Putting providers before patients. Sacrilege?

[DwayneEMTP]

Though this article is hospital based and refers to nurses instead of pre hospital EMS, I see no reason why it doesn't still apply to the latter group as well.

I think that such thinking is long overdue...thoughts?

http://ht.ly/6xpnb

Dwayne

[Kaisu]

Best place I ever worked at stated in the mission statement (and demonstrated by living it) employees first, clients second and the company third. It was an amazing place to work and extremely successful I might add.

[Bieber]

Wow, great article, Dwayne! I've never heard it put that way, but this is the concept I've referred to as "investing in ourselves". Just like the article says, if we want quality medical care, EMS services along with ANY medical provider has got to invest in itself and its employees. And I've seen what happens when organizations don't invest in themselves and their employees and the results aren't pretty. In short, patients are best served when their medical providers themselves are best served. This kind of business model isn't uniquely effective to medicine either but is something a lot of progressive businesses have begun adopting, such as Google.

Wow, great article, Dwayne! I've never heard it put that way, but this is the concept I've referred to as "investing in ourselves". Just like the article says, if we want quality medical care, EMS services along with ANY medical provider has got to invest in itself and its employees. And I've seen what happens when organizations don't invest in themselves and their employees and the results aren't pretty. In short, patients are best served when their medical providers themselves are best served. This kind of business model isn't uniquely effective to medicine either but is something a lot of progressive businesses have begun adopting, such as Google.

[HERBIE1]

Care is not a particle it is a wave.

I LOVE this statement, and I think it's dead on accurate.

At first blush, this may seem like a chicken and egg scenario, but I don't think so.

I disagree with the notion of putting providers before patients- at least in terms of the overall purpose of what we do. Without patients, there would be no need for providers of any type.

Should the employer be focused on maintaining a healthy, happy, productive, and competent workforce? Absolutely, and I think that should be enough to make sure the patients ARE taken care of. That is a large part of what an HR department's mission is

Obviously the notable exception to that rule is when dealing with triage and a mass casualty situation. One of the first things we learn is that any injured or ill provider is always classified as a red for immediate transport- for obvious reasons.

Care is not a particle it is a wave.

I LOVE this statement, and I think it's dead on accurate.

At first blush, this may seem like a chicken and egg scenario, but I don't think so.

I disagree with the notion of putting providers before patients- at least in terms of the overall purpose of what we do. Without patients, there would be no need for providers of any type.

Should the employer be focused on maintaining a healthy, happy, productive, and competent workforce? Absolutely, and I think that should be enough to make sure the patients ARE taken care of. That is a large part of what an HR department's mission is

Obviously the notable exception to that rule is when dealing with triage and a mass casualty situation. One of the first things we learn is that any injured or ill provider is always classified as a red for immediate transport- for obvious reasons.

Care is not a particle it is a wave.

I LOVE this statement, and I think it's dead on accurate.

At first blush, this may seem like a chicken and egg scenario, but I don't think so.

I disagree with the notion of putting providers before patients- at least in terms of the overall purpose of what we do. Without patients, there would be no need for providers of any type.

Should the employer be focused on maintaining a healthy, happy, productive, and competent workforce? Absolutely, and I think that should be enough to make sure the patients ARE taken care of. That is a large part of what an HR department's mission is

Obviously the notable exception to that rule is when dealing with triage and a mass casualty situation. One of the first things we learn is that any injured or ill provider is always classified as a red for immediate transport- for obvious reasons.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Herbie you must really have loved that statement.

The best place I ever worked was at a company that did put it's employees first or at least they did before they realized that a bunch of employees at a company sponsored event was a bunch of employee's not billing clients and that all went away.

worked at an EMS system who lived that mantra. Employees first, patients second and company third.

They were really good to work for. Holiday dinners, monthly parties at the station, bonuses based on company performance and great benefits. the employees were able to talk on a human to human level with the owners. they were even known to turn down a huge contract for transfer services with the VA if the requirements of that contract would have been detrimental to the employees and their work.

An employer who treats it's employees right has a happier place to work, a happier place to get called in and a happier place to just be involved in.