By KELLEN M. QUIGLEY | Jul 28, 2023
OLEAN — Olean General Hospital officials say improvements have been made over the course of the year in quality, patient experience, communication and cost-saving initiatives as well as community engagement and recruitment.
Recruitment has been the key to a successful turnaround for many departments throughout UAHS, but none have seen an enhancement like the environmental services department (EVS) at OGH.
This time last year, the 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week operation of OGH ran on an EVS department that had more than a third of its workforce vacant due to staffing shortages.
“Meeting the needs of the organization and our patients while trying to avoid employee exhaustion and fatigue was a balancing act that was hard to manage at times,” said Jared Johnson, ESD director.
“Employee burnout is a real thing,” he continued. “We had to set our priorities to where they were needed most — areas that require thorough cleaning and quick turnaround times to open beds for new patients took precedence over other visible areas.”
Joseph Fuglewicz, director of marketing, said the entire Upper Allegheny Health System, including Bradford (Pa.) Regional Medical Center, is working through the struggles that all rural healthcare facilities are facing — increased operational costs, staffing shortages and low reimbursements. He said they’re still rebounding from the COVID-19 challenges, but they’re seeing improvements in areas like staff morale, patient satisfaction and quality.
“We have a great team of leaders, physicians and staff that are all here for the same reason — to provide comprehensive quality healthcare to our community,” he said. “By using the valuable feedback from our patients and gathering data, we’ll be able to continue to make a positive shift the rest of this year and into 2024.”
UAHS is seeing improvements in all facets of the organization, Fuglewicz said, from financial turnaround through cost reductions, advocacy work and grants to increased patient satisfaction by implementing nurse leadership rounding with our patients providing real-time results.
They’ve also implemented a hospitalist program coordinated internally which has helped to improve the quality of care, communication internally with staff and externally with the community and the $6 million market adjustment for our wages that took place at the beginning of this year.
“This investment in our workforce increased wages of current staff while putting starting wages at or above market which has helped with recruitment and retention,” he said.
IN UAHS, EVS aides play an important role throughout the organization but are often overlooked. They are responsible for cleaning hospital rooms and bays in the emergency room when patients are discharged, overseeing the removal of regulated medical waste including biohazard waste and sharps as well as floor care and cleaning of all other common areas throughout the hospital.
This department is key in the prevention of any hospital inquired infections through proper sanitation and cleanliness standards.
“We’re the first and last line of defense to prevent a hospital inquired infection. People can’t heal without a sterile area,” said Johnson. “I tell my team all the time that doctors and nurses treat, we prevent.”
Fuglewicz said EVS is important for the proper flow of patients while providing everyone with a safe, clean environment. Without enough EVS staff, he said wait times and processes experience delays.
During the past couple of years due to staffing shortages and implications from the pandemic, UAHS heard negative comments and saw the low patient satisfaction survey results on the cleanliness of the hospital, Fuglewicz said. So they set a goal to turn this around and the initiations on recruitment and improving the work environment are working.
“Not only with providing adequate staff but having the right staff while creating a work environment where people want to show up and do their best each day is important,” he said. “Now that we’re operating with adequate EVS staff, the team is able to provide that five-star experience our patients deserve.”
In June 2023, OGH had a 77% patient satisfaction rating in cleanliness and Bradford Regional Medical Center was at 100%, both above the national average of 54%.
“We’ve already heard some great commentary in the community on the improvements in cleanliness. My team and I take pride in our work and the positive feedback reinforces that what we’re doing here truly matters,” Johnson said. “Like any position in the organization, I want what we do to have a positive lasting impression on our patients.”
SINCE LAST year, that nearly 40% deficit in staffing has improved. The OGH EVS department is fully operational and has been able to bring the new staff up to speed on expectations. Backing the improvements in cleanliness are the patient satisfaction survey results and hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems.
Fuglewicz said every department has its own recruitment goals that they’re trying to accomplish but, recruitment of registered nurses (RN) is an overall organizational goal they’re looking to achieve. He said they started the year out hoping to recruit 28 experienced RNs between OGH and BRMC and 20 graduate nurses (GN).
“We’re making a lot of progress in this arena and are happy to say that we’re at a net of 20 experienced RNs and a total of 24 GNs between BRMC and OGH,” he said.
This recruitment and retention initiative is important to help with the reduction in agency costs for traveling nurses as well as bring on team members that are vested in the overall health of our community members.
“Another win is the turnover rate is less than 2 percent for our RNs which was around 15 percent at this time last year,” he added. “Our team will continue to push our initiatives for recruitment and retention of registered nurses.”
Fuglewicz said they’re seeing improvements throughout the entire organization making positive changes along with great feedback from our team members and community members, saying the culture within the organization is shifting and they are getting past employees wanting to return to the organization.
“That speaks volumes on how the culture change is gaining momentum and building the support of our current staff and community members,” he said.
UAHS’s mission is to create a sustainable healthcare system that continues to meet the healthcare needs of the community, Fuglewicz said. As a whole, they want to continue to be the healthcare provider of choice for the region that serves over 140,000 people as well as be the employer of choice in the region which currently employs over 1,300 community members.
“We want the community to know the amount of work our team has completed over the last year to make improvements and we will continue to be that vital resource for our family, friends and neighbors,” he added. “Thank you to Olean, Bradford and the surrounding communities for their support.”