Friday, October 22, 2010

A call to action in the perfect storm

This week for National Quality week I had the wonderful opportunity along with other safety net leaders to guest blog for the National Association of Public Hospitals.

The following is an excerpt from my post:

The Perfect Storm
Anna M. Roth CEO, Contra Costa Regional Medical Center and Health Centers

With increasing demand, those working to preserve and enhance the safety net will need new levels of leadership skill, improvement knowledge, and systems-thinking to face the significant challenges that lay ahead.

Frequent changes in leadership and direction - as well as inaction when change is clearly needed - have resulted in a culture of mistrust in health care and hierarchical control rather than shared decision making and participative improvement. Too often, when thinking of the safety net, a “last resort” image prevails rather than a place of excellence, hope and recovery and as a place where no one is left out. To add to the challenge, there appears to be a lack of emphasis on the acquisition of continuous quality improvement skills among the safety net workforce...Read the full post at
http://www.naph.org/Main-Menu-Category/Newsroom/Safety-Net-Matters-Blog/The-Perfect-Storm.aspx

2 comments:

  1. I like the message, Anna. I recalled the contribution by the mother of one of your patients and decided it was worth a comment in my blog, Restoration to Health. Here is the URL: http://knightbird.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/patient-involvement-in-their-care/. Thanks for the insights.

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  2. I think we’re very lucky to have a CEO who is ready to embrace the storm and “dance in the rain” rather than “protect the status quo.”

    Your post made me think about the documentary “Chasing Zero” which Dennis Quaid hosted to promote improving the healthcare system through use of smartpumps, EMR’s, automated infection tracking, BMV, bedside nurse report/handoff, CPOE, etc. I’m sure you’re familiar with it since you are an IHI Fellow, but thought some of your readers may not be so here is the link to the video:

    http://www.safetyleaders.org/pages/chasingZeroDocumentary.jsp

    It's such a moving documentary and clearly demonstrates how all staff can help change the culture and improve healthcare quality.

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