Monday, December 14, 2015

Daily Dose transitions into SPECTRA Health

 
 
We've Moved!
Check us out on our new resurfaced blog/website
 
SPECTRA
The Movement
 
 
Because innovative leaders in health care don't stop at the PMCH medical model.
SPECTRA serves to provide a resource and an outlet to professionals
working towards innovative healthcare careers.
 

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Operational Communication


So, I know it's Sunday, and this isn't exactly my typical approach to "Sunday Science",  however, the science of operational communication is extremely important in leadership and that is why I felt it was an important topic to discuss this week 
Experts agree that effective communication processes are a core element to the success of an organization. The purpose of communication is to inform, guide, or provide data or information so that an organization can operate at its highest capacity or potential. Communication is influenced by multiple factors including cultural orientation, personal goals, emotions, perceptions, and the flow of information as well. Anyone who has worked at any level of an organization can attest that there are some things you would willingly communicate to a co-worker, but not necessarily to a boss. Similarly there are things you might share with a co-worker above or at the same level of superiority as yourself, but not necessarily to a subordinate. There are several pertinent types of communication cycles that happen with in any organization, they include downward communication, horizontal communication, and upward communication.

Downward communication is the process of communication in which information flows from upper management to employees and front line staff. Downward communication is the type of communication that is most often thought of when considering organizational communication. Management is responsible for communicating information to employees. Without this process, employees are not given information they need to do their jobs. Management must communicate to employees many things, such as what they are expected to do in their particular role, what impact or purpose their role serves in the mission, vision, or strategies of their organization, important policies and procedures and pertinent changes or adjustments to these policies or procedures. Downward communication is expected by employees. Without this guidance the overall success of an organization is severely disadvantaged, as is all other levels of communication cycles within the organization.

Horizontal communication occurs when information is shared between employees with the same level or a similar level of superiority. This includes interdepartmental communication. This type of communication is a key element to day to day operational processes. For an example, in the health care setting, a horizontal communication process begins when the front desk receptionist communicates to the medical assistant that a patient has checked in for their appointment and brought records to be reviewed by the doctor. The sender is the receptionist, the message is that the patient has checked in and brought records, and the receiver is the medical assistant. The message must be encoded and decoded in a clear and concise manner in order for the message to be properly and effectively delivered.

If the receptionist verbalizes this information in an effective way the medical assistant will have all the information that they need to get that patient into the exam room, take their vitals, and ensure that the doctor receives their records to review prior to entering the exam room. If the receptionist communicates this information poorly, for instance if she just simply checks the patient into the computer without verbalizing that the patient brought records for review, the medical assistant might just put the patient into the exam room without being aware that the patient brought records. Upon entering the exam room the doctor may or may not receive this information directly from the patient. In either circumstance either the efficiency or effectiveness of the visit is compromised.

It is clearly illustrated in this example that horizontal communication is essential to operational functions of an organization. Where problems occur in organizational communication is when horizontal communication is occurring amongst employees, with regards to issues that should be communicated in an upward fashion. For example, organization X was experiencing an operational issues in which the doctors were receiving too many messages taken by the receptionists that could’ve been screened by clinical staff and resolved with less effort and involvement by the physician. This problem resulted in a new policy in which all messages are now sent to the nurses to be screened for physician review. Seems like a solid solution to the problem. However, there are only three nurses on staff and twelve doctors, making it difficult for the nurses to screen patient questions efficiently in a timely manner. This is an issue that should’ve been addressed utilizing upward communication, but instead, the nurses simply complained about this situation amongst each other, and with other front line staff members, creating a lot of negative attitudes amongst staff members and negatively impacting employee morale. In addition as an added consequence of this new policy, receptionists are now receiving additional phone calls from disgruntled patients complaining that they called with a problem several days ago, and have yet to receive any feedback or follow up from the office regarding their concern. Employees are left thinking “this is obviously an issue. Why isn’t upper management doing anything to solve this problem?” The answer is simple, they aren’t even aware of these repercussions that stemmed from the policy change. Negative horizontal organization happens when management is preoccupied by their own roles as a leader, and can even unknowingly discourage access to communication platforms by simply not making themselves available for these types of conversations. It is one thing to say “my office door is always open” placing the responsibility on the employee to bring these topics to your attention, and entirely another thing to say “hey, do you have a minute? I would like to hear your insight on how things are going”. Managers and leaders need to remember that the employee is there to do their job, it’s not their responsibility to initiate these types of conversation, which in my experience has been the pit fall of many management fails I have experience in my career. Lack of upward communication, overload of downward communication, and communication barriers often stem from the source of poor leadership skills. Management overturn can be saved by promoting communication at all levels of an organization.

