UNITED We Stand: Cultivating Unity in Healthcare

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Brett Lyle for writing today's blog post. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Annual Celebrations Bring Us Together

National holidays bring people together. We spend time with friends, families, and neighbors. We unite in common celebrations. 

But this last year has been different. 

Unity

In healthcare, the word unity has taken on a much greater meaning in the wake of COVID-19. As the world buckled under the weight of a global pandemic and many retreated into isolation, healthcare providers pulled together and risked their own safety to serve others. Information was shared across borders to help each other navigate uncharted territory. 

We asked ourselves many important questions: Are we putting our needs aside for the health, safety, and security of the general population? Are we doing things for the greater good? Are we sacrificing the right things and for the right reasons?

New Heights and Redefined Limits 

Public Safety, Emergency Medical Services, and healthcare systems pushed new limits. We accomplished things that we—never in a million years—would have dreamt we would be allowed to do, much less expected to create.

We implemented new practices with a sense of urgency. We designed processes that would scale to meet dynamically changing needs at a moment’s notice. We creatively altered how we deliver care with telemedicine, community paramedicine, and vaccination clinics and sites. Our partnerships changed. 

We were thrown into the deep end and had to figure out how to swim.

What was once about unity and togetherness, became about necessity and survival. 

But here we stand. Together. 

Ground and air medical providers.

Hospitals and clinics.

Virtual placement hubs and transfer centers.

Emergency operations and disaster response networks. 

Cities. Counties. Regions. States. Nations.

Together.

There is a renewed value placed on working together, taking care of one another, and unifying across departments, organizations, and even industries in order to solve complex healthcare logistics challenges. 

So how do we do that? How do we unite in a way that will be real, sustainable, and successful, despite the challenges we face? 

There are 3 critical steps to creating successful unity:

1. Identify your immediate network

Think of your immediate network as those who you serve, those who serve you, and those with whom you have shared interests. When you connect with others who have shared goals, they also have aligned expectations for the success of the related initiatives. They are willing to do the work and stay engaged!

TIP: Ask yourself, "Who is part of my network?" It can be as finite as a specific individual or team and as broad as stakeholder agencies within or around your neighboring region.

2. Develop a plan alongside your network

A plan should identify specific and measurable goals that include timelines and ownership. From the beginning, it's critical to invite all vested stakeholders to the table. Providing all parties with a voice will assist in developing a robust and well-designed program. Learning from and listening to each other in roundtable discussions will help identify potential gaps and challenges. 

EXAMPLE: EMS and hospital providers in Colorado Springs, CO joined forces to reach underserved populations and deliver care for patients in innovative new ways. Check out their story here. 

3. Execute with precision

The foundation of successful execution is effective communication. Effective communication is much more than the one-way transmission of information. The complex nature of communication is not to be understated; from the message to the tone to interpersonal dynamics, there are countless opportunities for confusion and miscommunication. In healthcare, this translates to operational inefficiencies, medical errors, and poor patient outcomes. 

TIP: For communication to be classified as effective: 

• • it involves more than one party AND is bidirectional
  • the method (written or verbal) supports the sender’s intended message
  • the medium captures the appropriate context (text, phone call, video, etc.)
  • the message is received as it was originally intended

Cultivating Success

You must keep stakeholders involved and engaged by establishing and aligning expectations of time and energy from the beginning. This will create a consistent and reliable cadence of communication—soliciting information exchange and feedback—and encourage ongoing discussions, process improvement, and redesign where and when appropriate. 

When we unite together, powered by a shared vision and mission, the possibilities are endless. Accountability occurs naturally. Creativity flows. Champions are born and innovation happens. 

Unity is the hardest work.

It is togetherness, despite separation. 

It is alignment and shared consciousness. 

It is momentum and progress and the future of healthcare. 

UNITED we stand.

Happy American Independence Day from Pulsara! To learn more about fostering unity among disparate teams, especially across different organizations, check out 10 Things You Need to Increase Interagency Cooperation and Collaboration.