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Using work-force management technology to enhance operations, quality and compliance

by Stephen Hawley Martin
for Virginia Business
January 25, 2007

A man I know, who works for a large health care operation, was recently given the newly-created title of vice president of patient satisfaction. His organization has the goal of becoming the health- care provider of choice in its region. A work-force management technology system could provide information that could help it achieve this goal. Set up the right way, the system could help the organization track employees' contact with patients and relate this to patient satisfaction levels -- provided satisfaction levels were measured through questionnaires, or post-discharge interviews.

How might this work? Let's say your mother-in-law was on such-and-such a floor in such-and-such a room on specific days. A patient questionnaire designed to measure her level of satisfaction could be given to her when she leaves the hospital. It would be a matter of relate her responses to the workers who cared for her using the time and attendance system data. The patient survey data and the employee activity information could be linked and compiled to assess whether satisfaction was related to specific employees or to events, and whether certain employees or activities generated higher patient ratings than others.

This process could also overlay other aspects that may have affected your mother-in-law's level of satisfaction and the employees charged with her care. Were they unable to respond because they were short-staffed? Had the employees been working double shifts? Did other patients during the same timeframe, dealing with the same staff members, register the same responses? Are there trends in how employees are scheduled or put together in teams related to the level of patient satisfaction? Do higher-paid employees deliver more satisfactory care? And so on.

It's likely that some care givers would prove to be more proficient than others at turning out happy patients. It might be that certain employees work better under particular supervisors or on certain shifts, and that this resulted in better patient satisfaction outcomes. The hospital might discover that ratings drop toward the end of an employee's double shift or when an employee is called in on a day off. Linking time and attendance data to operational data -- such as patient surveys -- would add one more dimension to the organization's understanding of what patients experience and the way employees are scheduled to work and compensated. If there is a correlation between them, employee performance can be viewed as a key indicator of success in generating patient satisfaction.

The capabilities of work-force management technology are moving ahead at a lightning pace, changing the way many health-care providers and businesses operate. A new book from Oaklea Press by Lisa Disselkamp, called "Working the Clock," is intended to give executives insight into the many ways it can help them run their businesses more efficiently. This example came from that book.

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Stephen Hawley Martin is a former principal of The Martin Agency in Richmond and the author of more than half a dozen books including his newest, Lean Enterprise Leader: How to Get Things Done Without Doing It All Yourself. He is editor and publisher of The Oaklea Press, a book publishing business dedicated primarily to helping business executives increase productivity.