Peer collaboration is a must for clinical executives as they navigate the complex challenges of modern healthcare.
Becker's asked clinical executives to share a recent clinical or operational challenge they discussed with a peer from another organization, along with the valuable insights or strategies they gained from the conversation. Their responses are below in alphabetical order.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Jennifer Cord, DNP. Chief Nursing Officer of Providence Mission Hospital (Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach, Calif.). As one of 42 hospitals selected across the nation to participate in the American Association of Critical Care Nurses' Healthy Work Environment National Collaborative, I engage with other CNOs through monthly calls to identify common concerns and opportunities to create a healthier work environment. The collaborative meetings invite us to share innovative best practices that we can implement to enhance our work environment.
As part of this process, CNOs and local team leaders receive quarterly surveys focusing on the six elements of the work environment: skilled communication, true collaboration, effective decision making, appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition and authentic leadership. Once the survey feedback is received from the various hospitals, AACN compiles the data and shares a progress report that addresses the six elements of the AACN HWE National Collaborative.
Currently, Mission is implementing these initiatives in three units: the emergency department, definitive step down unit and one of our intensive care units. The program includes our physician partners and team members from our respiratory, physical therapy and pharmacy teams. Mission Hospital's survey findings identified "true collaboration" as the top area of opportunity. As a result, the hospital launched a campaign around the word "connect" to help raise awareness of this important element. For our nurses and clinical partners, this includes the caregiver's connection with the patient and a focus that puts the patient at the center of everything that they do — from shift-to-shift, including rounds, handoffs, and patient updates. It's been exciting to see how meaningful this focus has been for our nurses and caregivers.
Chris Frost, MD. Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer of LifePoint Health (Brentwood, Tenn.). I find great value in networking with peer CMOs and clinical leaders from other organizations on key issues, and I intentionally build time into my calendar for these important connection points. One recent conversation focused on addressing health equity and social determinants of health.
The outcome of the discussion was consensus that addressing health equity is not solely a hospital issue, and it cannot be addressed without community engagement. To be successful and truly move the needle, it will take a multidisciplinary approach that brings together acute, ambulatory, behavioral health and other areas of healthcare and community resources to meet the unique and evolving needs of an individual community. The ultimate goal is to de-silo efforts and take a holistic approach to addressing health equity among many stakeholders at the community level.
This is just one example of meaningful insight I have gained by networking with my peers. I strongly believe that collaborating to address issues and solve problems for the greater good doesn't lessen the competitive edge between healthcare organizations — it makes all of us better.
Amit Vashist, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Ballad Health (Johnson City, Tenn.). At Ballad Health, we have always been at the forefront of imbibing as well as imparting best practices in clinical arenas that lead to better patient and community healthcare outcomes.
Other health systems' clinical, physician executives and quality leaders have sought our advice on innovative models of physician alignment, collaboration and performance improvement, such as our physician clinical council. We have shared with other health systems our zero-harm journey, especially our work related to hospital-acquired infections like C. diff. We have also shared certain innovative solutions we have implemented around reducing blood culture contamination, rapid fluid resuscitation in patients with septic shock and other initiatives.
Over the past few years, we have sought advice from other health systems and even visited another health system to study their tiered safety huddles and subsequently incorporated them successfully across our health system (20 hospitals and more than 140 clinics).
I also spoke with several other health systems that were far ahead in their high-reliability organization journey, so we could have all the pieces in place around cultural alignment, people, processes and technology for a successful and sustainable rollout. That journey is currently underway with expected completion early next year.