INFECTIOUS ATTITUDE Team members at the Surgi-Center of Central Virginia (clockwise from right): Kenny Ellinger, RN, ADN, administrator; Vicki Lisenby, CNA; April Tingler, receptionist; Ian Wise, endoscopy tech; Arvis Abban, RN, pre-op and PACU manager; Sarah Yuhasz, LPN, QA coordinator; Tori Sanders, surgical scrub tech; Belinda MacLean, RN, OR manager; Kathy Miles, RN, pre-op nurse; and Heather Rodriguez, RN, OR nurse.

It's a no-brainer, really: A happy staff makes for happy patients," says Kenny Ellinger, RN, ADN, administrator of the Surgi-Center of Central Virginia in Fredericksburg, Va. "Each interaction we have each day with patients and the members of their families has an impact." So it's worthwhile for those interactions to be positive ones, he says.

Mr. Ellinger's endorsed and encouraged this mindset since reading a motivational book his QA nurse brought him from a conference. Now he's working on getting the rest of his staff on board. He bought 25 copies to lend out in order to start a book discussion group at the facility.

It's an optional activity, but those who do the reading can join their co-workers for a private-room dinner at a local restaurant this month to share their thoughts on the book and discuss how its lessons can benefit the facility, its patients and its physicians. "Everybody's got ideas," he says. "This is a chance to get out, get comfortable and give voice to them." Most of his 65 employees have borrowed a copy to read.

The book, The Fred Factor, by Mark Sanborn, looks at what happens to your work, workplace and life when you're truly engaged in the job you do and the people you serve. "It really spoke to me," says Mr. Ellinger. "Golden-rule-type stuff they taught us as children that we might have forgotten, but it still holds true."

To keep employees engaged, "we're always trying to find ways to spark interest, to allow people to reinvent themselves and the work they do," says Mr. Ellinger. Besides the book group, which he hopes to make a quarterly event, there's also a regularly updated display charting case volumes, costs, revenues and other bottom-line numbers, so staff can see how the facility's doing and whether they're on track for bonuses. "The more information you have, the better you feel about the place you're working," he says. "As opposed to just punching a clock and hoping you're making a contribution."

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL Andrews Institute ASC's Mardi Gras hostesses.

Party Without the Pressure
Andrews Institute ASC, Gulf Breeze, Fla.
Hosting an annual holiday party for your employees always seems like a good idea, but December is so full of events and preparations that scheduling conflicts and seasonal stress threaten to tarnish the cheer. So change the holiday and celebrate Mardi Gras instead, during the less-hectic late winter or early spring, says Barbara J. Holder, RN, BSN, LHRM, the center's QA coordinator.

An empowered staff is its own reward, but high marks from patients are even more valuable. In addition to sending patients home with satisfaction survey forms, Mr. Ellinger's center calls randomly selected patients beforehand and asks if they'll play "secret shopper." In another call after recovery, "we say, 'Tell us everything you can remember about your experience, from walking through the front door to leaving,'" he says. "We don't pigeonhole them with yes-or-no questions or 1-to-10 scales, we just let them talk. We mine as much information from them as possible." Taking the news to staff that patients felt welcome and confident on the day of surgery never gets old, he says.

For a facility that's expecting to host its 100,000th patient this fall, forward is the only way to look. "You've got to constantly reinvent yourself, every day," says Mr. Ellinger. "It's easy to rest on your laurels, but I always look forward to reinvention. Start somewhere, it doesn't have to be huge." It also doesn't have to be "pie-in-the-sky ideas" that get eyes rolling in staff meetings, he says. "If one or two people pick up the flag and run with it, a positive outlook becomes infectious, in a way. And that's the only infection we want around here."

— David Bernard

Kick Staff Meetings Up a Notch

AN ACTIVE AGENDA The staff that gets to know one another works together better.

Fremont (Neb.) Surgical Center
Here's something that'll liven up a routine staff meeting. Separate the attendees into teams. Then give each a sheet of printer paper and a small paper clip, tell them to make paper airplanes, and see whose can fly the furthest. Or: Ask each team to identify 7 characteristics all of its members have in common. Or: Have them write and sing songs about your center and its cases to a tune everyone knows, like a Christmas carol or "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Everyone will get a laugh out of it, and if you've got a competitive staff, you can award small prizes to the winners, but there's much more to be gained from team-building activities that break down the usual communication barriers, says Tracy Hoeft-Hoffman, RN, MSN, MBA, CASC, administrator. Particularly if you feel your staff's cooperation would get a welcome boost by getting to know more about each others' outside-of-work personalities.

Share Patients' Survey Responses
Cityview Surgery Center, Fort Worth, Texas
If you're looking to improve the services you provide (and who isn't?), let everyone at the facility know what your patients have to say. When patients send back the satisfaction survey forms you gave them (along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope) at discharge, post them in the lounge so staff and surgeons can read for themselves what patients liked and what they didn't like, says Jane Bell, RN, BSN, nurse manager.

Permanent Back Orders
Delray Beach (Fla.) Surgery Center
Don't let avoidable musculoskeletal injuries hobble your staff. Make calling for assistance when transferring and transporting patients an ironclad rule for ergonomic safety. Carol Cappella, RN, MSN, CNOR, clinical director, says her staff has permission to — and, in fact, is expected to — pause until co-workers arrive to help rather than move or push patients without assistance.

An Incentive to Exercise
Great Basin Surgical Center, Elko, Nev.
Your employees are your facility's leading expense. Ensure the health of your investment by encouraging them to stay in tip-top shape. Administrator Ann Cariker, RN, says her staffers get an extra $20 a month from the center if they work out at the gym at least 10 times a month. How many of your people would drop a scrub size if they hit the StairMaster, a spinning class or the free weights 2.5 times a week?

CONVERSATION STARTER At the Reading Hospital SurgiCenter at Spring Ridge's "Family Palooza."

Community Awareness With Community Benefits
Reading Hospital SurgiCenter at Spring Ridge, Wyomissing, Pa.
One way of marketing your center to the community is to educate folks about their health while also educating them about your potential role in it. An open house that features health and safety displays and offers free blood pressure, cholesterol, cancer and other screenings would play both roles. Administrative Director Pamela Ertel, RN, BSN, CNOR, RNFA, FABC, CASC, says more than 300 people attended her center's "Family Palooza," which also included recreational activities and a World War II-style mobile army surgical hospital setup.