How Does a Village Communicate Fluently? What’s a Manager to Do?!
Big Thanks to the board for inviting me to speak today. I’m honored and very excited to have the opportunity to share with you today. I attended these meetings as a Consultant for multiple practices in the Metro. Encouraged Managers to attend, enjoy the camaraderie of others in the trenches and enjoy a well- deserved break. You’ve seen my Bio so you know Why I’m here. It’s a small slice of my jobs and experience. Starting as an NA, to include lab, xr, etc, through to teach and consulting. Not tooting my horn, started at 14, so it’s not like I didn’t have time.
Dental / Legal rounded out my experience. The Patient/Client/ Documentation are similar. Looked for best ways to care for Patients, Staff and Liability. Managing liability is taking the best care of All our People. Basically, I am Risk Management. We’ll offer strategies for working together, speaking the same language, know our responsibilities and how to get questions answered appropriately. I talk fast but will try to slow down if you wave at me. We’ll try to take questions as we go but if necessary, will hold for after the presentation. Want to be sure to cover all the material we have for this session.
Fluent Village Communication • Our Goal: An organized flow of cooperative interactions improving the success of daily tasks = Village. • This requires clear, up-to-date communication in real time = Fluency - Your Office Speak. • My Premise: Patients (customers) the reason for our job, pay the highest price for our lack of communication.
My Observation • We are moving away from practicing medicine, to practicing Insurance Protocol. • Let’s humanize our offices, while maintaining accountability for smooth functioning. • This creates better service and care for our Patients and more peace of mind for us.
Fluency Requires Everyone Knows: • who is responsible in each area: medical, administrative and corporate, • their specific responsibilities so they can easily perform their tasks as assigned, • how to share information to get the job done, so • ultimately, we are here to take care of our Patients.
Detrimental Communication ie daily aggravations: ✓ Meta Message – 80% of communication is non-verbal. ✓ Electronics are a blessing and a curse, even more difficult to be certain of ‘ intent .’ ✓ Ever mis- read a text or an email? Oh it’s On! ✓ Intent is Everything! The more you defend an ‘off’ word, the deeper the underlying imprint of distrust.
✓ Regular patient reschedules ‘ again. ’ Receptionist: “of course Ms. Smith” in ‘sweet’ voice, double eye roll reveals her intent --- guarantee Ms. Smith Gets it – even over the phone. ✓ True for every interaction we have. ✓ Victims. Poor me, so unfair. Policy applies to all. ✓ Document! Ongoing issue, recommend ‘counseling for the employee’s benefit.’ ✓ All communication: verbal, written, text, email have potential for misunderstandings.
✓ Ever use cc: and bcc: and it went bad? BCareful! ✓ With all forms of communication, be vigilant about intent and meta-message. ✓ Communication must be a ‘Conscious’ process. We run multiple tracks of thoughts out of necessity – therein lies the rub. ✓ Office policy: person, on phone or in person, uses foul language directed at a staff member or patient? Never acceptable, Protocol for it is crucial. Back-up?
✓ Private phone use during patient hours? Legal is lunch & 2 breaks = private phone use. ✓ Employee states need phone for expected emergency, call to ‘back line’ or someone fill -in while they make a call until it’s resolved, or the person needs to leave. ✓ Gossiping, deal privately, immediately. True, Document, conclusion and signatures. Multiple incidents. Termination. Source of discontent, waste time, and not doing their job. No Matter Who they are – You can live without.
✓ Patient Confidentiality, sacrosanct. Investigate. Breach, no quarter. Immediate dismissal, written and signed by employee. ✓ Patient complaint, ask them to put in writing, if they will. Investigate, Document. ✓ Severity of complaint, dictates what you do. ✓ Other annoyances – ‘who took my lunch’, leaves a mess in the kitchen, the lab, the waiting room, etc. Investigate, Document. Tell them Stop it! Really want terminated for being messy?
