Northern California

• Standardizing note-taking styles across the team
• Assigning a financial counselor to each in-need patient
• Working with Admitting Department to identify patients who need assistance and provide counseling

What can your team do to reduce unneeded variation? And what can your team do to work with other teams to improve service? 

• Placing a Gratitude Jar in the entrance of the department (a prominent position)
• “Planting” a Gratitude Tree on a wall
• Buying playful fruit-shaped sticky notes to write their gratitude messages and post on the tree 

What can your team do to measure and reduce stress? 

• Sorting and metering mail at fewer locations
• Centralizing facilities mail processing for greater efficiency
• Adding meters, offering overtime, and negotiating lower rates for needed vendor services

What can your team do to consolidate supplies or services? What else could your team do to reduce waste?

• Opening the lab a half-hour earlier to prevent long lines at the open of business
• Shifting work schedules and staggering lunch hours to have more staff covering available time
• Cross-training staff to register patients, process specimens and draw blood

 What can your team do to improve its workflow? 

• Identifying the problem was with the needle supplier
• Filing a Responsible Reporting Form, and working together to arrive at the solution
• Switching needle suppliers to improve care and safety

 What can your team do to listen to the voice of the patient? 

• Using key phrases in malnutrition assessment to catch the attention of physicians
• Bolding their recommendations in notes to doctors
• Speaking directly to physicians about potentially malnourished patients

What can your team do to improve cooperation between physicians and other members of the care team?

• Communicating with the team
• Asking how the team prefers to communicate or meet
• Allowing team members to earn rewards for attendance

What can your team do to improve communication among its members?