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 Sept/Oct 2006 Volume 4, Issue 6
Petrack Consulting exhibitor at ENA next week!
Dr. Petrack and Lisa Perry, our child-life specialist, will be at the Emergency Nurses Association annual meeting in San Antonio, TX, from September 14-16. We will have information about our consulting and training services, as well as video clips from our CalmerKids Training Module. If you're at the conference, stop by at Booth 1328 and say hello!
 Consultant's Corner
Feature Article
Quote of the Month
New Articles / Abstracts
In the News
Upcoming Meetings
Upcoming Conference: Dr. Petrack will be speaking at the Emergency Nurses Association Leadership Challenge, to be held February 22-25, 2007 in Boston, MA (see the Upcoming Meetings section for details). His topic will be "Through the Eyes of Children and Families: How to Enhance Your Department's Emergency Care."
For free articles, abstracts, Emergency Care Briefs, and more, visit our Resource Center at PetrackConsulting.com...
CalmerKids: the first ever CE training module that changes how your facility serves children and their families... Show me...
Beginning this month, Spotlight on Emergency Care will be emailed bi-monthly. Articles and abstracts will continue to be updated at Petrack Consulting as they are published, and will be highlighted in Spotlight as well. |
Consultant's Corner Emory Petrack, MD, FAAP, FACEP I was recently on a full flight to San Francisco, and found myself in that undesirable middle seat. Fortunately, this was mitigated by my good fortune to sit next to a wonderful woman, 79 years young. She was off to her grandson's wedding in Honolulu. She had been advised that her connection would be rather tight, and she would do well to bring only carry on luggage. She told me that as she got on the plane, she requested assistance from one of the flight attendants in putting her bag in the overhead storage. The flight attendant's answer: "If you can't put it up there, you'll need to check it in with the regular luggage." Fortunately, it seems another gentleman overheard this conversation, and offered his assistance in putting the bag overhead, as well as letting her know that he'd be happy to help take it down after the flight. Amazing. Or perhaps not so amazing. It is so easy... so quick… to put out a remark that screams "we don't care." And although it may be an individual putting out the remark, it's always the "we"… the organization… that is associated with the poor service. A story like this can serve to remind ER staff of the impact of their words, and their attitudes, on patients.
Feature Article Get the Right People and the Rest Will Follow
I just read Jim Collins' widely acclaimed book Good to Great. Collins examines the differences between several "great" companies that significantly outperformed the market with "good" companies in the same industry. His idea was to identify the characteristics that led to the enhanced performance of the "great" organizations.
Part of what he found-that variables in three broad categories differentiate the great from the good-is highly applicable to those of us in emergency medicine. While I'm significantly oversimplifying Collins' findings, those categories are: 1) the people in leadership positions, 2) confronting reality and maintaining focus, and 3) creating a culture of disciplined action. Let me focus briefly on the starting point, and what I believe is most crucial to us as well: the people.
Using Collins' framework, we can say that being a "great" emergency care facility basically boils down to two things: getting the right people "on the bus" and the wrong people "off the bus." It may sound simple, but staffing is a complex, relevant issue; we spend a huge amount of time and energy developing protocols and policies, troubleshooting problems and putting out departmental fires. And frequently, we find that our time and energy is focused on a few individuals who cannot work collaboratively or, in some other way, are just not a good match for helping the department move forward.
It may not be pleasant or easy, but we must address these "people" issues honestly and directly if we are to achieve our forward-looking goals for the department. Getting the wrong people off the bus is ultimately good not only for the institution, but for those "wrong" individuals as well-after all, everyone deserves to be in a setting where his or her unique talents and strengths can flourish. And when we have the right people on the bus, we will move forward. We also need to celebrate that match and make sure that they and others in the organization know it.
In the News
Quote of the Month
Special Section: Institute of Medicine Editorials
The following links are to 3 key editorials published in the August Annals of Emergency Medicine. Each editorial addresses one of the major areas related to the future of emergency medicine, recently published by the IOM:
New Articles/Abstracts
Brief summary of recent new articles and abstracts from http://www.PetrackConsulting.com/articles.html
Upcoming Meetings
Sept 13-17, Emergency Nurses Association, Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX
Oct 15-18, American College of Emergency Physicians, Annual Scientific Assembly, New Orleans, LA
Feb 22-25, 2007, Emergency Nurses Association, Leadership Challenge, Boston, MA
About Our Organization
Created in 2003, Petrack Consulting is dedicated to helping physician and hospital
leadership bring excellence to emergency services. We work collaboratively to
fully understand our client’s needs, and then address programmatic initiatives
with measurable outcomes. Our unique background in emergency medicine, administrative
medicine, and organization development allows us to create uniquely effective solutions
for enhancing emergency services.
Website: http://www.PetrackConsulting.com |
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