Category: News

Even if they’ve never stayed at a Motel 6, most people remember the hotel chain’s iconic ads that ended with Tom Bodett’s friendly reminder, “We’ll leave the lights on for ya.” While hospitals certainly always “leave the lights on” for patients in need, unlike the hospitality industry, “come back and see us soon” is not something you’ll typically hear from hospital staff.

To the heartfelt chorus of praise, respect and admiration for a great American hero, Senator John McCain, I have to humbly add my memories from the time while I was the president/CEO of Phoenix Children’s Hospital almost 20 years ago. Each year, leadership from the children’s hospitals across the country would travel to Washington to meet with their Congressional delegations on issues facing children’s health. Some representatives and senators would make time to meet with us; others delegated the task to staff. First, if Senator McCain was in town, he would always meet with me. Contrast that with a freshman representative who couldn’t find the time so he sent a green staffer who didn’t even follow health care. The aide sheepishly admitted as we started

Rhonda Foster, EdD, MPH, MS, RN, NEA-BC Principal Consultant, Nursing Leadership I must confess I am an avid Golden State basketball fan. And this season was, of course, another exciting one to root for the Warriors. As a leader and student of leadership, I am inclined to view even basketball through a leadership lens.   With that in mind, I believe that Coach Steve Kerr has applied some principles and practices during his years of coaching — especially this year — that would serve healthcare leaders well.  Here are some examples. Healthcare is very competitive, and therefore your number one status is never guaranteed.  In fact, it will be challenged even more as you become more successful.  Coach Kerr realizes that even after the season is

Because the “quiet at night” HCAHPS question on average receives the lowest responses from patients, it is a common target for improvement activities by hospitals and health systems. As a recent article in Healthcare Finance titled “Everybody’s top complaint about hospitals? Noise, according to HCAHPS data” emphasizes, the loud equipment, beeping monitors and even squeaky wheels on catering carts are usually the first areas of focus for teams that are intent on reducing noise. But are these sounds the ones that really bother patients the most? Last week, I spent multiple hours in a conference room on a hospital nursing unit. Working with a team to identify issues and opportunities for improvement, an important part of our discovery phase was conducting individual and small group

Spring is indeed a time of renewal, hope and miracles: life returns outside our window, the season of Lent … and, of course, March Madness. During the opening days of play, the first-time-ever defeat of a #1 seed (Virginia) by a #16 seed (University of Maryland – Baltimore County) promised to be the story of the tournament. Then along came Loyola Chicago. Even if you don’t like the Catholic Church and couldn’t care less about college basketball, you have to love Sister Jean, the 98-year-old chaplain of the Loyola University of Chicago basketball team. Just seeing her in the stands rooting for the Loyola Ramblers brings a smile to your face. But it wasn’t until I heard and read a couple of her post-game interviews

Impressions. As caregivers, we leave lasting impressions on virtually every patient and family we touch. We strive, of course, for those impressions to be positive. But the reality is much of what a patient experiences while in our care is anything but positive: pain … a devastating diagnosis … a discouraging prognosis. These unescapable “scars” are unfortunately part of illness or injury. As caregivers, perhaps one of our most important roles is finding ways to diminish inevitable distress. Recently, a physician leader in one of our partner hospitals related a compelling story that had a profound influence on how he thinks about his role as a caregiver. The story he shared has had a lasting impact on the way I’ll now think about what our

Sometimes sports analogies are applied too often and are taken too far in thinking about effective management practices. But since we borrowed the term “huddle” from football to describe a brief team meeting, revisiting what makes sports huddles effective – and where we may have lost our way in translation in health care – seems appropriate. Whether you are a personal fan or not, it is hard to argue that Peyton Manning is one of the greatest professional football players is history. Manning was great not only because he was a talented quarterback but also because he was a gifted leader who brought out the best in the entire team. Arguably, he understood leadership as well as Peter Drucker, Jack Welch or any other management