Initiative ensures that leaders and physicians are on the same page
Initiative ensures that leaders and physicians are on the same page
Ensuring that leaders, physicians, and employees are in alignment is critical to the success of a leading health care facility like French Hospital Medical Center, which is the only hospital in California to earn 25 consecutive ‘A’ grades in Patient Safety from the Leapfrog Group and receive a five star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
To help ensure all staff members, from every department of the hospital, maintain open lines of communication, Dr. Thomas Vendegna, French’s Chief Medical Officer, and Julia Fogelson, MSN, RN, the hospital’s Chief Nursing Executive, are leading by example.
Recently, both Dr. Vendegna and Fogelson swapped out their typical business attire for scrubs as part of the “Suits to Scrubs” program. Each of them then spent a day with a surgeon at French Hospital, hearing what works, fielding any concerns and getting an up-close look at what a typical day consists of.
"There's nothing like watching the precision of a surgeon in the operating room and we have some of the best here at French Hospital, " said Dr. Vendegna.
Dr. Vendegna shadowed Neurosurgeon Dr. David Yeh and watched while Dr. Yeh performed an intricate spine surgery on a patient.
“The CommonSpirit National Physician Engagement Team met in March and the consensus was that administrators and physicians have different objectives even though we should be aligned under one goal of patient care,” Dr. Vendegna said. “In order to achieve this alignment, we suggested a program where a senior administrator spends a day in a doctor's shoes. Through this, both sides learned some unique challenges and better understanding of certain barriers that exist and ways to improve.”
Fogelson joined cardiologist Dr. Robert Doria inside the state-of-the-art Heart Catheterization Lab in the Copeland, Forbes and Rossi Cardiac Care Center at French Hospital.
“It was a pleasure to spend the morning in our ‘Suits to Scrubs’ program with Dr. Doria,” Fogelson said. “He was gracious and generous with his knowledge and time. It was insightful to follow him, watching his workflow, and seeing his interactions with the patients and team.”
Fogelson said the responses she received from Dr. Doria and his team are invaluable.
“I’m looking forward to taking the feedback he shared with me and making improvements that will impact our patient care and physician experience,” Fogelson said.
To learn more about French Hospital Medical Center, visit https://www.dignityhealth.org/central-coast/locations/frenchhospital