Kathleen Bernicky, VP Risk Management and Clinical Operations, and Amiee Mingus, Director of Clinical Operations, recently led an Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) webinar: “What Every Director of Nursing and Clinical Director Needs to Know.”
Leveraging their deep clinical and executive experience, Bernicky and Mingus touched on leadership, compliance and fiscal topics that are critical for the success of clinical leaders.
“Effective leaders create a work environment that is conducive to growth,” Bernicky said. “They also allow their staff to embrace new opportunity, and to realize their full potential.”
Bernicky opened the broadcast by focusing on communication, one of the hallmarks of a good leader. She said lack of communication by leaders is one of the top complaints on employee surveys in the healthcare industry. Leaders can better communicate with their staff in a variety of ways, including total transparency, utilizing daily round-ups, holding monthly meetings and publishing an employee newsletter.
Additionally, Bernicky said clinical leaders must be confident. She said spending time in the clinical area, keeping abreast with industry trends and addressing issues immediately will show employees that their leaders are up to the task. “Leading with confidence will encourage your staff to follow,” she said.
Mingus zeroed in on the importance of organizational compliance for clinical leaders. Directors must monitor a series of key areas, including infection control, medication management, credentialing and information management.
Reams of compliance data is collected by healthcare organizations, but simply collecting isn’t enough, said Mingus. “Do something with the data that you have collected. Surveyors expect to see that any issues identified during tracking and trending of data are acknowledged and corrected,” she said.
Also, fiscal responsibility is now more crucial than ever for clinical leaders, and Bernicky said leaders can adhere to this is by maintaining budgeted full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. A single FTE is slotted for 2,080 hours per year, she said, and one way to stay within budget is to use per diem staff to cover high volume days.
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