Dear Colleagues,
Sensitivity to Operations and Deference to Expertise are essential traits found in High Reliability Organizations. As we focus on our journey to Zero Harm, we continue to find opportunities to put these ideas into practice. Put simply: If we are going to be a High Reliability Organization (HRO), we as leaders must actively listen to the front line and respond to the experts who work there.
Over the past several weeks we have heard one message loud and clear: the extraordinary response to the challenges of the B. Braun IV pump rollout and the Infor Cloud Suite upgrade has taken a toll on our team members. Frontline colleagues and managers are working long hours and are mentally and emotionally invested in overcoming the unexpected difficulties with these twin challenges. As leaders, we have asked what can be done to make this work easier and safer.
One way we can provide relief – and ensure you have been heard – is to delay planned administrative processes so our team will have fewer tasks on your to-do list and additional time to focus on pressing matters like B. Braun and Infor. Upcoming projects like the important SCORE survey and annual training require thousands of work hours Systemwide; this is precious time better spent on B. Braun and Infor. As such, after consultation with System leaders and CEOs of other Member Organizations, we have agreed to postpone a number of very important planned processes and administrative activities in response to the concerns we are hearing locally.
Please find below administrative pauses on Systemwide activities that will go into place effective immediately.
- SCORE Survey – Scheduled to launch this summer, the SCORE survey will now take place later in the year. We strongly encourage team members to continue to provide leaders with information about their work, but the formal process of gathering survey results can wait.
- Annual Training – The deadline for UMMS mandatory annual training will be moved back 30 days from May 31st 2024 to June 30th 2024.
- UMMS Cares – An essential part of our Patient Experience work will be postponed until later this year.
- Patient Experience Systemwide Integration – An essential part of our Patient Experience work will be postponed until later this year.
- System Safety and Quality Assessment – A planned assessment into how we approach Safety and Quality as a System will be postponed until later in the year.
- Cardiac Monitor Device Selection – A planned work stream to identify a new vendor to provide cardiac monitor devices Systemwide is postponed until later this year.
- Additional Steps – Along with the decisions outlined above, System leaders are examining the impact of a slowed approach to the Microsoft365 migration, the planned change in corporate cell phone policies and some planned process improvement and productivity measures. If slowdowns or delays are implemented, more information about these changes will be made available.
- UM SRH’s HRO Guiding Team has made the decision, based on your feedback about the benefits of being a learning area, to continue deploying new learning areas as planned this fall. To date, SRH has deployed 8 learning areas and the gains made by these departments, both at the individual and departmental level, have been inspiring. We believe that deploying additional learning areas, supported by our UM SRH’s Transformation Office team, will advance our HRO journey in ways that we did not want to delay. We are so appreciative of our Learning Area leaders and team members for their adaptability, excitement, and engagement, and look forward to onboarding additional Learning Areas this fall.
We don’t take these decisions lightly. These planned activities each will have important implications for how we care for patients, fulfill our mission and meet our long-term goals. Yet our obligation to act in ways that support our frontline colleagues in this moment is both essential and obvious. Thank you for all that you do for our patients, communities and team members.
Sincerely,
Kenneth Kozel, MBA, FACHE
President and CEO at UM Shore Regional Health
University of Maryland Medical System