Stragetic Planning

In this episode, we are going to talk about strategic planning and our pillars.  This will explain the why behind why we have pillars and what it means to all of us. 

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Have you ever wondered why we have pillars or worried about how many hospital inquired infections we have? Hi everybody, and welcome back to Nursing Together. I'm your host, Michelle Hoen, chief Nursing Executive, and as always, I am grateful you have taken a few minutes out of your busy day to be here with me today. So today we're gonna dive into something really important, strategic planning. Now, I know that might not sound super exciting on the surface, but stick with me because this conversation is about you, your team, your patients, and our shared purpose. Let's start at the beginning. What is strategic planning? Strategic planning. Is a structured way for our organization to set clear goals for where we want to go and how we're going to get there. Think of it as like a roadmap. It helps us align our daily work with our long-term vision, ensuring every step of the way. We are bringing ourselves closer to the kind of care, workplace and future that we believe in. But here's the most important part. Strategic planning isn't just about something leadership does in a boardroom. Once these goals are set, we cascade them down through the organization. So every department, every unit, every caregiver understands how their work directly contributes to those big picture objectives for leadership at the bedside, everyone has a role. When we align our goals, amazing things happen because we're all rowing the boat in the same direction. So to keep us grounded and focused, our organization or our strategic goals have been broken up into four pillars, people service quality and efficiency. I'm sure you're familiar with them. They're on your biz walls. People talk about them. You see 'em all over the place, but they're not just buzzwords. They are the heart of how we measure success and stay true to our mission. Let's walk through some of them. First, let's talk about people and why are we gonna talk about people first? Because that means you, you are the core of our organization. We value our people, and it's not just talk. We actively listen, learn and respond to what you tell us. That feedback matters. Sometimes we can make some really quick changes, what we call a quick win, and other times the changes take a bit longer, especially when they're tied to the larger system, like pay and benefits For example, we've increased our 401k contribution. Introduced various bonus structures based on your years of experience and restructured our performance evaluations. So you saw just a little bit more when you've got it. Why? Because we believe your hard work should be recognized and rewarded, and we wanna give you more opportunity to grow and thrive financially and professionally. Our next pillar is service, and this one really gets to the why behind everything that we do. Patients are at the center of our mission. They come to us during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives, and they place their trust in our hands. Trust is sacred. We have the responsibility not only to provide care, but to pro provide safe quality care that leads to the best outcomes possible. We want our patients to leave not only feeling better, but also feeling like they've been seen, heard, and cared for. And there's another side to this too. It's also how we get reimbursed. Healthcare has shifted. We're no longer in that pay for volume. We get paid based off of the value of care that we have provided to our patients. That means hospitals are now held accountable for the outcomes and experiences. Lemme break it down in a way that might make it seem a little realer. Imagine you are promised $32 an hour, but your employee says, I'm gonna hold back $3 an hour at until the end of the year. If you've done well. You meet all your expectations, I'll give it back to you, but if you didn't, I'm gonna keep it. And if someone did really, really good, I'm gonna maybe give part of that $3 to that person or a number of different people if they did better. Sound unfair, maybe. But it's the reality of a hospital. The value based pay system. If we do not meet certain benchmarks, we're at risk for losing our reimbursement, and that's money that might go into your paycheck or go into. Giving us more equipment or better equipment, or trying to find the newest technology out there. If we don't, then we'll lose it. And if we lose it, it might end up going into our competitors' pocket instead, and we don't want that. That's why our metrics like patient experience scores and hospital. Acquired infection rates aren't just numbers. They are representing our performance and direct impact on our ability to reinvest in you and our program and in better care. So let's go ahead and talk about quality for a little bit. Which is closely connected to service. We wanna make sure that while we're treating the illness, we're also not causing harm in the process. That means preventing hospital inquired infections, avoiding readmissions, and making sure we follow best practices in everything we do. High quality care doesn't happen by accident. It happens through teamwork and constant learning and a shared commitment to excellence. No one goes to work saying, today is the day I wanna harm someone.. But it can happen because a process got broke down, and that is what we're here to look at. We're here to look at why our processes are breaking down. What tools did we not give you to make it better for you? What items did you not have to break that process? That is what we want to fix. That is. How we are going to work at getting to zero harm is through diving in to our processes, how they broke down, and how we can make them better. It's about being proactive, asking questions, speaking up when something doesn't seem right. Finally, we gotta talk about efficiency. I know that this has been a huge topic rolling around the hospital for a little while now, but efficiency is another important component to making sure that our patients are not only getting a good experience, having good, a good outcome, but it also makes sure that we are putting that right patient in the right place at the right time. It's about being good stewards of time, resources, and energy. Healthcare is complex and demanding, and we're always working to find better ways to deliver care, ways that support our team and avoid that burnout while all achieving great outcomes. Efficiency isn't about cutting corners. It means that we're working smarter. We're supporting each other and we are removing the barriers that get in the way of great care. So what does this mean for you? It means that your work matters. Every action you take on your unit directly supports our strategic plan. It means your voice is important because people is the first pillar for a reason, and it means that we're in this together working as one team to provide the best care possible. To those who need it most. When we understand the why behind the strategic planning, it becomes less about the policies and more about our purpose, and I can't think of a better purpose than caring for others with compassion, with skill, and with heart. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. Your work matters. Your voice matters, and together we'll build something truly special. Until next time, take care of yourselves and take care of each other. You are valued, you are appreciated, and you make a difference every single day. Thank you for listening.