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Posts Tagged ‘Employee engagement’

Thank you for the conversation: Blog hits 100,000 views

Posted in Employee engagement, Healthcare reform, Patient satisfaction, Social Media, tagged , on January 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

This blog reached a milestone over the weekend that wouldn’t have been possible without you and the great conversation we’ve had over the last 10 months: 100,000 views.

When I started writing last March, my goal was to connect with the community and Poudre Valley Health System employees during a critical time in health care. I wanted to tell you what PVHS was doing in the face of healthcare reform to continue to deliver world-class care to our patients and community, as well as share stories about employees and people in the healthcare community who go above and beyond. Sometimes the conversations were easy and sometimes they were a bit more difficult, but the blog allowed a forum for diverse perspectives, and that benefits all of us.

Stay tuned in 2011, and thank you again for participating.

Rulon

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Congrats to Russ Hickman, Fort Collins’ best OLD golfer!!

Posted in Employee engagement, employee turnover, Talent Management, tagged , , , , , , , on July 27, 2010 | 1 Comment »

As I mentioned in my last few posts, there is nothing I enjoy more than walking through the organization and talking to people.  I learn so much from so many, and I must admit I just enjoy being around nice people. I have gotten so used to walking around and talking to people that there are literally hundreds of people in the organization who I consider friends and teachers.  WAY too many to specifically talk about, but given what happened on July 18, I thought I would mention just one.

Fort Collins CIty Golf Champion - Russ Hickman

On July 18 Poudre Valley Hospital locksmith extraordinaire Russ Hickman shot the low score in the Senior Division of the Fort Collins City Golf Championship.  So, essentially, he is the best old golfer in Fort Collins :) That is no small accomplishment. I have had the opportunity to play golf and work with Russ for many years, and I can promise he is a fabulous golfer. But, better than that, he is a great person and a great leader.

I have learned as much from him about leadership and about life as anyone I know, and I consider him a friend and a mentor.  He is always so patient to spend time with me, show me that he really cares about me, and offer what I think is priceless advice about leading people, trusting yourself and conducting your life and your profession in an honorable fashion.  I hope that I can be half as good a leader with half as much wisdom as him at some point in my life.  I know I’ll never be as good of a golfer….so I don’t even think about that part anymore.

Fort Collins City Championship Leaderboard

Congratulations to Russ on his outstanding accomplishments, and thanks to Russ for taking the time to mentor me and to be my friend.

Rulon

P.S.  Recommended reading:  As a part of Russ teaching me he recommended once that I read a book about golf and life titled “Golf’s Sacred Journey; Seven Days at the  Links of Utopia.”  I found the book very engaging and learned a lot about golf…and life…from that book.  You also may want to check it out.

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More reflections: The future of Poudre Valley Health System and Greeley Medical Clinic

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 26, 2010 | 5 Comments »

In my last post I offered some thoughts that had been on my mind relative to the growth of Poudre Valley Health System over the past many years, and more specifically, the recent surge during the past few months. I have a few more:

Walking through Greeley Medical Clinic last Friday I was reminded of those in the Greeley community who have been told that PVHS will now require that GMC patients will be moved to Loveland for their care. I thought it was amusing to talk to the staff at GMC who know that such a requirement has never been discussed, let alone implemented.

Interestingly, many PVHS physicians have applied for privileges at NCMC to be better able to take care of Greeley patients in Greeley but, so far, the requests to work there have been denied. Ironically, the biggest barrier to Greeley patients being able to receive care in Greeley is a policy at NCMC that does not allow certain physicians to admit patients to their hospital.

I have often been asked what makes PVHS different, and I have to suggest it is the effort to put patients first no matter what. The result has been a healthcare system that is outpacing others in the industry. Some of the information to support that claim:

  1. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Still the only healthcare organization within 650 miles to be recognized by the president of the United States. Honestly…just WOW.
  2. American Nurses Association Magnet designation. This is a designation for organizations that make a truly unique effort to allow nurses the opportunity to provide the highest quality nursing care. Poudre Valley Hospital was only the 11th hospital in the country to ever receive this designation, and only the 7th in the country to be designated three times. Medical Center of the Rockies will receive its first site visit later this year, and was selected to receive that visit literally the first day they were eligible. Again…wow.
  3. Thompson-Reuters Top 100 Health Systems. Announced just last month, this is a list of all the best health systems in the country. PVHS is the only Colorado-owned health system on the list.
  4. Colorado Performance Excellence. PVHS was the first organization in any industry to receive Colorado’s highest quality award, and still today is the only organization to be recognized with that distinction twice.

The list could go on and on but I think you get the picture. PVHS, with its amazing physicians, staff and volunteers has simply put together a remarkable organization that has distinguished itself throughout the country and the world. What an honor it is for me to be associated with so many talented and dedicated people. Further, how thrilled we are to be associated with an organization like GMC with people of such similar background and commitment.

The future looks very bright!

Rulon

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Reflections on a changing Poudre Valley Health System

Posted in Greeley Medical Clinic, Patient satisfaction, Physician integration, Quality improvement, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 20, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Our partnership with the Greeley Medical Clinic has given me a lot of opportunity to reflect on all that has happened at PVHS during the last 15 years. Human Resources VP Patti Oakes told me this week that one year ago PVHS had about 4,200 employees, and today we are pushing 5,500 people, with about 6,200 positions. That kind of growth is honestly remarkable.

