|
|
CS101
The ENT All-Stars: Boosting Patient and Staff Morale with “Team Spirit Week”
By E. Cox, A. Rogers; Johnson, R.; Barnes-Jewish Hospital; St. Louis, MO
For further information, please contact: eac01752bjc.org
Purpose:: Our ear, nose and throat surgery unit has many patients with serious diagnoses and sometimes disfiguring surgeries. For the dual purpose of demonstrating appreciation for the staff’s dedication and boosting the morale of the unit patients, our unit manager and assistants hosted “Team Spirit Week” in August 2005.
Description: Throughout the week, we invited the unit staff members to wear their personalized “All-Stars” jerseys. These jerseys were specially designed to coordinate with their hospital uniforms and to recognize how much we value our hardworking team members. Our staff functions as an excellent team every day, and the jerseys stepped up the “look” of our team players during spirit week. We invited patients to be part of the team, distributing novelties like baseball beanbag toys and ball caps that the staff could sign with an inspiring message to the patient. Because many of our patients cannot speak and have to communicate with us by writing, we jazzed up the communication process with baseball bat pens. Several staff members set up a concession stand one day, serving sodas and hot nachos while cooking ballpark franks on an electric grill.
Evaluation/Outcomes: Although something as abstract as morale cannot be truly quantified, “Team Spirit Week” resulted in a discernible rise in employee and patient satisfaction. A number of patients thanked the staff for the fun they brought to their hospital stays. The subsequent discharge surveys indicated that the patients had been pleased with the positive attitude that the staff projected. Employees enjoyed the light-hearted mood of the week as well as the gift of the jerseys in recognition of their dedication as members of the unit team. We plan to make “Team Spirit Week” a regular occurrence on our patient care unit.
Poster Presentation: Click on the icon below to launch
Return to Poster Presentations
|
|
|
|
|
|