Is CARE a Part of Your Practice?

We’ve recently looked at the importance of communication with staff and patients and this week, we’ll look at the other key components of a strong practice infrastructure.

Communication is the foundation of an infrastructure and drives Accountability, Respect and Empowerment – CARE. Caring is at the heart of what you do as a physician and using the CARE strategy will move your practice forward.

To implement a CARE strategy in your practice, communication must be intentional and consistent to be effective.

Regular meetings must be scheduled in advance and utilize an agenda that drives staff engagement and accountability. For example, meeting agendas should include an area for staff recognition. Recognizing specific team members for actions that they took that were outside their normal responsibilities shows gratitude. Perhaps they had to work late to add a patient to the OR schedule or went out of their way to help a senior patient navigate their visit. The point is that your staff is often performing extraordinary actions on a regular basis that you may or may not know about. Having staff recognition as a part of your agenda ensures that appreciating your staff is a priority.

The next component of a strong infrastructure is accountability. Communicating practice results during staff meetings connects the staff’s responsibilities to your results. When goals are achieved the team celebrates, and if you miss it’s an opportunity for the team to collaborate and course correct.

The last areas of the CARE strategy are Respect and Empowerment. By scheduling consistent meetings, with a planned agenda, you are demonstrating respect for your staff and building a collaborative environment that empowers them.

Obviously, your actions outside of the meeting must also support the CARE strategy. If it's an OR day take a minute between cases to check-in with your staff to see if they need anything. And when they make a mistake, speak to them about the situation and collaborate on what they will do different moving forward.

Caring for your staff will ensure that they care for you, your patients and your practice results will be positively impacted.

If you are ready to genuinely CARE for your practice and your staff, contact me smays@impactpracticeconsultants.com.