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staff support Archives - Pinnacle III

Dec 06
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Onboarding a New Department Manager

Onboarding a New Department Manager

By ASC Management, Leadership, Revenue Cycle Management No Comments

For those in ASC leadership, building the right management team is essential to success. This primary objective should not be taken lightly. Once you build an effective team culture with dynamic and engaged individuals, you can expect to make meaningful progress towards organizational goals. Thus, the process for finding and hiring management team members should be a selective one, based on your organizational needs. But what happens once you have selected and hired new management team members? How do you effectively integrate new department managers into your company and cultivate dynamic, engaged team members?

One key to the success of a new manager is a solid onboarding program. Anecdotal evidence shows, properly onboarding an employee can lead to higher job satisfaction, decreased occupational stress, enhanced company commitment, and improved employee retention.

A thoughtful onboarding program eases a new or existing employee’s transition into a new role, ensuring the individual has the tools needed to succeed. Without it, you will likely be performing another employment search soon.

Joining an existing team may be difficult for the new manager and existing team members who have already formed working relationships. So, how do you create an onboarding process that works for all members of your team?

Onboarding takes many shapes and forms, including, but not limited to, meetings, printed materials, one-on-one training, webinars, and corporate retreats. It’s not just training and education – there is also a social aspect to onboarding.

An example of how you may choose to approach employee onboarding for new department managers is outlined below. The process is outlined from a global perspective. As you read, consider how you might incorporate specific actions for your company.

Let’s get the onboarding process started! Day 1:

  • Make the new manager feel welcomed. Ensure their office, computer, phone, etc. are set up and ready for use.
  • Walk through the office and make personal introductions to colleagues.
  • Hand the new manager off to HR for completion of all the necessary employment forms and benefits enrollment.
  • Schedule meetings with other managers and key personnel. Share informative insights on the organizational culture and important team initiatives.
  • Set the tone, framework, and timing for learning. Be open to the process and willing to change timelines based on individual needs.

It is important to be patient during the initial onboarding process. Listen to the feedback and questions from the new manager. Not everyone is comfortable forging ahead or immediately creating relationships in a new company. Many might be hesitant to ask questions. Even new managers with industry experience have much to learn about this unfamiliar environment. It is our job to make sure they are given ample opportunity to absorb all the information and have the tools needed to succeed.

Onboarding checklist guide

It can be helpful to maintain a detailed onboarding checklist to guide you through the manager’s initial employment period. Some of the items you may want to include on your first 90-day checklist follow.

  • Set a 90-day expectation of objectives and performance.
  • Discuss the onboarding checklist in detail – and I mean detail!
  • Be available to mentor and coach daily. Make yourself available to discuss ideas and perceptions with the new manager and how to proceed.
  • Establish regular reporting with the new manager, perhaps weekly. Determine the reporting format and due dates. These reports may provide you with insight about the progress or struggles of the new manager as you move through the onboarding process.
  • Share a company organization chart and make introductions, demonstrating the bench strength and support of the company infrastructure.
  • Schedule regular one-on-one sessions to review the progress of onboarding and performance objectives. Identify tasks/initiatives which need further review and education. Identify initiatives from the orientation checklist which need to be added.
  • Schedule or incorporate the manager into existing management meetings and encourage collaboration from everyone present.
  • Observe, listen, and support. These activities will likely provide additional insight into the manager’s performance and how they are integrating into the company.
  • Complete a 90-day evaluation and thoroughly review the orientation checklist. Ensure any area that has not been adequately covered is addressed.

Following up

Once the new employee has successfully completed the initial employment period, don’t make the mistake of cutting the cord. Continue to offer relevant opportunities for education and development.

Figuratively speaking, it is common for companies to let the manager jump into the pool before they know if there is water in it. This tactic typically does not allow the new manager to get up to speed more quickly. Rather, it will likely delay the successful results you were hoping for from the beginning. Alternatively, giving your new manager adequate training and introduction to the company’s philosophy before overloading them with responsibilities sets them up for the best possibility of success.

