Health Care

Work That has Meaning Reaps Benefits for Employees and Patients | Sponsored

By Amy Compton-Phillips, M.D. November 26, 2019

image of Providence St. Joseph Health

This post is sponsored.

Sponsored by Providence St. Joseph Health

In health care more than most fields, investments in the potential of our talented workforce pay huge dividends, both for caregivers (our employees) and patients. Here at Providence St. Joseph Health, helping caregivers live their personal mission also speaks to our promise: “Know me, care for me, ease my way.”

Studies of health care professionals by organizations such as the Mayo Clinic show a strong connection between career and leadership development and improved well-being. That makes developing our caregivers an important tool for empowering them to deliver excellent care. Career enrichment also aids workforce retention, helping caregivers to build expertise while remaining highly engaged within our family of organizations.

Taking myself as an example, I think the typical clinical caregiver has three main drivers – things that make us get out of bed in the morning. These are: 1) doing work that has meaning, 2) achieving proficiency in one’s area of expertise and 3) feeling empowered and trusted to do what’s right for patients.

Author Daniel Pink boils down our fundamental motivations in his best-selling book, “Drive,” to three words: autonomy, mastery and purpose. I’m well aware that the typical health care work environment can get in the way of those drivers, but it can also harness them. We’re working to do the latter in a host of ways.

Simply put, we are creating a progressive learning culture, one that provides just-in-time tools and access to information that will ease our caregivers’ way and allow them to hone their skills in a safe environment. There are a number of professional and leadership development opportunities available to our caregivers, including:

>The University of Providence is a far-reaching commitment by our health system to provide every caregiver the opportunity to develop professionally. Its programs can help one become a nurse or technologist, move up from RN to BSN, or add leadership skills to existing clinical skills.

>The PSJH Nursing Academy allows just-out-of-training nursing graduates to obtain residency-level experience in an accelerated way, so they can move more quickly into specialty practice.

>The Clinical Leadership Academy uses expertise from our clinical, talent development, finance and operational leaders to develop clinical leaders who will help lead the transformation of health care.

>Caring Reliably expresses our commitment to teamwork, transparency and a just culture. The program is designed to enhance patient safety and the caregiver experience.

>Clinical Value Improvement builds on our commitment to be a highly reliable learning organization by giving caregivers the skills to do the jobs for which they were hired and the freedom and capability to improve their jobs each day.

>OWN-IT, begun in St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare, combines principles of leadership formation with a daily commitment to a culture of compassion and safety.

>The LEAD program is a new digital training program that uses augmented reality and video storytelling, adding social and informal learning to traditional curriculum. It includes a range of resources and the ability to collaborate, customized for five different types of caregivers.

>Q Stream is a pilot program for bedside nurses that focuses on improving care and keeping up with regulations.

Some of these programs are well-established while others are just getting started, and we’ll be working to scale the best ones across our family of organizations.

Whether through formal programs or on-the-job mentorship, developing the incredible talent found in every corner of Providence St. Joseph Health is both our commitment and our priority, on behalf of those we serve.

Amy Compton-Phillips, M.D., serves as executive vice president and chief medical officer for Providence St. Joseph Health.

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