news views Winter 2016
A Publication of the Department of Nursing and Patient Care Services University of Maryland Medical Center
Lisa Rowen’s Rounds: Change is Constant at the Medical Center What is the one thing we can always count on, the one thing that is ever-present, the thing that, without a doubt, will always occur in our health care environment? The answer: Change. Every single day, something changes at the Medical Center.
Lisa Rowen, DNSc, RN, CENP, FAAN Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer
Sometimes the changes are monumental events that occur with a “flip of the switch.” Implementing inpatient Portfolio was an event that altered workflows, documentation, and how we track performance and outcomes. The planning was painstakingly exquisite. The training was at times overwhelming. And the go-live was a bit of a roller-coaster ride that eventually glided smoothly, on schedule, to the station platform. It was a fast-paced, noticeable change – gravity-defying, all consuming and loud in the very public nature of its energy and emphasis. Sometimes the changes are challenging, subtle and slow. Our commitment to decreasing central lineassociated bloodstream infections and catheter-associated urinary tract infections has involved multiple evidence-based practice changes and multiple disciplines working together over many years, as well as the use of new supplies. All of this required intense vigilance, and it was worth it. The success of our efforts has led to saving more lives and reducing harm to patients. This type of change is profoundly positive. Moving to a more professional and standardized appearance through alignment of scrub wear has been a change that has also been profound. I’m not aware of any other hospital that has done what we have done – create a visibly unified care team via one color of scrubs – navy blue. Inspired by the single care team appearance of our Shock Trauma colleagues in pink, the rest of the staff in the Medical Center in non-sterile environments now wear navy scrub wear. Our Magnet colleagues have told us that this change is novel, innovative and a model for other hospitals. While wearing one color does not differentiate roles from each other, it does create the appearance of a single and aligned team of health care providers. It is a powerful and visible image that underscores our integrated work together for our patients. Every day and night at the Medical Center offers each of us the constancy of change. Just as the earth changes from moment to moment, so does our world of patient care. It is comforting to know our world, whether external or internal to the Medical Center, offers us the possibility to continuously change with the purpose of improvement. As we focus on the areas of our professional practice that we want to improve, I’d like to challenge you to consider big and small changes, changes that you can make alone or in teams, and changes that are both obvious and inspired. Each of us brings creativity and innovation to our teams and work environments. Unleash this energy to create change that evolves our patient care to be the best that it can possibly be, until you find the next way to make it even better.
“Unleash this energy to create change that evolves our patient care to be the best that it can possibly be, until you find the next way to make it even better.”