1)TRP: the Robotics Program

Read Me First

Introduction: Congratulations! You are on your way to starting up a program for your hospital or healthcare system. This startup bundle includes ten documents that will assist you in your efforts. In this Read Me First document, a description of each document will be included, along with how to use it during the startup of your program. Each document has a name which correlates with the description below. At the end of each name is a three letter program designation code, and year in which the document was created. The three letter program designation code should match up with the associated book from the Seven Pillars Series. The three letter program designation codes are:

1)TRP: The Robotics Program

2)VAP: Value Analysis Program

3)CPP: Clinical Practice Program

If you have any questions or concerns please contact me through email ( ) or my website ( ).

Documents:

1)Assessment

This is the first document to open. It is an Excel spreadsheet with an assessment form. Under the “Assessment” tab you will find a series of questions. Answer the questions as they apply to your program today. In the response column, type in a “0” for “No” and a “1” for “Yes”. When you are finished answering the questions, you can check the results under the “Score” tab of the spreadsheet. This will serve two purposes. The first is, it will establish a baseline for your program. Do not be concerned if most of your answers are “No”. That is the point of this program, which is to help you build a successful program by embedding the essential elements of the Seven Pillars into your program. The Score is a quantitative measure of the how highly structured your program is today. Programs with a score greater than 75% (highly structured) are associated with better outcomes for quality and cost, compared to programs with a score less than 75% (poorly structured). Remember to reassess your program on a regular basis, in order to see the progress of your program’s development. A six-month assessment interval should be sufficient for most programs.
The second purpose of this assessment is to help provide an assessment of which elements, from the Seven Pillars, need further development. Assessment scores are provided for each of the Seven Pillars: Purpose, Engagement, Communication, Infrastructure, Accountability, Leadership and Performance Improvement. Once you have identified which areas need further development, you can reference the appropriate chapter in the accompanying book from the Seven Pillars Series. The goal is to achieve 75 – 100% for each of the elements.

2)Meeting Checklist

This document is a Word document and should look familiar if you read the accompanying book. It is the meeting checklist you will use to set up your first three meetings. Instead of copying the list from the book you can use this document to distribute to your team in preparation for the meetings. Make sure to get a copy to your administrative assistant and co-lead (if any) for your team. It is designed to make sure you develop good habits in meeting preparation.

3)Agenda

This document is Word Document that is a template you can use for your committee meetings. It has some sample material already in it that you can edit as needed. Feel free to customize for the purposes of your committee. Is is designed to include most of the elements described in the Meeting Checklist (#2).

4)Presentation

This is a PowerPoint presentation that describes the Seven Pillars as they apply to your program. This can be used in one of the early committee meetings. The presenter will need to read the book, from the Seven Pillars Series, that accompanies this startup bundle. It is unlikely that every member of the committee is going to read the book, and this presentation will help you provide an overview of what your committee will need to focus on in the early phase of the program’s development. This presentation can also be customized for the purposes of your committee.

5)Dashboard

This is an Excel spreadsheet which can be used as an example of a dashboard or as a template for your dashboard. The first tab is labeled “Goals”. It describes an example of goals and the action plan to achieve those goals. This is an important part of your Performance Improvement plan. It is one thing to set goals, but each goal will need a specific plan for how it will be achieved. Using this as a template will help you develop a good habit of always doing this when setting your annual committee goals or even project goals.
The second tab is a template of a “Dashboard”. This tracks the progress of your goals over time. Charts can be made from this data as well. Visualizing data is a great way to help describe your accomplishments to your stakeholders.
The third tab is titled “Compressed”. This is an example of how you can compress a lot of data into a smaller format for viewing. The months are hidden and the focus is on the results and the targets. A PDF copy was made of this and added to the presentation slides under the Performance Improvement section. The idea is to be able to copy and paste various sections of the dashboard into any presentation you are doing. The uncompressed dashboard can be reviewed with your team to look for any trends or opportunities. The compressed version can be used for leadership meetings with your C-Suite or Medical Executive Committee when you want to provide a high level overview of the program.
The fourth tab is a “Charts” tab created from the data in the Dashboard. These charts can also be copied and pasted into your presentations in order to visualize the data.
The fifth tab is a “Review” tab. The first part of this tab is a “Results” section. Much like you would if you were reporting the results in a paper for publication, you can report the results of your goals and projects. This should be an objective description of your results without any discussion or assessment. Following this section is an “Assessment” section. This is where you can interpret these results and explain what you think worked or didn’t work. The following section is a “Recommendation” section which is a good place to start discussing what can be done with the results, or how you can approach future goals and projects.

6)Minutes

This is a Word document that you can use to record your committee minutes. Just like the Agenda document, it has most of the elements you will need to create consistent meeting notes. It can also be customized to meet the needs of your committee.

7)Newsletter

This is a Word Document that you can use as a template for your newsletter. Newsletters are great ways to distribute information and communicate what your program is doing for your hospital or healthcare system. Try to limit it to one page in length. The goal is for it to be read by your staff. Their time is at a premium. Use section headings to quickly let your reading audience know if there is some news that applies to them. Bold important information that can be read quickly. It should also direct readers to sources of additional information. Remember to use links in this document so readers can click on these links if they wish to read more on a particular topic. It is also important to include an email link back to the committee leadership so you can obtain feedback directly from your stakeholders.

8)Issue Journal

This is a word Document that provides descriptions of five scenarios you may encounter while starting up your program. It is by no means all-inclusive of the types of issues you will experience. The goal is for you to create a journal of your experiences as the program develops. If you develop a successful and sustainable program, there will come a time for succession planning. As a program leader you will need to think about who will eventually replace you as the program’s leader. You will also need to think about how you will pass on your experience and learnings over the years. It is all too commonplace for programs to succumb to failure soon after one of its key leaders departs. Creating a journal for your successor is one of the best ways you can be certain that your program is sustainable. You will have put too much hard work into getting this program started to leave, and see it fail because your successor lacked the insights and experience you accumulated during its formative phases. If done correctly, you can prevent future leaders from wasting a great deal of time relearning the difficult lessons you already learned.
Each scenario takes you through three steps. The first step describes the “Issue” you are managing. There is no need to go into a great deal of detail. Describe it in a few simple sentences and focus on what the issue is. The next step describes the “Diagnosis”. In the examples described, I traced each issue back to a fundamental problem with one or more of the Seven Pillars. Don’t feel that you need to follow this with every issue you encounter. It is helpful in the beginning of the program’s development to think about how an issue may relate to one of the seven essential elements. As your program matures you will encounter issues that are not tied to one of these elements, but are important. The last step is the “Solution”. That is, how did you resolve this issue. It may be a short-term resolution, but it is important to document this in the journal. People tend to get forgetful about these types of things. If something is a short-term solution you will want your successor to know this. If the issue comes up again, you will want your them to know why you resolved it the way you did.

9)Ten Rules for Engagement

This is a Word document that describes the Ten Rules for Physician Engagement for Healthcare Leaders. It is taken from the Seven Pillars series of books for program develop. If you readthe book that accompanies this startup bundle, then this should sound familiar. It is meant for distribution to your committee team members. It establishes an approach for engaging, not just physicians, but all of your stakeholders. The main idea is to stop doing those behaviors that disengage people from the work you are doing, and then focus them on how to engage your stakeholders.

10)Ten Steps to Best Practice

This is a Word Document that describes one way to approach performance improvement. Not every step is necessary for each goal or project, but it is important to consider each step as you begin each goal or project. There are other ways to do this, this just happens to be a way that I recommend. If you choose this method, then this document is to be distributed to your team to help them understand the Performance Improvement process you will use.