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Project-Based Internship at The Chester County Hospital. By: Angela Leslie, Unit Coordinator. The Chester County Hospital. Originated in 1892 as a small office Established in 1925 after the Spanish Flu spread and claimed the life of a devoted patient Lewes A .Mason
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Project-Based Internship at The Chester County Hospital By: Angela Leslie, Unit Coordinator
The Chester County Hospital • Originated in 1892 as a small office • Established in 1925 after the Spanish Flu spread and claimed the life of a devoted patient Lewes A .Mason • Worked for Pierre S. du Pont, he gave hospital $1 million to expand and admit patients • Big on it’s foundation • Community hospital • Theme “Making lives better, everyday.” • Remodeled in 1986 to admit 100 more patients • Future plans to build two towers • Admitting 100 more patients • Proud to be top 10 in the U.S. for Cardiac treatment
Project: Go Live! • Orders were hand written then transcribed by Unit Coordinator to be put into system • Complications (hard to read, incorrectly transcribed) • Project: transform all orders to be put in electronically • Train employees to use new systems • Put laptops in each room • Design swipe I.D.s to allow employee access • Hardest part- encourage ALL employees (Physicians, Nurses, Ancillary Staff) to work with new system and change their ways
Unit Coordinator Role Before • Receive doctor’s orders and transcribe on to three Kardexs, fax to pharmacy, call consults • Add, change, delete orders from Kardex with red pen and highlighter After • Become “super-users” of new system • Train physicians and nurses on how to enter, change, delete orders • Fix complications with swipe I.D.s • Keep employees motivated • Check orders electronically versus hand-written
Problems During Project • Physicians and Nurses did not want to change • Older employees were not technology savvy • Problems encountered with logging in • STAT orders not being interpreted quick enough • System failure • Hard to find orders in computer
Solutions • Keep employees enthused with meetings and dinners • allow “super-users” to be found on every floor for support • Learn the issues with logging in and know how to reset the system and password • Create an online site that allows employees to report problems, take problems and fix • Hard to find orders • STAT consults and medications to be acknowledged • Created STAT phlebotomy beeper for enzymes and lab work • System Failure- generators down, keep one computer on each floor that cannot shut off, runs on own server and generator that has live access to all employee info
Achievements • 90% of all orders are electronically entered • Employees have adapted to system • Made the new system easier to use and navigate • Made the hospital able to admit more patients in efficient time • From Emergency Room to Floors
Improvements • Continue to make system more user-friendly • Get Emergency Department to electronically enter orders • No verbal orders from Physicians • Make system usable outside of hospital • Allow patients access to their own records with passwords
What have I learned? • How to work from the bottom to higher positions • How to work with MANY different people • Physicians, Nurses, Managerial Staff, other Coordinators • Age, role, preferences • How to handle critical situations in a timely manner • How to implement something company wide and work through flaws • How important change is • Process • People • Company
What courses helped? • Change Leadership- MIS • Importance of meetings, employee moral, change process, approach • Business Ethics • Do the right thing • Unethical decisions happen in seconds • Organizations and Management • Business process & change process • Working with variety of people • Working in critical situations
Visions and Values “To be the leading provider of care in the region and a national model for quality, service excellence, and fiscal stewardship.”
Work Cited “The Chester County Hospital and Health System”. 2012. http://www.cchosp.com/c chpage.asp?p=2&m=1566