Hi Team –

 

Delivering surprisingly human care that drives exceptional outcomes by “seeing, hearing and healing” is not just the brand promise we make to the patients and the communities we serve. It is also the commitment we make to each and every one of our more than 13,000 TriHealth team members and physicians. In fact, it’s essential to building a great culture and work environment which are foundational to Getting Healthcare Right. 

 

And this is why throughout our nine-year journey from Good to Great, we have prioritized actively listening to, believing and acting on what our team members and physicians tell us will make TriHealth a GREAT health system for those we serve and those who serve. And we are fulfilling this commitment in a number of ways, including our engagement and pulse surveys, leader rounding, use of stoplight reports, town halls, department and unit meetings, daily huddles and more.

 

So, as part of our continued efforts to “see” and “hear” YOU, we will conduct our 2024 TriHealth Engagement Survey starting next Monday, June 17. And given the important roles these surveys and your voice play in TriHealth’s journey from Good to Great, I wanted to use this Weekly Update to share some real examples of how we have improved as a system through your feedback in previous engagement surveys, along with what you need to know in order to participate in the upcoming engagement survey. 

 

Because of your active participation and the thoughtful feedback you provided in previous engagement surveys, we have made a number of changes and seen encouraging progress on many fronts. Here are a few examples: 

Open and honest communication builds understanding, commitment, active engagement and trust – and they are essential building blocks to a great culture and organization. So, we’ve continued to improve and enhance our communication practices and tools used in huddles, department meetings, town halls, surveys, streamlined leader briefings, Weekly Updates, Bridge, rounding and other channels. A few examples include: 

o Simplified “Monthly Leader Briefing Tool” to better support your leader in communicating directly with you in huddles, department meetings and rounding the important system updates as well as location department news and information you need to know. 

o Conducted a system-wide communications audit just a few months ago to better understand how, where and when you prefer to receive your TriHealth communications. And a few of the things you told us”

- Continue to share timely updates and news at the local level

- Make content even more relevant to our team members

- Reduce email communications by combining announcements

- Share challenges as well as wins and successes

o Look for more details on what we learned and what changes we are making based on your feedback in the coming weeks. 

Getting Healthcare Right starts with Getting Staffing Right, so we have: 

o Added Talent Acquisition (TA) consultants and overhauled our TA processes to prioritize hiring in our hardest-to-fill and highest demand areas.

o Developed new tools and resources to improve selection and onboarding, enhance the new team member experience and reduce turnover.

o Significantly reduced open positions and our reliance on outside agency and temp staffing. In the last 14 weeks, we have filled more than 500 “tier 1” roles and 300 plus “tier 2” roles! As a result, nurse managers and charge nurses are reporting less time in assignment and higher staffing satisfaction. And TriHealth Physician Partners (TPP) is reporting encouraging progress with Medical Assistant (MA) staffing and support in our practices, with significantly higher retention.

o Advanced Clinical Redesign initiatives which are now showing real progress with: 

- Improved staffing levels

- Better support of bedside nurses through more responsive logistics, Food and Nutrition Services (FANS) and Environmental Services (EVS)

- Improved retention of Acute Care Technicians (ACTs) 

- Success in freeing charge nurses up from patient care assignments to better support staff

o Established the TriHealth Career Success Center to guide and support team member development and create career paths and coaching so team members can grow and advance in their careers at TriHealth.

Ensuring the safety of all those we serve and those who serve at TriHealth is our highest priority and is a never-ending pursuit in our Journey to Zero Harm AND in becoming the region’s employer of choice. As part of this journey, this year we have:

o Dramatically reduced serious safety events, anonymous reporting, patient falls, HAIs and more.

o Invested in training and new resources for our Protective Services team, which has contributed to a more than 30% reduction in workplace violence incidents. 

o And, in our most recent engagement and culture of safety surveys:

- 81.7% of team members responded that “Employee safety is a high priority in my department,” well above the national healthcare benchmark of just 65%, and

- 90% of team members said they would “recommend TriHealth as a safe place for care,” compared with the national healthcare average of just over 60%.

TriHealth is committed to supporting our team members in being their best, so they can do their best for all those we serve. As part of this commitment, we have:

o Enhanced benefit offerings, including adding the new Paid Parental Bonding Leave benefit, a second Dental Plan option and Optional Short Term Disability Buy-Up.

o Proactively addressed concerns about not being able to take PTO through leader education and enhanced PTO communications during onboarding.

o Brought back the TriHealth Lifting Caregivers program to provide onsite critical incident services and mental health support to team members.

o Continued to provide personalized 1:1 health coaching with certified wellness coaches through TriHealth LifeStyles along with access to TriHealth’s eight Fitness Centers (Bethesda North Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital, TriHealth Baldwin, Arrow Springs, Butler, McCullough-Hyde, Norwood and Western Ridge). And, best of all, health coaching services and access to TriHealth Fitness Centers are free of charge to team members and physicians.

o Increased healthy food choices with the addition of Farmers’ Fridge, especially for the night shift, which gave feedback about limited food choices.

o Enhanced Wellbeing Solutions page to make resources easier to access and introduced an improved, more user-friendly wellness platform and mobile app powered by Virgin Pulse, an industry leader in digital wellness technology.

 

And these are just a FEW of the many ways TriHealth has put your feedback into action! Click here to download the “Investing in YOU” flyer to review even more examples of how TriHealth is improving for you – and because of you!

 

And now it’s time, once again, to be “seen and heard” to help make TriHealth an even better place to work, to practice and to receive care! And the more team members we hear from, the better we can assess what’s going well and where we can take action to continue to improve in ways most important to you!

 

So, I am asking for every team member and physician to participate in the 2024 TriHealth Engagement Survey – ONE Team, TriHealth STRONG!! The survey launches next Monday, June 17, and will remain open through Friday, June 28. This confidential survey will again be administered by our partners at Perceptyx, with three easy ways to participate: 

 Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to complete the survey! Together, we are Getting Healthcare Right and making TriHealth the best it can be for those we serve and those WHO serve!