Blogs

September 29, 2011

Sep 28, 2011 by Francine Pina

…that the hospital is full of energy and activity.  It never fails.  If you want to build your census (or make it rain) just start a construction project.  We are a bit taken a part on the 1st floor, but it ought to look real good when we get put back together.  We had planned on getting into 2nd station (anyone got any good ideas for renaming these units!!??) to start on the rooms, but low and behold all rooms were full.  Our goal is to knock the rooms out and get them updated before the winter push.  We have some new medical staff activity that started today.  We have two physicians from The Shannon Clinic who are visiting from San Angelo and seeing patients in the Respiratory Therapy area a couple of times per month.  They will see patients there, use our ancillary services (lab and radiology) and use the cath lab as needed to do pain management procedures.  Please help me make Dr. Harris and Dr. Hopkins and their patients feel at home here at VVRMC.  We have a lot of interest from several different physicians and groups in regards to working here at our hospital.  It’s good to be wanted.  We are working through those opportunities as we speak.  We are also actively recruiting ENT, pediatrics, ortho/spine, urology and family practice.  While it is unlikely that all 5 of these specialties will fall out of the sky at one time, I suspect we will have some recruitment success in the coming months.  We are interested in high-quality doctors that want to align interests with the hospital and who fit our character and culture and who will work well with the existing team and medical staff.  Chemistry means a lot.  We are also considering expanding the hospitalist program to full time.  I shared this with our medical staff last week, and I think a full time program helps in regards to the continuum of care and with the right team in place should elevate the level of care our patients receive 24/7, 365 days a year. 

 

I reviewed yesterday with our leadership team the bonus program for full-time and part time employees for fiscal year 2012 (we are 2 months into it).  You will get to see the full explanation in detail at the early November town hall meetings.  I’m so glad to have this tool in place.  There are not many hospitals anymore who have kept the bonus program in place.  I personally think it’s sacred.  It’s a great way again to align interests and incentivize our goals so we can share in the success of the hospital.  The bonus program this year is the same for every participant from front-line staff to the management team.  70 of the possible 100 points are at the bedside.  While the financial picture is critical to our success, I do believe how well we do under that pillar is predicated by our level of success on the other 4—mainly People, Quality and Service.  The majority of those points are tied to our patient satisfaction.  Everyone plays a part in this.  Each time you enter a patient room, each time you pass someone in the hallway you have an opportunity to create a comfort zone and that’s what we are in the business of doing.  We are putting our money where our mouth is and have very high expectations for the level of service we provide across all units, all shifts.  I appreciate you embracing our effort around this.  It will define us over the long-term.

 

It’s nice to be blogging.  I think the intranet has the potential to be a powerful communication tool.  Please provide us feedback and let us know what information would be useful to put out here.  I intend to blog more frequently.  I like being able to share with you what’s on our mind.  The blogging affords you the opportunity to provide feedback, ask questions, make suggestions, challenge ideas, etc.  We’ll post them as long as they are professional and additive to the conversation.  I look forward to it and we’ll see where it goes. 

 

Keep the spirit,

Marc

 

Comments:
 
Sep 29, 2011 by mwood
Thanks for the encouragement and challenge. God's grace is sufficient to sustain us through the challenges ahead as we lean through faith upon Him.
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