Continuous Improvement AND Respect for People

I love this blog post.

It explains, perfectly, why I so resent the new rule we have been handed down in my workplace.

Just as this article postulates, as is the case with most folks, if you give me a good reason why I must do things a certain way (ie, urinary catheter prevention, ventilator assisted pneumonia prevention, bedsore prevention, etc) and I am on board.

Give our team input on making things better and the productivity of our department skyrockets (our ER has amazing, trend-setting throughput models that the staff helped to organize).

It demeans educated, skilled people to simply hand down a ridiculous rule with no context, no explanation and no apparently valid reason.

Some background: most all emergency departments use computers on wheels to be mobile, move from room to room and still document in real time.  We use them to scan medications for administration and for collection of all samples as well as documenting care/vital signs/assessments, etc.  Small sidetrack -- we used to call them COWs (computers on wheels). We now call them WOWs (workstations on wheels) swear to Tebow, because someone somewhere thought it could be perceived as insulting to hear them called cows.



Of course, there are not always enough of these to go around, but we need them literally all day, all the time.  So, we tend to pick one, clean it off with antiseptic wipes, log in (we have a quick couple of keys to tap and lock it so that we are HIPAA compliant) and label it by putting our names on a little piece of paper and taping it to the WOW.  This way, it's always available and no one makes off with it without at least saying, "hey, can I borrow your WOW?"

The rule?

We can't put our names on the WOWs.  Why?  It's in violation.  Of what?  A rule.  What rule?  Well, it's a rule.  Whose rule?  Well, maybe Joint Commission.  Really?  Why would Joint Commission care?  What's the reason?  We don't know.  Just don't do it.

Tell me I must do something or not do something "because it's the rule"?  Yeah...you can pretty much figure that I'm going to ignore that rule or find a way around it.  And so will most people.