Volume 24
Number 24
November 29, 2013
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
`` Sharon Smith from Rhoads 5 and Edward Franklin of Ravdin 6 in the new uniform for unit secretaries.
A NEW ROLE FOR
UNIT SECRETARIES Unit secretaries are an essential part of every patient care floor at HUP. From communicating important messages to getting supplies and scheduling repairs, they are, basically, the ‘go-to’ people for the floor staff. Now, they’ll get to use their skills to help improve the inpatient experience. Jean Romano, MSN, RN, clinical director of Nursing Operations, explained that, as part of a new initiative, unit secretaries will undergo customer service training, receive new uniforms, and then start doing their own rounds on the unit. “We want them to have the opportunity to get out from behind the desk and talk with patients, make them feel safe, warm, and
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comfortable,” she said. While secretaries can’t take care of clinical needs, they can “make emotional connections with patients and assist them by making sure the phone and call bell are within reach, or getting a glass of water or a blanket.” Not only will this help the patient but it will also allow the patient’s clinical nurse more free time to focus on teaching and care. “Our goal is to have the secretary round at least once a shift,” Romano said, adding that the secretaries have scripting they can employ when speaking with patients and families. “They will work with their unit councils to identify the focus of their questions. We want them to engage in conversation and acknowledge each patient as a unique individual.” The customer service training — using the AIDET (acknowledge, introduce, duration, explanation, thank ) patient
“ I feel a stronger connection with patients and families.”
communication model — will also help secretaries engage with visitors to the unit. In addition, the secretaries will be responsible for discharge ‘thank you’ cards mailed to the patient. “All of a patient’s caregivers will sign the card while the patient is here, and then it will be mailed out after discharge.” Romano said that staff on the units will also undergo an in-service about the new program “to explain the change in the unit secretary role and also understand the role they have in supporting this initiative” in rolling the program out. This includes providing coverage at the front desk so the secretaries can round on the floor and supporting the expectation that it is “everyone’s responsibility at the desk to look up and greet people who enter the unit,” she said. Right now, the program is working only with a core group of four units (Rhoads 1 and 5, and Silverstein 7 and 11) but feedback from the secretaries has been positive: “There is more value added to my role” and “I feel a stronger connection with patients and families.” The next phase of units is being scheduled now for training.
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