For more than 70 years, Ministry Door County Medical Center (MDCMC) in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin has been the leader in health and wellness for Door County. MDCMC is an acute-care hospital and outpatient medical center with 25 licensed beds and a wide range of specialties including the Women’s and Children’s Center, the Door County Cancer Center, a skilled nursing facility, a Rehabilitation Services department, and Ministry North Shore Medical Clinic. With its main campus in Sturgeon Bay and satellite clinics and Rehab Services facilities in four smaller communities, Ministry serves a wide range of patients.
The Door Way to our Journey of Excellence
Embedded and engaged throughout the community, MDCMC has a long-term investment in the community’s health. But since embarking on the Studer Journey to Excellence, Ministry’s patient outcomes and community perception have been bolstered by its increased commitment to leadership development, accountability and engagement of its employees. Overall employee engagement has increased from 83% when our journey began to 88% today.
Another element to MDCMC’s success is the engagement of its leaders through the quarterly Leadership Development Institutes. Initially established to operationalize the Studer EBLs, the Leadership Development Institute transformed from a Studer coach led educational experience to a local leader driven day of sharing experiences, successes and challenges.
A local patient recently shared the following: “When I’m at Ministry, I feel a warmth from every person there, from management to custodial staff. People look you in the eye and say hello, they take responsibility for keeping things clean and safe, they help me find my way if I don’t know where to go. You don’t just feel like a body sitting in a waiting room, you feel welcome.”
“We’ve skyrocketed our culture with demonstrated success in nursing engagement and overall employee culture. There is an organization-wide ownership and pride in our success,” says Jody Boes MSN, RN, Vice President of Patient Care Administration/CNO. “The teamwork achieved by reducing silos through managing up and reward and recognition through celebrations is a tribute to the leadership of our organization and the effectiveness of our Studer Journey.”
Employee and patient engagement has significantly improved as a result of our journey:
MDCMC’s CEO, Gerald Worrick, agrees that “the Studer experience has been a continued cultural transformation and has made a difference in our success. We have the vision to become the best rural medical center in the United States. Through aligned goals and metrics our entire organization is committed to our vision and to our promise to put our patients first in everything we do. Our Studer engagement pushed our dedication to execution that demonstrated consistent success in the way we care for our community. Great culture results in an engaged workforce, excellent quality outcomes and strong financial performance.”
Just as the vision and cultural transformation are led by the CEO, the CNO drives the vision through modeling the way, leadership and accountability, and our direct reports drive execution creating an every culture, every employee, every patient, every encounter, every time. “Rounding has been one of the most valuable tools as it systematically uncovers needs and concerns of patients, employees, and internal customers. Through leader rounding with patients, we’ve seen improvements in patient communication board consistency, hourly rounding compliance, and outcomes such as zero falls with injury. Consistent rounding with direct reports and the use of stop light reports improved overall communication” adds Boes, who stresses that the journey never ends. “It doesn’t happen overnight. The commitment to an ‘always’ culture is hard work but definitely demonstrates positive outcomes.”
Ministry’s Recent Awards
- PRC Excellence in Healthcare Award, 5-STAR Award. Awarded to organizations scoring in the top 10% of PRC’s national client database for calendar year 2014. MDCMC was cited for excellence in inpatient services, including overall quality of care, responsiveness of staff, and hospital environment. Also recognized was the outpatient surgery department for overall quality of care.
- IVantage Healthstrong Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals in the U.S. Awarded in 2015 for the fifth consecutive year. Measured across performance metrics including quality, outcomes, value, population risk, and efficiency.
- HealthGrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award 2013, 2014, 2015. Recognizes hospitals for providing outstanding patient experience on measure including doctor and nurse communication, hospital cleanliness and noise levels, and medication and post-discharge care instructions.
- 5-Star Rating, Skilled Nursing Facility. Awarded by the CMS.
- Studer Group Excellence in Patient Care. Award for cleanest patient rooms, rated 16 out of 3,928 hospitals nationally.
- Focus on Therapeutic Outcomes, Inc. (FOTO) Outcomes Excellence Awards. Rehab Services recognized for exceeding the national average for function change for four consecutive quarters, ending Q2 2015. Rehab services consistently achieved superior scores for patient improvement, treatment efficiency and patient satisfaction.
- Becker’s Healthcare 50 Critical Access Hospitals to Know in 2015. Using data from several hospital ranking sources, this award recognizes teams that go “above and beyond to care for their patients.”
- Becker’s Hospital Review, 50 Critical Access Hospital CEOs You Should Get to Know. Ministry’s President/CEO Gerald Worrick awarded this distinction in 2015.
My role as manager is to assure the execution of all of the “must-have’s,” according to Melody Hargis RN, BSN, Manager, Inpatient Services. “What we want is to be certain we are hardwiring excellence through hourly rounding, whiteboard communication, pain control, daily patient goals, while putting our patients first in everything we do. What’s important for me in my role is to teach, coach, mentor and guide while providing ‘in-the-moment’ feedback. As we meet daily at our visual management boards, the first thing we discuss is safety, then we review our metrics, and lastly we take time to celebrate our colleagues. Our departmental metrics have been cascaded down from the organization, through the division, to the departmental level. We ask ourselves daily ‘are we winning or losing?’ In other words, are we meeting our metrics which in turn drives our mission.”