Biggest challenge:

Helping staff members in a specialty practice department understand the importance of routine screenings, which until recently were not part of employees’ day-to-day work. 

Advice to other teams:

Huddle once or twice a week for 10 or 15 minutes. Recognize staff members when they meet key milestones. Focus on one or two tests of change at a time, not a long laundry list of initiatives.

What would the team do differently next time:

Run the test of change and assess progress more quickly.  

Background

The Head and Neck surgery department had been compiling monthly reports detailing the number of missed second blood pressure checks—but they were reviewed without a follow-up plan. Huddling in the morning several days a week gave team members a chance to learn the “why” behind the screenings and follow through on a plan of action.  

“We discuss why this is important and what it means to our members, that it can save lives, especially for those who haven’t been diagnosed,” says Malovich, the department administrator. 

High blood pressure is often called “the silent killer” because those who have it don’t exhibit symptoms until it’s extremely high. Untreated hypertension can lead to heart disease, stroke and kidney problems  

“People think they’ve done the second test because they know they should have,” says Leroy Foster, who was the department administrator when the test of change began. “Maybe they got distracted by any number of things.” Being able to point to hard data helped motivate the team to improve, he says. 

Huddling was also a key to success. “I used to think, ‘You guys have way too many meetings,’” says Jennell Jones, the union co-lead. “But now I see how meeting keeps people connected.”