Thursday, June 6, 2013

The beauties of Mayo


Yesterday was my first day on the unit. It was more like an orientation to the unit than an actual day of work. The best part of my day was when I was waiting with a patient before his procedure. He had a lot of heart issues, but he was so optimistic. We talked for nearly 40 minutes about the dangers of motorcycles and alcohol, about his family and daughter, about Chicago, and about his love story.
One thing he said stood out to me. He said, "You look at all these people in the hallways and it must be amazing to you how they're all fighting for one more day. You have such a great opportunity to make a difference in their lives." Can I hear an amen?

Here are some cool things that I learned that showed me exactly why Mayo is considered one of the best hospitals in the world and one of the top 100 places to work in the U.S. (However, if you aren't interested in medical type thingys, don't read this. It's kind of boring)

1. Lunch breaks. The HBH (Hospitals back home) have it set up so that the nurses basically run down to the cafeteria to get lunch as fast as they can and eat a few bites whenever they have a minute. They actually laugh at the prospect of a full lunch break. At Mayo, they get at least 45 minutes per shift. And the patients don't suffer for it. This makes so much sense because happy nurses = happy patients. Grumpy nurses= grumpy patients. The math isn't hard.

2. Classification system: Each patient at Mayo gets classified upon admission and then every 8 hours after that. It's a scale of 1-6 I think and 6 is the worst. This means that if a patient can do everything themselves, they might be a 1 or 2, but a patient on a ventilator, bedrest, and in a coma would be a 6. There's a whole process of getting classified so that everyone is classified equally. Then, the computer crunches a bunch of numbers and tells each unit how many nurses they should have that day based on the classifications. This translates into a nurse having patients with a 5, 3, and 1 instead of nurses splitting up patients into thirds no matter what their situation is. So efficient!

3. Synthesis. This is a computer system that can communicate every single detail about a patient all in one place. This shouldn't be so difficult to access, but it can get very messy and complicated at other hospitals. This system helps all of the different departments communicate to each other to make the patient's care more streamlined and collaborative.

4. Specialized teams. Very few staff nurses at Mayo put in IVs or catheters. There is a specialized team that does it for them. The thinking behind this is that these patients have come here for the best care in the world and they don't want a nursing student poking them 8 times as practice. So, they have people who go around the hospital and do these things for them to ensure the best practice. My unit even has a team of monitor techs whose sole job is to watch the heart monitors on the floor and interpret anything unusual.

5. Communication with doctors. It is phenomenal. I didn't realize how bad I've seen it at the HBH until I saw it done well here. The doctors are in the room for more than 20 seconds (hooray) and they talk directly to the nurses so they don't have to try to read an impossible scribble. This isn't anything technologically advanced or complicated. It's simply the healthcare team working as one unit. It's beautiful.

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