Upward communication is the process of communication in which information flows from employees and front line staff to upper management. Upward communication is important because it allows managers and leaders to be informed and aware of important aspects of the business or organization that they might otherwise miss since they are not always involved directly with day to day operation in the same way that employees are. Employees deal day to day tasks and organizational processes in a much more involved fashion than leaders or managers who oversee these tasks and processes in a much broader manner.

Employees often see problems or issues within the scope of their job first hand, they are able to identify obstacles preventing them from doing their jobs to their full potential and are able to see opportunities improvement. Policies developed or implemented by upper management might seem solid, complete, purposeful, efficient, effective, and well developed on paper or via the eyes of leaders or management. However, employees are really the ones who are able to assess the value or effectiveness of policies because the policies often either promote, enable, or hinder the tasks and duties that the employees are responsible for on a daily basis.  Employee viewpoints, opinions, suggestions, are a key source of valuable information, perspective, and insight about important aspects of an organization.

Upward communication is the most important and often overlooked process of communication within an organization. One of the advantages of upward communication is that information about problems, obstacles, and concerns are often noticed or experienced first by front line employees. This is because employees are perceiving these factors first hand in “real time”.  This means that by encouraging upward communication and by enabling the access and ability for employees to communicate openly with upper management, “real time” reactions or nearly “real time” reactions to problems or concerns are supported. Anyone who has any experience in management or leadership can support the fact that time in business is money, and the sooner a leader or manager of an organization is informed and aware of a problem, the sooner the problem can be identified, analyzed, and addressed.

Another advantage of upward communication is the value of the resource of employee perspectives on operational opportunities. Employees are an organizations biggest asset. They determine the way customers perceive an organization. They determine the success of failure of organizational procedures and policies. They determine the culture of an organization. A manager can establish what they wish a cultural environment of an organization to be, however without the support of employees the point is null and void. By promoting upward organization managers and leaders allow for a similarly mentioned type of “real time” suggestion platform for employees to voice their ideas about opportunities for improvement within an organization. Furthermore, and more importantly in fact, facilitating this type of upward communication promotes employee involvement and empowerment. When employees not only feel, but see the worth or value of upward communication they are much more likely to do so. If an employee feels discouraged to express their thoughts or ideas about their organization the communication cycle between employees and management is broken. If employees are encouraged to express these ideas, but they do not see benefit or action from management based off this communication, the process of organizational communication is still hindered. If employees are encouraged to express these ideas, and are able to experience and see quantifiable action by management based off their input, they are much more likely to do so. Additionally employees in this type of environment are much more likely to take ownership over their jobs, to be invested in the success of their position and in the success of the organization mission and goals as a whole. When empowering employees in this way, you encourage people not only to just recognize, identify, and speak up about problems or opportunities, but to think outside the box to develop innovative new ways of improving the organization as a whole.