Hiring is challenging enough, but once you have done your due diligence and recruited the person you want to your team, your job is not complete. An effective onboarding process requires putting in the time to foster training, provide support, and cultivate positive relationships. You want this to be a long-term win-win for the employee, the company, the clients, and you.

Carol Ciluffo, VP of Revenue Cycle Management

Jun 29
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Taking Care of Your “Second Victims” After an ASC Adverse Event

Taking Care of Your “Second Victims” After an ASC Adverse Event

By ASC Management, Leadership No Comments

Life is full of unexpected events. Despite our best efforts, bad things happen. If you work in clinical settings like ASCs long enough, it is likely you will encounter an unexpected event where the outcome is not optimal. Hopefully the resultant harm is minimal, but sometimes it’s not. Adverse events can lead to painful infections, injuries that require surgery, permanent damage, and death. Research shows medical errors are the number three cause of death in the United States.

When an adverse event occurs in a surgery center, the primary concern is the well-being of the patient and their family. With patient needs tended to, leadership works to prevent the mistake from occurring again.

While all of this is happening, potentially overlooked or underappreciated are the needs of your staff. Most ASC physicians and clinical staff pursue a career in medicine because they enjoy taking care of people. Many will establish emotional connections to patients. Surgery center caregivers often use possessive phrases – “these are my patients.” With such strong connections formed, caregivers may suffer significant distress if an adverse event results in patient harm. Given the nature of care provided in ASCs, staff rarely deal with emergencies or surprises. This can magnify the shocking effects of an adverse event.

The term “second victims” describes health care providers involved in an adverse event and traumatized by the incident. They often feel responsible for the outcome. The weight of the experience can have short- and long-term effects. These can include:

  • feelings of guilt, sadness, and shame,
  • distraction, both at and outside of work,
  • second-guessing of knowledge and skills, and
  • personal harm, even suicide.

Here are some recommendations that may help provide support to caregiver “second victims” following an adverse event.

1. Determine affected staff and evaluate.

Identify who served on the clinical team caring for the harmed patient. Clinical ASC supervisors and the administrator should then work to evaluate the impact of the event on involved staff. The administrator and medical director should evaluate the impact on physicians. These evaluations can include one-on-one conversations with team members about their response to the incident. They can help determine if staff are experiencing any emotional trauma.

Do your best to make staff feel comfortable about sharing their thoughts and feelings. While some team members may not open up to you, simply reaching out can help. Doing so conveys you are genuinely concerned about staff well-being and not just determining the cause of the incident.

2. Address patient ratios.

It is difficult to predict how team members will cope with an adverse event, even one that inflicts minimal harm. From a staffing perspective, it may behoove you to assume the worst. Expect involved caregivers to require time to process the situation — time that may keep them out of the ASC or lead to reduced shifts. Immediately address patient ratios and redistribute patient loads to allow for coping and account for reduced staff. You do not want someone treating patients not emotionally or physically prepared to deliver quality care.

3. Provide support.

Offer your support to those team members who indicate some form of trauma. Discuss how they are feeling. Ask if there is anything the surgery center can do for them. This may include providing longer breaks or shorter shifts (if possible). Let them know they can speak to leadership at any time if they find themselves distracted or struggling with emotions.

Note: Not everyone on your team will feel comfortable sharing their emotions or requesting assistance. Keep an eye on team members for signs of struggling. If your gut tells you someone is having a difficult time or you notice changes in behavior (e.g., crying), speak with this team member. Work to obtain an honest answer on their state of mind; it can impact your risk management.

4. Offer professional counseling.

As helpful as it can be for ASC leadership to provide support, some caregivers may require or want outside professional counseling. Have the ability to offer such counseling, even if no one takes advantage of it. Some caregivers may initially dismiss the offer only to take advantage of it later. What’s important is to have counseling available and for caregivers to know how to secure an appointment.

Preparation is Critical

An adverse event can occur at any time. When it does, what matters most is how you respond. Ensure your response plan takes into consideration potential second victims. When caregivers do not receive the necessary attention and support following an adverse event, the likelihood of another incident occurring increases. While you can’t undo a mistake, you can work diligently to prevent another one from happening.

Jebby Mathew – Regional Director of Operations