About A. Woodward & Associates

Our company’s primary focus is to help clients develop healthy patient and staff relationships. Our consulting services are customized to your organization, and your specific needs. Areas of expertise include customer service, organizational communications and employee engagement.

A. Woodward & Associates was established in 1999 by Anita B. Woodward, MBA, CHE. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, we have clients in all parts of the country. Anita has over 20 years of healthcare management, customer service, and human resource experience.

In 2003, we devoted one issue of this newsletter to leadership and management rounding. Earlier this year, at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Consumer Advocacy, Anita B. Woodward, FACHE, spoke on the topic of rounding. Toward the end of the session, she was asked for more information about the value of rounding. This article is written to provide that information. If you would like to know more about different types of rounding, or how to implement rounding, please contact us.

There are many types of "rounds" done in organizations. In hospitals, medical rounds are very familiar. But in recent years, progressive healthcare leaders have instituted a variety of different types of rounds. At A. Woodward & Associates, our 20+ years in the field have convinced us of the value of non-clinical rounds.

Nurses Rounding on Patients

Research is starting to show the value of nurses rounding on patients. In this context, "rounding" means the nurse comes to the bedside and checks on the patient’s comfort, pain needs, and personal needs for everything from a drink of water to help going to the bathroom. Benefits being seen from this type of rounding include decreased use of the call light, an increase in patient and employee satisfaction, and even a decrease in patient falls. (Read the web article at obgyn.net.)

These results make intuitive sense. When nurses round regularly, they are proactively meeting patients’ needs. Patients come to trust that nurses will be around regularly, and so are less likely to push the call button as soon as they anticipate a need, fearing they will have a long wait. They are also less likely to try and get up on their own out of desperation.

The key here is to convince nurses to give this a try. If you are meeting resistance to nurse rounding, we suggest you implement this as a pilot with a few champions. The results will come, and then it will be easy to convince the entire staff.

Leadership Rounds on Employees

We encourage you to implement rounding by your C-Suite executives. Employees are the target “customer” here. This type of rounds consists of going to all areas of the facility over time, and talking informally with the employees in those areas. (For more information about how to do this type of rounding, please contact us.)

There are many benefits to Leadership Rounds. They include:

• Rounding shows employees they are important to senior leadership. (One frequent criticism we have heard in dozens of employee focus groups over the years is that they "never see" most or all of the senior leaders.) Employees want to feel they are making a difference, and that their leaders care about the contribution of the front line staff.
• Rounding allows the executive team to hear about the reality of life at the front line. This knowledge can help in executive decision-making.
• Rounding enables leadership to communicate a focused message to the front line, or to ask focused questions about a specific issue.
• Executives who make rounds are seen as role models of customer-focused behavior, since employees are one of the executives' customer groups.
• Executive rounding gives credibility to leadership requests for nurses to implement regular patient rounding.
• Rounding by senior leaders sets the stage for all managers to round on their own direct reports, and on their internal customers. Rounding on internal customers leads to improved interdepartmental cooperation and the ability to improve processes that cross departmental boundaries.

Still not convinced? The following quotes were found during a brief web search on this topic. Citations are included so you can go to the authors for more information.

This approach [leadership rounding] allows you to see everything going on, and it allows you to listen directly to the employees. It is especially effective in an organization with many management layers. The approach permits all employees direct access to the boss and frequently generates high levels of spontaneous, creative synergy while employees and the boss exchange ideas.
— Source: Streetwise Managing People, web article

In the NetQoS offices, I can often be found out of my office, walking around and just talking to people in the different departments of the company. This practice seems to work. Employee satisfaction is high, employee turnover is low, and revenues are up.
— Source: Joel Trammel, web article

At A. Woodward & Associates, we believe the investment in leadership time will be amply rewarded by improved morale, improved communication, and ultimately, improved profits. If you would like the complete text of our 2003 article on Leadership and Management Rounds, please contact us. If you would like help implementing any form of rounding, we can help you design an approach that will succeed in meeting your goals. Email us for more information.

Finally, if you do implement Leadership rounds, please drop us a line to let us know. We might be able to feature your story in a future newsletter article.

Woodward Becomes ACHE Fellow

We are pleased to announce that Anita B. Woodward, President of A. Woodward & Associates, has achieved the designation of Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

The American College of Healthcare Executives is an international professional society of more than 30,000 healthcare executives who lead hospitals, healthcare systems and other healthcare organizations. The Fellow designation indicates that she is board certified in healthcare management.

Woodward, who is currently the President of her local ACHE chapter, (Healthcare Executives Association of Northeast Ohio), has been a member of ACHE since 1999. Please join us in congratulating her. For more information about the College, go to www.ache.org. For more information about the Northeast Ohio chapter, go to www.heano.org.

Real Life Customer Service Case

The following situation really occurred. Consider using it as a case for quick discussions in staff meetings.

A young child was in the hospital for the first time. Her parents were not able to be with her all the time. A nurse brought the makings of a bed bath, and then was immediately paged. She hurriedly told the child to "wash up," and left the room. The child, never before having been in this situation, used the washcloth to clean her face and hands. When the nurse returned, she chastised the child for not having given herself a complete sponge bath. She acted as if the child should have known what to do. (Although this true story happened many years ago, the child-turned-nurse who shared it still feels the confusion and shame that nurse instilled in her when she remembers this incident.)

We welcome your feedback and story ideas!

Let us know if you find this newsletter helpful. If you have a case study you would like us to include, or if there are certain topics you would like to see addressed, please email us.

About This Newsletter

This newsletter is published for clients and colleagues of A. Woodward & Associates, and for others who are interested in customer service, employee relations, and organizational communication, especially in healthcare organizations.

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