Education

Managing Workload to Avoid Overload

March 18, 2004
8:00 AM — 2:30 PM
Massachusetts Medical Society – Waltham Woods Conference Center, Waltham, MA

The Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors and the Massachusetts Hospital Association are hosting this educational program that will provide breakthrough strategies for creating safer systems in healthcare through staff empowerment and leadership. Many practical tools and techniques will be discussed including “crew resource management”, matching capacity to demand, and developing an operational control system to build collaboration between departments and an environment for safe and efficient healthcare practices and improved outcomes.

• Increase the nursing retention rate from 72% to 92%
• Reduce cycle times in hospitals including reducing admission cycle times from 129 minutes to 62 minutes
• Reduce episodes of Emergency Department diversion from weekly to a level of operation in which they completed 2 years without being on diversion
• Create a hospital-wide operational control system, which resulted in collaboration between 44 units.

Linda Kosnik, RN, MSN, ANP, the Chief Nursing Officer at Overlook Hospital, Atlantic Health System will teach the strategies and share the tools that achieved these results.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES:
This program is designed to engage staff, clinicians, managers, and leaders from Massachusetts hospitals in learning specific strategies to make health care organizations more reliable, safe, and adaptive in providing care and to empower and retain staff.

• How the techniques of Crew Resource Management and Microsystem Thinking can be applied within the organizations so that teams communicate and collaborate effectively.
• How to eliminate silos within healthcare and facilitate collaboration and communication
• How to develop an Operational Control System to monitor, prevent and mitigate stress loads on and between nursing units and departments
• How to define measures
• How to develop interventions to reduce stress loads
• How to create a collaborative culture that promotes an environment for safe and efficient healthcare practices as well as improved outcomes.
• How to apply specific strategies to reduce delays in admissions and reduce backlogs in the Emergency Department
• How to measure the impact of these improvements through staff retention and recruitment, reductions in waits and delays, resource management, reduced ED diversions and inpatient meltdowns, improved patient satisfaction, effective diffusion of best practices and decreased variation in practice patterns.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Individual participation is welcome. Complete implementation of these techniques will depend on interdepartmental coordination. For optimal impact, it is useful but not required that hospital implementation teams of 3-8 people composed of champions from the following disciplines attend:

1. Administration – including representative designated by CEO/COO
2. Nursing leadership
3. Clinical staff/clinical managers
4. Patient safety/QI representative
5. Support services such as pharmacy, respiratory therapy, environmental or/and food service
6. Physician leaders

It is extremely helpful if the team includes a member representing the Emergency Department.

<< Back to Education Events