Clintcast Clint Maun

Human history is loaded with examples of situations where specialization, even for all the progress it often brings, has lead down a dead end when the playing field changed. While specialization is great and definitely needed in many ways, it is critical for us to also pair this specialization with flexibility so as to overcome those inevitable changes to the big picture that so often make some of those specializations obsolete (or at least minimized). Today, Clint advises that we be sure to take a look at ways in which we specialize (personal skills, organizational niche, etc) as well as to employ the needed flexibility to keep our teaming efforts effective and to prepare for eventual market/customer changes.

Regardless of the most current healthcare reform effort, a trend that has been up and coming with the government regarding the reimbursement process, thanks to extensive data/history collection, is a closer and more stringent look at payments associated with hospital readmissions. Rates of readmissions have been fairly high, not only incurring extra costs, but also additional ‘discomforts’ to our customers. Rightly so, the government sees this as a large area of opportunity for hospitals and post-acute care providers to partner so as to reduce these costs, as well as the numbers of customers requiring readmission when some (usually) simple and relatively inexpensive interventions could have prevented a second trip to the hospital. Check out these aspects to see if this is a golden opportunity for your organization as well!

Most every workplace has (at least) one - the bad apple who always seems to find what's wrong with things and offers no solutions to improve the situation. If you have been listening to Clintcast for awhile, you recognize this type as the ‘troll’ or BMG (Bellyacher/Moaner/Groaner) from other episodes. While every profession has its mistakes/problems, when they occur in healthcare, they can be more severe as sometimes life/health may be at stake. As such, it is very crucial that we be able to deal with these bad apples as quickly as possible, as one of the typical traits of this type is to poison the other apples around them, promulgating a sphere of doom in their wake. Get some help from Clint on hows/whys of dealing with these bad apples before the whole barrel goes bad!

The position of Director of Nursing is a critical function in any healthcare organization. It is no surprise that the person in this role tends to have a LOT on his/her plate as they cover many bases and must be skilled in some widely varying ways, both in the clinical and the leadership worlds. Clint covers some of these aspects today as he discusses the finer points of being a Director Of Nursing, what makes great ones and tips for being an effective team leader in your organization.

It is a given in healthcare - our customers expect quality, no different than we would in their place. How we achieve that quality has everything to do with how our organization operates. There are lots of ways we go about driving the quality of our ‘products’ in healthcare, including some aspects such as cost savings, efficiencies, labor streamlining, etc which are found in other types of businesses as well. While it may seem obvious that we would never want to deny anyone quality care, there does need to be at least internal knowledge regarding the costs that specific quality levels require to produce. Today, Clint dives into the factors we should be considering as we develop our various price/quality points of our healthcare products/services.

To err is human... it happens. That being said, we of course want to minimize the numbers/types of errors we make, especially in healthcare where someone's life could be on the line. Today, Clint discusses methods for setting up an environment where we can minimize the blame and finger-pointing and instead focus on how to fix situations arising from errors and to better still, try to prevent them happening repetitively again in the future. This additionally helps to nurture an environment in which staff voluntarily want to avail themselves of training/resources to help reduce errors and promote productivity - a win/win!