downside.
Read MoreAs much of my time working with teams is spent facilitating meetings, I’m often asked how to have better group discussions. Running a productive, and dare I say, enjoyable meeting requires a certain amount of preparation and forethought. Once in the meeting, the goal is to keep the discussion moving forward, allowing each participant input, so that the end result is better from the combined effort of the entire team’s knowledge.
Read MoreA few years ago, I started an operations improvement project by shadowing nurses at a large teaching hospital. During my observations, I repeatedly noticed pillows piled up, taking up valuable space in each nursing unit’s storage closet. With units short on space, it puzzled me why so many extra pillows were kept on the unit. But it was busy, and these nurses were being very generous with their time, so I kept to my project's focus and tried to limit extraneous questions.
However, by the third unit, my curiosity was peaked. I asked my assigned nurse, "Why do you have so many pillows in the closets?"
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