The main element of successful achieving a solid upward communication cycle within an organization is trust. There needs to be an open platform where employees feel safe to express their ideas or perceptions. This means employees must feel safe to say things like “this isn’t working” or “I see this as an obstacle” without feeling like expressing these ideas will be perceived as though they are complaining, or as though they are opposing or putting down ideas of management. Secondly, in order to build a strong trust and an open channel of communication, action and quantifiable data is required to insure that there is worth in bringing these ideas or perceptions to the attention of management. Leaders can preach and lecture about the need for upward communication, however without proving to staff that leaders will listen and react to this information, employees will see no reason or value to put themselves on the line by communicating in this manner and therefor will be discouraged to do so. If employees communicate a problem, action is required, if action is not feasible, acknowledgement at least can affirm that this communication was heard. It is as easy as stating, “we heard what you had to say, we agree with X, we don’t necessarily agree with Y, but either way were are going to look into this issue further, and keep you updated to see what we are able to do as an organization to address you concern.” Thirdly, appreciation for input must be communicated. It seems simple, but just acknowledging your appreciation to employees for taking the step to participate actively in the organizational communication process is important. Participation shows that employees care about their job, and it is the responsibility of leadership to make it a point to reciprocate this action by extending support and acknowledgement of each employees input and decision to participate in supporting communication within the organization.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Sunday Science

An article from Smithsonian Magazine in May of 2015 investigates a new technology called “Bio-printing”. Scientists and researchers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Caroline working with this new technology in hopes of revolutionizing the world of medicine through the development of bioengineered replacement organs. Bio-printers function using similar technology to a 3-D printer.
This technology uses “biocompatible plastic that, when printed, [forms] the interlocking structure of a scaffold—the skeleton, essentially—of a printed human organ or body part” (1), in combination with gel containing “human cells or proteins” to promote cell growth allowing scientists to create living replicas of human body parts.
The technology is still being developed by scientists and researchers at the Wake Forest Institute but Anthony Atala, a pediatric urologist and the institute’s director believes that developing this technology could prove to completely revolutionize the medical field by making traditional organ transplant obsolete since the surgical risks of traditional transplant would be eliminated with the substitute of bio-engineered organs which would not only match but come directly from the recipient of the transplant. Atala foresees a future where bio-printed organ transplant technology will allow humans to replace body parts similarly to the way we would order a new part for our cars if they needed to be replaced.
To learn more about Bio-Printing check out this video
or read the full article here at
 
Happy Sunday

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Sunday Science: Pessimism: WOOP there it is.


Pessimism Is Good For You: "The Science of Us"

New York Magazine posted this video about a study on pessimism and optimism conducted by German scientist Gabriele Ottingen. Ottingen suggests that when it comes to achieving your goals, a little bit of pessimism can actually prove to be a helpful source of motivation.

While most people would tell you "Think Positive! If you think you can do it then you will!" Ottingen suggests that this type of thinking can actually distract you from addressing the obstacles and challenges involved in achieving your goal, and that pessimistic thinking can actually help to increase motivation and allow you to have a better outcome when addressing these obstacles and challenges. What Ottingen is basically saying is that if your looking at your glass half empty, will provide for a stronger motivation to fill it than it would to look at your glass half full, and Ottingen isn't just making this up; There are decades of scientific research to support this idea!

Ottingen comes up with a process for utilizing pessimism in goal setting which she calls
WOOP". "WOOP" stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacles, and Plan. Basically step one is to think about what it is that you wish to do, then think about the outcome of that wish, next think about the obstacles that stand in the way of that outcome, and the most important step is to plan for what you will do when those obstacles occur. Ottingens process is essentially about taking positivity and negativity and utilizing logical thinking strategies to make them into reality.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Midweek Motivation!

Because some time all you need is something sweet to get you through your week. Happy Wednesday.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

ICD 10

ICD10 conversion poses lots of new challenges and concerns for health care professionals.
What is ICD10 though? the International Classification of Diseases Edition 9 has been used to classify and code for clinical billing purposes since 1979. ICD10 is well on it's way to bring new and more comprehensive coding structure.
This is a really great video that sums up ICD10 - Because everyone in the health care profession should know what this is & what to expect!