Very Busy Nurses Sit Down To Speak with Patients

During our daily visits, to Unit 35, on our Lean Daily Management walks over the last few months, Nurse Manager, Kathy Bull and her team have been telling us about their learning as they were testing a new communication strategy.  They began sitting at the bedside of each of their patients for “one minute” each shift and having a conversation with the patient about his or her care. I say “one minute” in quotes because they quickly learned that the conversation always took more than one minute.  The Unit 35 team had to figure out how to fit these discussions into their work.  They were already extremely busy in meeting the patient’s needs, but, they saw an opportunity to hear what the patient thought and to get to know them a bit better as the inpatient stay progressed.  

For the months of August, September and October, Unit 35 has had the highest patient satisfaction scores in any quarter since they started measuring!

In addition, all of the nurse communication questions showed the same pattern! The patients are saying that they really appreciate that the nurses are finding the time to sit with them and discuss the care.  I am so proud of the Unit 35 team and I am very grateful for their fantastic work in treating everyone the way they want their own loved ones treated.

Congratulations to the medical director of our Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute, Gary I. Cohen M.D., FACP, who earlier this week was honored with the Martin D. Abeloff Award for Excellence in Public Health and Cancer Control by the Maryland State Council on Cancer Control. This award is given annually to a Marylander who has contributed to reducing the incidence, morbidity and mortality of cancer through research focused on cancer control. Dr. Cohen is an incredible physician who is dedicated to serving his patients. He truly deserves this recognition and we are proud of him for earning this prestigious honor. Please congratulate him the next time you see him!

I am also proud to announce that this is the second year in a row that a member of the Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute at GBMC was given this award. In 2014, Robert K. Brookland, MD, FACR, FACRO, GBMC’s Chairman of Radiation Oncology was also honored.