Schneck Medical Center (Seymour, IN) has achieved clinical excellence and more, becoming the first organization in Indiana to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Organizational Excellence and Innovation.

"Receiving the award is a great honor," says Craig Rice, I.T. director. "But the real value was in applying the framework we learned from the program to our own workflow processes, so we can better care for patients and the community."

According to Rice, Schneck has made a strategic decision to stick with MEDITECH. "The tools to provide great patient care are all there," he explains. "Information flows throughout the system, and users aren't logging in to a variety of best-of-breed applications."

Patients First
"Our 'Patient First' culture has always motivated us to deliver great care, but we really wanted to take the quality of our care delivery to the next level," says Suki Wright, director of organizational excellence and innovation.

Wright, who championed the Baldrige application process at Schneck, says the first part consists of an organizational profile, during which senior leaders identify the organization's key strategic advantages and challenges.

"I was pleased with the great discussions among our senior leaders as they worked through the profile," says Wright. "An important aspect of the process is coming to a consensus on the most significant attributes of the organization, as well as on areas that have opportunities for improvement."

Schneck took this opportunity to realign its "Patient First" culture, of which it considers MEDITECH an important part. "MEDITECH's integrated system fits in with our alignment strategy of putting the patient first in every decision," says Rice. "For example, we share a secure, remote connection with physician practices and nursing homes, so they have access to the most up-to-date patient data. This initiative has been very successful in coordinating care throughout our community."

Scrutiny Welcome!
Organizations following the Baldrige Program must receive a certain score on their assessments before they qualify for a site visit from national examiners. But at the time of Schneck's assessment, there was no state-level program in Indiana to support them and, according to Wright, they struggled.

"Our process didn't take off until we joined the Ohio Partnership for Excellence. As a participant, Schneck automatically qualified for a site visit from the state-level program's examiners."

It was the feedback from the state-level program that helped Schneck to improve their application at the national level, and ultimately led to a site visit from the national Baldrige examiners in 2011.

Schneck welcomed the scrutiny. To prepare staff for the site visit, Wright emphasized to staff that they simply tell the examiners the truth, not what they thought the examiners would want to hear.

"We wanted the examiners to see our organization as outsiders see it. The most important part of the Baldrige Program is the examiners' feedback, and we wanted it to be as objective and as accurate as possible, to learn what we're doing right, and what we needed to improve."

Validation
Despite the increased responsibilities of being a Baldrige winner, Wright and Rice acknowledge that Schneck staff are still walking on air.

Says Wright, "Our journey will never be over, because we always strive to improve the quality of the services we offer, but the award gives staff a whole new level of pride in their work."

"In the past, as soon as we accomplished one goal, we immediately moved on to the next," adds Rice. "This time we're going to do things differently. Winning the Baldrige Award has validated the hard work of our staff, and gives us the opportunity to reflect on what we do well."

 

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