Supporting Safer Healthcare

 The honeymoon phase of a new job is an exciting time.  New experiences, new opportunities, new relationships.  It’s a time when both employer and employee are anxious to make a good first impression.  But eventually the honeymoon ends, and just as with a personal relationship there are bound to be good days and bad.  What if [...]

“It’s a problem that goes underreported, threatens patient safety and has become so ingrained in health care that it’s rarely talked about,” so says Mark Chassin, President of the Joint Commission. What is this dark, seldom-mentioned secret plaguing modern medicine?    The aggressive, unpleasant, and even abusive behavior of bullies.  Their numbers are small, but their impact isn’t.  [...]

 Healthcare as an industry has been slow to adopt the idea of telecommuting for it’s administrative staff.  However, the recent surge in fuel prices may be making the idea more acceptable in many organizations.   MSNBC reports that high gas prices are encouraging US employers to reconsider the traditional in-the-office work week.  Some are allowing employees to work from home [...]

Looking for a new job?  Most applicants are so concerned about making a good impression during an interview that they may be hesitant to ask questions about company or department culture. However, Monster.com advises that working at a company with values inconsistent with yours is stressful, unrewarding, even depressing. During a job interview, it’s up to you to [...]

A question I frequently ask myself is “What is most important, and am I managing my life in such a way that the most important goals get top priority?”   It seems like such a simple matter, keeping one’s priorities straight, but for most of us I suspect it’s a constant struggle. For example, I currently hold a [...]

The 2008 Estes Park Healthcare Leadership conference is all about discontinuous change.  Continuous change, as it has been explained over the past few days here in Orlando, can be predicted and projected.  Discontinuous change occurs when future direction does not follow historical patterns.  In other words, the future of healthcare cannot be predicted with any [...]

“I don’t care if people like me – I’m just here to get a job done!”  Ever hear that one?  The problem is, sometimes getting the job done is a whole lot tougher, maybe even impossible, if our colleagues find us highly annoying.  Having the respect of the people we work with is great, cultivating [...]

A few years ago I worked in a fairly small community hospital, which grew exponentially during the time I was employed there.  When I started the administrative offices, admitting, ER, and several other services were housed in the originally-donated red brick house.  It wasn’t terribly functional, but it certainly had a charm of its own. [...]