The Impact of Physician Behavior on Employees

In light of the new Joint Commission requirement that healthcare facilities take steps to identify disruptive and inappropriate behavior and develop a process to manage it, HealthStream Research examined two survey questions that relate to the relationships between members of the healthcare team:

• Our doctors consistently treat the employees with courtesy and respect
• The physicians and nurses in our hospital have a good working relationship

This Discovery Paper will show how the results for these questions vary across departments, between the overall employee database and RN-specific results, and across hospital size categories.

Full Article

The Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert in July of 2008, warning that disruptive and intimidating behaviors can have an adverse effect on patient safety and quality outcomes of care. All healthcare professionals must be aware of the potential dangers of these types of behaviors and their negative impact on not only patient care but also their negative impact on staff working relationships and collaboration.

HealthStream is proactively taking steps to help hospitals prepare for the new Joint Commission Leadership Standard (LD.03.01.01) that addresses disruptive and inappropriate behaviors in the healthcare setting :

1) HealthStream has developed survey questions that focus on disruptive and inappropriate behavior for both our Employee and Physician Insights surveys. These questions will provide hospitals the opportunity to identify units/departments where disruptive and inappropriate behavior is perceived to be an issue. It will also provide your organization with a performance baseline, trending in order to measure the effectiveness of policy implementation, and documentation that you are implementing a process for managing disruptive and inappropriate behaviors in support of meeting the new Joint Commission standards.

2) HealthStream is developing a course on disruptive and inappropriate behaviors and making it available for a limited time at a pre-order discount of 25% off. The Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert in July of 2008 warning that disruptive and intimidating behaviors can have an adverse effect on patient safety and quality outcomes of care. In order to address the training needs around disruptive behaviors, HealthStream is developing the course Disruptive Behaviors and their Negative Impact on Patient Safety. The course will be available by April 15, 2009.

Pre-Order Special - Order the Disruptive Behaviors and their Negative Impact on Patient Safety courseware by April 15th and receive a 25% discount. Click here.

If you would like more information concerning how HealthStream can support your efforts, please contact us at info@healthstream.com.

To read the information in this month's HCAHPS Spotlight, including important updates, preview reports and upcoming data submission deadlines, click on the link below.

Click Here for HCAHPS Update

“How can we communicate with patients about the HCAHPS survey? Are there any official CMS guidelines?”

Answer provided by:
Bobbi Rogers
Senior Client Services Manager, Government Initiatives

CMS has very strict guidelines that specifically outline how hospitals can and cannot communicate about the HCAHPS survey. While hospitals may inform patients that they may receive the HCAHPS survey after discharge, certain types of communication are prohibited in an effort to reduce survey biasing.

To read the full article with specific CMS communication guidelines, click here

By Bo Hansen, RN, MBA – Consultant, HealthStream

Pain is one of the nation's leading public health problems, and it often goes under-treated. It is difficult to diagnose and challenging to talk about. The majority of adults in this country (approximately 57 percent) have experienced chronic or recurrent pain, yet a significant barrier to effective pain management is that both clinicians and patients are often reluctant to talk about pain. This article, written by HealthStream’s clinical experts, contains detailed recommendations on improving pain management.

The Clinical Connection column is written by one of HealthStream’s clinical experts, all of whom have significant nursing experience.

Full Article

HealthStream will be hosting the next Summit on May 17-20, 2010, in Nashville, Tennessee. Please save the date for this “must attend” event for creating excellence in healthcare.

Click here to read a letter from HealthStream CEO Robert Frist about Summit 2010

Improved competency and performance management are at the top of every healthcare provider’s list of must haves. Current paper-based processes consume vital resources and provide little value. The Joint Commission has progressively increased its focus on competency management as the core driver of workforce quality and staffing effectiveness.

So far only two types of solutions have been offered: (1) expensive, complex systems designed for performance management, with no competency management and no awareness of the specific needs of healthcare, and (2) homemade spreadsheet and online form solutions that require IT involvement and are not linked to learning. The new HealthStream Competency Center (HCC) addresses the urgent need for better competency and performance management with a healthcare-specific, competency-driven solution.

Click here to read more about the HealthStream Competency Center.

To read HealthStream’s White Paper on competency, click here.