Culture determines behavior. Leaders determine culture. What happens when leaders allow caring cultures to deteriorate?
Veteran hospital caregiver Terri Ackison Douglas shares publicly what she saw upon taking her ailing husband to the hospital she once served:
"I am so sad. The pride and heartbeat of the Riverside that I knew is nowhere to be seen.
I loved that hospital. I grew up there. Some of the best people on planet earth worked there. We were a family. I miss it."
Terri's heartbreaking sentences suggest part of the answer: Cure culture rot by restoring a culture of care. Her fellow caregiver, Amanda Pesamoska Monaghan, wrote, "Some of (the problem) is not because of the staff. It's because of the staffing, lack of adequate orientation time with skilled and veteran staff to support and supply it..."
I agree with Amanda, and over 3,000 of other veteran caregivers that populate their Facebook site: RMH (Riverside Methodist Hospital) Alum.
Terri, Amanda and others know this: The staffing/orientation/training issue lies in the lap of leadership.
Healthcare leaders coast to coast blame everything on what I call the "Short On Staff" Syndrome (Yep. SOS!). While they bemoan SOS and jump to quick fix cures, they miss that SOS is a disease whose root cause is clear: Culture rot.
Who are the CEO's "patients"? They are not the sick and wounded. The are the caregivers.
Successful treatment of SOS means every CEO demands that every leader: Take care of the people who take care of people. Leaders look in the mirror: YOU are the cause of culture rot and your can be the source of the cure. Get out of your offices, cancel half your meetings and all golf games.
If you want better patient care, help caregivers give it! And get this clear: For caregivers, it is NOT all about the money.
This culture cure works! I've practiced it while successfully leading three hospital systems (including Riverside Methodist and founding OhioHealth) in three cities. I known hundreds of CEOs and consulted with many who use this approach successfully.
The best example is the best hospital CEO in America, Chris York (pictured.) His own book, Set the Standard, says it all. "Why get out of bed every morning to be average?" he challenges. Riverside Methodist and any other large hospital, "set the standard" by hiring him now. They better move fast. Chris is currently leading a five hospital group and is in high demand because leaders like him are rare.
When it comes to Riverside, I'm with Terri, "I loved that hospital. I grew up there. Some of the best people on planet earth worked there. We were a family. I miss it."
So do I. So do hundreds of current Riverside caregivers and doctors. I pray for the day when the best of the old joins the excellence of the new.
That is why Part II of this series will continue.
-Erie Chapman
President Emeritus
Riverside Methodist Hospital
