Plan for Follow-up
First and probably the most important factor of follow-up is that it signals that I care. The staff will know that I share in their desire to succeed. In addition, it signals your realism. We all know how hard it is to change habits. Especially in an ever change world that healthcare is, change can be extremely difficult at times. In this case, the change is having the specimen collector writing their employee number on each label prior to sending it to the clinical laboratory.
Agreeing to change behavior is one thing. Actually changing it is another. By following up I am creating an opportunity for the participants to trouble shoot and consolidate lessons.
When implementing a new practice or policy, you always need to have a follow-up plan in place. It has shown very important that I be, and remain involved in the new labeling process that has taken effect.
The following are some of the steps that I have taken thus far to follow-up on the new labeling process that is in place.
The email below shows a spot check collected from the clinical lab on two random days. It shows a 52% compliance rate of employees that were writing their employee number on the labels. I had hoped for more compliency, but a percentage of more than half is a good start.