It is evidence of what happens to an organization when each employee dedicates themselves to providing world-class health care. People from around the region and around the country have recognized the quality provided by PVHS employees, physicians and volunteers and are making a conscious effort to seek care here.

Yet, growth like this also presents challenges of which we must be conscious. We must continue to stay focused on patient care and sustain our commitment to what is most important. So, given all this I have some thoughts that will probably take my blog for the entire week.

  1. I had a wonderful experience late Friday afternoon when I was able to walk with Troy Simon (GMC CEO) through the entire GMC main campus on 16th Street in Greeley (I promise to get to the other locations too!). I was SO impressed. To a person, everyone I met is absolutely committed to providing the best care in the world. They are engaging, fun to be around, professional…and the list could go on. I can see why for the entire time I have been at PVHS we have watched in admiration the care of the largest multi-specialty clinic in the region. To the long-time PVHS employees, I can assure you that you also will be thrilled with the people, the care and the integration of GMC. In fact, I hope you’ll take a moment to connect with someone at GMC who works in a field similar to yours and welcome them and get to know them. You will be impressed.I also hope you’ll take a minute and go to their website and look at all they are and what an honor it is for PVHS to be affiliated with this clinic. The collective of PVHS and GMC is clearly stronger than each respective organization. Plus, many of them have already started giving me a hard time, which is further evidence that they will fit right in.
  2. I was also reminded that the absolute best part of my job is rounding through the organization and meeting people. I love talking to people and getting to know them. I love working at a place where people love to work, and rounding in each department is just fun. Thanks for indulging me.But I am also aware that when I started at PVHS we were one facility with less than a third the number of employees we have now. So when you see me rounding and you think “wow…it has been a while since we saw Rulon here,” you are probably right. We now have more than 5,000 employees in dozens of locations, so while I actually spend more time visiting with people (again, which I love!), I get around to each department less and less often. Kind of sad because there are so many people I would like to see all the time. But when I do get around, it is purely exhilarating.

Okay, enough for today. I have just been thinking so much about this stuff, I thought I would share. See you in a day or two.

Rulon

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Employee turnover at a Baldrige organization

Posted in Employee engagement, employee turnover, Quality improvement, Talent Management, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

As I mentioned in the blog the other day, one of the most interesting comparisons I have found with Malcolm Baldrige recipient organizations is their commitment to meeting the needs of employees, so that employees can better meet the needs of the patients, physicians and others they serve.  

I tell our employees that this needs to be the single best job that they have ever had, and if not, they need to call me at home and tell me why.  But, if we are serious about that, we need to measure whether or not we are meeting the needs of our employees. 

I believe that from a business sense, it keeps costs down and increases the quality of care when an organization meets the needs of their employees as measured by decreased turnover. However, from a personal perspective, it is just the right thing to do.  I honestly love working with the employees of The Poudre Valley Health System.  They are fun, caring, honorable people who have dedicated their careers to providing world-class healthcare to our patients. 

PVHS Turnover

Monthly employee turnover from 2009 and 2010

So, I also want to make sure that we are meeting their needs…just because I like working with them!  So, I thought I would share today some of our most recent PVHS employee turnover data so that you can see what we measure and how we keep track of that. 

PVHS Registered Nurse Turnover

PVHS RN turnover by person and FTE

Rulon

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Culture, commitment, and comparisons

Posted in Employee engagement, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Quality improvement, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I spent Monday on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where I was invited to speak at the annual conference of Quality Texas. The title of the program was Achieving Excellence in Healthcare.

Thanks to my friend Britt Berrett, Ph.D., FACHE, president of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, for the invitation and his work in putting the meeting together. The event sold out with 300 attendees. Great work, Britt.

Mike Murphy, president and CEO of Sharp Healthcare

Mike Murphy, president and CEO of Sharp Healthcare

It was an honor to share the podium with Sister Mary Jean Ryan, president and CEO of SSM Healthcare, and Mike Murphy, president and CEO of Sharp Healthcare. SSM was the first ever healthcare recipient of the Baldrige National Quality Award, and Sharp Healthcare a 2007 recipient.

In listening to Sister Mary Jean and Mike talk at the meeting, I left believing that all three organizations had much in common, but particularly had learned these three lessons:

1. Employee culture: All three organizations had commitment to employees as the foundation to creating long-term improvement. It was evident that engaging employees in an understanding of the vision, mission and values of the organization was a key to continued improvement. At PVHS we have been tracking our employee turnover for some time. A graph of our turnover follows:

Employee turnover at PVHS

Employee turnover at PVHS

2. Continued commitment: All three organizations were intent on the long-term, not short-term gains. All three had run into times in their journey when they were convinced that the journey was too hard, but stuck with it. The stories told by Mike and Sister Mary Jean were completely different than our stories, yet nearly identical. Sister Mary Jean said that their goal was to become “breathtakingly better” in the services they provided. Great description.

3. Compare against the best: Interestingly, all three organizations came to a point where they realized that average was not good enough, and comparing to any national average was perpetuating mediocrity. So, at some point in the journey, all three organizations made a conscious decision to compare themselves against the best in the country (or the “universe,” as Sharp decided). That was a key event in the progression of all three – to make a difference by comparing against the best organizations in the country. All in all, a very good conference with strong support from Texas hospitals and healthcare executives.

Well done!

Rulon

PS – Thanks, Britt, for the longhorns and “Don’t Mess With Texas” bumper sticker! Just what I always wanted!

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