Frontiers of Health Services Management - Winter 2013 - (Page 39)

* improve the personal health and wellbeing of our workforce * improve patient care and service delivery through optimal employee performance and patient perception of the health of our workforce * increase staff satisfaction * reduce healthcare expenditures-a common cause of stress for many * Help continuum become an employer of choice Building Organizational Resilience Just as healthcare executives and team members need to take time to practice self-care and build resilience, so must the organization as a whole. even the best-run organizations have opportunities to be self-reflective, becoming more aware of the changing needs of the communities they serve. From Acute Stress to Growth often, any reflection that takes place in healthcare delivery operations is influenced by acute events. even in organizations with the best systems and people, human failings can occur in processes and lead to poor outcomes, which can have a devastating impact on people's lives. While organizations as a whole deplore the negative results of acute stressors, they can also turn the power of change and positive thought into an opportunity to reflect on resilience and learn, grow, and evolve from the traumatic experience. for example, when one of the hospitals in our system experienced several adverse patient outcomes that were clearly avoidable (including cases that resulted in patient harm and death), understandably, we took them as a wake-up call. these experiences forced us to evaluate and rethink our entire quality and patient safety Ga il F. D onova n * 39 C o m m e n t a r y cHPfit offers many approaches to health improvement, including biometric screenings; health risk assessments; personal health coaching; online access to health information, in partnership with the Mayo clinic; stress reduction, life enrichment, and exercise classes; walking and running clubs; an employee assistance program, directed by mental health counselors; corporate perquisites and discounts; softball teams; and more. any organization implementing an employee wellness program knows it can be a slow, incremental process to engage a majority of staff. to encourage individuals to take advantage of cHPfit's offerings and pursue wellness on their own, we created individual and team challenges that give employees opportunities to earn points, depending on their level of participation in healthy activities, and redeem them for different rewards. for example, they can earn 50 points for volunteering, 10 points for attending a meditation and reiki session, 25 points for going to a comedy show (as the saying goes, laughter is the best medicine), and 10 points for attending a nutritional workshop. the hot contest of the moment is our rio to rome team competition, with 34 teams of five employees each competing to earn the highest number of cHPfit reward points toward winning a trip to rome, rio de Janeiro, or another destination of the team's choice. as individual employees use cHPfit's suite of tools to enhance their physical and mental health, thereby building their resilience, the organization grows healthier and more resilient along with them.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Frontiers of Health Services Management - Winter 2013

Frontiers of Health Services Management - Winter 2013
Contents
Editorial
Riding the Dragon: Enhanching Resilient Leadership and Sensible Self-Care in the Healthcare Executive
Managing Resilience by Managing Purpose
Building Organizational and personal Resilience
Resilience: A Responsibility That Can't Be Delegated
Personal Resilience: A Gateway to Organizational Health and Progress
Response from Feature Aurthors

Frontiers of Health Services Management - Winter 2013