Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1311160
20 PATIENT & CAREGIVER EXPERIENCE everyone is pulled in many directions to try to help restabilize health systems that have suffered a very significant financial loss as a result of the pandemic and other needs of patient care that are everyone's responsibility," Dr. Wilner said. Eric Cole, corporate senior vice president of human resources at San Diego-based Scripps Health, agreed. He said leaders should continually communicate with their staff from a system perspective about happen- ings on the employees' unit, during their shi and on their team. "We've learned that our managers feel they need to solve issues for employees," said Mr. Cole. "We're finding that's not necessarily true. We're trying to remind leaders to be there as a listening post for staff, and you don't always have to solve the problem at hand." Survey employees. Scripps did an employee survey in August to ex- amine how the health system was doing with respect to its workforce earlier during the pandemic. Scripps learned from the survey that workers feel most engaged when they feel they belong in the orga- nization; when they feel like the health system provides high quality care; and when they feel the organization takes every step to deliver safe, error-free care to patients, said Mr. Cole. He said Scripps is using the survey findings as the foundation for anything it does to boost employee morale. Understand different workforce segments. Mr. Cole said: "We know what they have felt and will continue to feel is going to be different based on each segment. We've segmented the workforce to direct and indirect patient caregiver and support roles, such as environmental services, food and nutrition staff, and by work environment. We segment those because things that may work on the hospital unit may not work in our clinics and may not work with those who are remote or hybrid. We have done some things from a global approach." Ensure employees have tools to ease stress. Scripps Health offers psychologists on site at different facilities for short-term counseling, as well as virtual mindfulness classes and virtual music therapy. Mr. Cole said the health system also is in the process of deploying a peer support program from Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine, which pairs employees and allows them to confide in each other about what they're going through. Scripps has deployed the program at two facilities and will ultimately expand it across the organization. Recognize employees. Leaders should recognize employees in a personal way, according to Mr. Cole. "Sending out a global email to everyone in the department and an im- personal message probably isn't the best thing to do," he said. "Making it as personal as possible is what we're seeing. We've said, 'Express your appreciation in spoken word and then follow up in written word. at spoken word will help alleviate stress in the immediate, but that written recognition is something they can carry with them to make sure they understand the recognition over the long term." e Don'ts Don't disregard employees' problems. An employee having a problem on a unit should not be disregarded, Mr. Cole said. eir concerns should be listened to and understood to ensure they are not overloaded with work for long periods. ey should also be assured that there's a plan to ease a short-term increase in work, he said. Don't disconnect. Mr. Cole also recommends not disconnecting with employees. He said he has a lot of staff working from their homes, mak- ing it harder to connect, but he continues to meet routinely with them. He said there may not even be a topic on the agenda, "just how are people feeling." Don't take away hope. Dr. Wilner said leaders should not take away hope that the pandemic will end. "I think it's wrong to say, 'is is the new normal, and we have to sim- ply adjust,'" he said. "ere's nothing normal about this, and I think it's our responsibility to infuse people with hope that this will pass, and we will get back to a situation that's more manageable for every- one. We have to talk up vaccinations, we have to talk up therapeutics — that there will be ways us as a society will move past this." n Cancer patient reports unsanitary conditions at Memorial Health By Erica Carbajal A breast cancer patient at Savannah, Ga.-based Me- morial Health said hospital staff neglected to clean her room and didn't provide basic supplies like toilet paper, reported NBC affiliate WSAV. Shawne Jones had been staying at the hospital in October to undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer. She was also recovering from COVID-19. Pictures Ms. Jones shared with WSAV showed dirty floors and a broken hospital bed in her room. Staff at Memorial Health ignored Ms. Jones' requests to clean the floors in her room and bathroom, she told WSAV. "You would think they'd be extra careful because of coro- navirus and different things like that … you're not getting that kind of care here," Ms. Jones told WSAV. The station reported that housekeeping eventually came to clean Jones' room and apologized for the delay. "It's clear we have fallen short when it comes to environ- mental services," a spokesperson for Memorial Health told Becker's. "We know how serious this is and are working throughout the facility to ensure our standards are met." The hospital said it terminated its contract with the clean- ing company involved in this incident, and a new vendor was hired in late October. Memorial Health's standard is to ensure all patient rooms are cleaned and stocked daily, according to the spokesperson. Memorial Health also said it was in the process of upgrad- ing its facilities and had already spent over $240 million on the effort. n