ALTIUS is back with the third installment of our ALTIUS Answer/Asks interview series. In this segment, our team gained insight on trending topics and industry challenges through our ALTIUS Asks interview with Dr. Sheri Matter, Assistant Teaching Professor for the Graduate Nursing Program and the Director of the MSN online programs and the DNP Leadership program at The Pennsylvania State University.
Category: Management
It’s All Relative!
Simply stated, productivity is the measure of input to output. It is typically tracked to gauge changes in performance over time. The most common way that healthcare organizations assess productivity is through internal comparisons against historical operations.
The “Lucky Charms” of Leadership
The recent challenges to and changes in the delivery of healthcare have spotlighted the demand for more enhanced leadership development moving forward. Throughout the pandemic, staff have displayed their resilience and ability to adapt, made possible by the innovative leaders that guided organizations through recovery towards stability without any predetermined path. This “trial by fire” approach was necessary given the unprecedented situation at hand, but has, in hindsight, proven the value of certain traits that need to be cultivated in future leaders.
Love Your Bottom Line
For most organizations, healthy finances are the pulse by which operations are measured and improvement strategies developed. Fiscal sustainability sets the tone for services and staffing, balancing cost with demand and quality. Though many would argue that employees, namely nurses, are the heart of a hospital or health system, it is truly a strong margin that determines viability.
Incorporating Social Determinants of Health in 2022
Being such a dynamic industry by nature, healthcare will continue to change and evolve in the new year. One of the main areas that experts are predicting a noticeable shift is in the deliberate and more extensive integration of social determinants of health (SDOH) into all facets of operations from registration through discharge planning. Value-based administration will become more commonplace in 2022 as staff, clinicians, and patients alike are incentivized to discuss and document SDOH as a routine part of each healthcare encounter.
Where Have all the Nurses Gone?
Long before the pandemic began, a shift started occurring in healthcare; an evolution of the nursing profession that introduced new opportunities to licensed staff, deviating from traditional patient care. While these innovative roles are enticing and serve to strengthen hospital operations by expanding skill sets and meeting previously unaddressed needs, these positions are creating further strain on care delivery. Staff shortages were already plaguing the industry and now nursing advancement is another element that organizations must navigate.
Looking at the Glass Half Full
It is hard to believe, but 2021 has proven to be as difficult a year, if not more so, than 2020 for the healthcare industry. Not only did hospitals and health systems have to work through steep financial and operational recovery strategies to try and equalize the effects of the pandemic, but they had to address further staffing/resource shortages, the impacts of natural disasters, increased labor costs, and prioritize employee emotional well-being all while continuing to manage new COVID surges. That is enough to make any leader skeptical of what 2022 will bring.
Productivity Checklist
This time of year, checklists help manage the back-to-school madness. They provide structure and direction on preparing for the coming year, especially while parents and students alike are still preoccupied with maximizing the waning days of summer. Checklists are also effective in other areas – they transcend in application and detail the elements required and/or steps to be taken in order to reach a goal.
Pizza for Everyone!
Staffing shortages have been plaguing the healthcare industry for years and were even further exacerbated by the impacts of COVID-19 on hospital operations. Not only were organizations scrambling to recruit and retain skilled nurses, but they also found themselves facing critical gaps in their Respiratory Therapy and Laboratory staff as well. To address the issue and secure the resources needed to effectively and safely provide care, hospitals and health systems began offering enticing, and in some cases exorbitant, sign-on bonuses.
Productivity and Forecasting
Demand in healthcare, by nature, can be hard to predict. A fundamental part of care delivery is being prepared for the unexpected, whether that be the effects of a natural disaster, large-scale safety event, or global pandemic. However, that does not mean that daily staffing patterns and annual budgets should be buffered to accommodate the “what-ifs.