✓ If they are silly enough to lose a job over repeating this nonsense and being annoying, so be it. However, your Documentation of the issues and repeated counseling MUST be impeccable! Unemployment Cases! ✓ Don’t ever let me see employee having a private conversation on their phone, while a patient is waiting. ✓ Or Denigrating a person based on ethnicity, 2 nd language, citizenship status or any personal prejudice. Unacceptable! No Quarter.
Here’s a tough one: ✓ Dr. scribbles 10cc, You see 1cc. You Know it’s odd. Depending on Doc’s mood, several responses: ‘Thanks for catching that’, ‘You Know what I meant’, ‘It’s 10 cc are you blind!’ ✓ Endless possibilities. What do you do? ✓ Look twice and ask any way. In our environment a mistake can be life threatening. ✓ Always err on the side of clarity and patient safety.
Important Reminders: Flow Chart with Chain of Command, Office Personnel (Hierarchy) Auxiliary Services, if any Monthly Meeting Schedule Emergency Procedures and Numbers These should be posted in the lunchroom or similar joint gathering place, as well as, P&P. Reminder for all : good Documentation that Important Information was Given and Accessible.
Knowing that you ‘Know’ is a great leveler. No reason to be defensive or feel uncomfortable speaking and doing what is needed appropriate, when we are sure we’ve understood and are following accepted protocol. Besides Knowing, we must act congruently in each interaction by: ✓ communicating respectfully with everyone, ✓ communicating with the authority of our job, and ✓ communicating decisions based on our knowledge, not our personal preference! ✓ Know your Chain of Command
Knowing : Fluency : Our Office Speak, must be inclusive: ✓ receptionist who sets up / checks out Our Patient, ✓ nursing staff who prepares / treats Our Patient, ✓ physician who diagnoses / prescribes for Our Patient, ✓ administration that runs the system for Our Patient. ***Everyone is part of the Healing Process; from the moment they answer the phone, every interaction through check out and billing. Each person interacting with a Patient, is part of Healing that Patient. It is our greatest responsibility. This is our Bottom Line.
Making people feel like family has a practical aspect, as well as doing the right thing, people seldom sue their family. OK – lottery not withstanding… $$$ Medicine is not only a Science, it’s also Healing Art. We all have jobs, but if our work is helping people, we also have a Calling. Fluency in the Village means we treat Every person we encounter as if they are our own, beloved family. TiSS
Managers are tasked with creating Fluency – ▪ successful daily operations within the Village (office) of your Responsibility. Speaking from Your point of view: ▪ Where does your Village begin? ▪ Ownership: Private, Hospital or Corporate ▪ What’s their Hierarchy? More removed = more layers between You & Them Why Communication is Vitally Important!
Whether you do new employee intake; or if corporate, trains and you send to their area to be trained. Usually a day or two orientation: • paperwork, benefit information, paydays • hopefully , Policy and Procedure Manual (P&P) • Important to Know COC, • go to person, • what order, • process for escalating an issue, careful to handle issues in proper order.
▪ job description/summary, salary, tour facility, training schedule, time clock, schedule, lunch / break times, breakroom / lunch facilities, restrooms, where to park. Signed Acceptance Letter they Understand and Agree to Everything above! Important to get their Agreement at the Beginning Accountability is built into the system. You MUST Document. Does this sound fairly standard for your facility?
New employees, where Our Village and Fluency- Our Office Speak, begins. These very basic processes begin new employee integration. If we haven’t done At Least this, what can we reasonably expect the outcome to be? If you don’t train but have a great office, few transitions of personnel and smooth operations; you are either hiring very experienced people or you are really lucky.
Staff using previous office speak, you have a problem. Weren’t trained in the new Office Speak, it’s not their fault, but they will take a lot of heat. Job turnover is high in these offices. Lack of consistency in staff training causes errors and is a constant drain on everyone, especially the Manager. Thinking about that process, haven’t mentioned long - term employees. If their training is not part of this experience, retrofitting is in order. This may cause a change in personnel. Sometimes we have great workers who not people oriented. This is not always a good fit.
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