Sharing best practices can be difficult when time is tight—as it nearly always is. But some 400 managers, physicians and union workers at South Bay Medical Center in Southern California got a glimpse of the good work their colleagues are doing thanks to a two-week, traveling unit-based team (UBT) fair.

At each of the South Bay locations they visited, union and management UBT co-leads explained the performance areas on which their teams worked, the outcomes achieved, and answered questions about how they started as a team.

"The objective of the fair was to engage frontline staff and show them how much improvement can come from UBTs,” said Christie Lopez-Batiste, UBT consultant at South Bay, noting it was the first time the area had tried such a fair. “The response was enthusiasm, curiosity, and a willingness to get involved from the frontline staff, and also from managers and physicians."

Physicians and executive leaders—including Benjamin K. Chu, MD, president of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, who came to the event to learn directly from each team what they accomplished—were among those attending the fair.

Here are some of the teams that shared their successes:

EVS: EVS manager Rocio Chaudhry explained that by changing the last-minute sick leave call out process and working with staff members on vacation day requests, the team reduced last-minute sick calls from an average of 10 days to 3—and they have been meeting their goal for more than a year. They also wanted to improve communication between patients and housekeeping, so they created a script that has made employees much more comfortable entering patients’ rooms; patients have given them positive feedback since the script was introduced.

“Our employees speak up in meetings now that we have formed the UBT,” said Yolanda DeJesus, EVS attendant, UHW-West member. “They bring ideas and get involved.”

“We were excited that Dr. Chu took the time to come to South Bay to hear our story directly from us,” said Marcelino Contreras, an EVS attendant, UHW-West member and the UBT’s labor co-lead. “It was a great opportunity to show him the good work of our team."

General Surgery: This unit’s “I Got Your Back” plan is saving backs from injury. By learning how to prevent injuries, the team has gone 193 days straight without an incident. “I Got Your Back” means that no one works alone—lift equipment is used and team members call for assistance when lifting patients. General Surgery also teamed with EVS to make sure that spills are cleaned up promptly to avoid slips and falls.

Maternal Child Health: South Bay’s MCH unit is a recent winner of Southern California’s quarterly UBT Reward and Recognition Program for the highest performing MCH team in the region. Michael Sims, a surgery technician and UHW-West member, explained that helping new moms and dads to bond with their baby, mailing a first baby photo signed by the staff, and sending the family home with a baby bag full of supplies has made a difference in their patient care experience scores. The unit’s HCAHPS score for overall rating of hospital rose to 74.2 in April, up from 69 in January.

“We thought about what we would want if we were in the family’s position,” said Sims. “We have been receiving letters from the families saying that their experience was fantastic, and they will be back for their next baby. It has been rewarding for us, too.”