In the fast-paced and high-pressure environment of healthcare facilities, work performance improvement is crucial for ensuring efficient and effective patient care. One tool that has revolutionized this aspect is Electronic Health Records (EHRs). EHRs, such as this ehr for example, have transformed the way healthcare professionals manage patient information and streamline workflows.
Healthcare facilities across the United States and beyond rely on workers to ensure positive patient outcomes, and that should always be the top priority. Improved work performance management is just one part of the puzzle, but it’s an important one. More efficient workers are able to provide better patient care, but maintaining long-term work performance improvements requires advancements in multiple critical areas.
Why Workplace Performance Matters
Today’s healthcare workers are busier than ever, with nursing shortages across the country exacerbating already difficult situations. Under those conditions, it’s easy to see how nurses and others working in the healthcare field can wind up struggling to maintain peak performance levels.
Simple steps like upgrading a unit’s mobile medical registration cart can save time and offer nurses critical access to the tools required to perform their jobs more effectively, but it’s not enough just to have the right equipment. Healthcare organizations also need to be able to see the forest for the trees when implementing an effective long-term performance improvement program.
Integrating Performance Improvements into Broader Objectives
Improving workplace performance isn’t just about implementing individual changes. It requires taking a broader view of how worker performance fits into the facility’s general goals and objectives. In most cases, that means a combination of increased efficiency and improved patient outcomes.
The reason it’s so important to look at the full range of a facility’s objectives as being one unified plan rather than a series of unconnected goals to meet is that it helps to identify patterns and opportunities for improvement that would otherwise go unnoticed. Sharing data across departments and seeking input from all relevant stakeholders helps to ensure nothing is missed.
Opportunities for Leveraging Modern Technology
These days, it would be difficult to imagine a work performance improvement plan that didn’t involve the use of data collection and analysis. At this point, the outsized role played by artificial intelligence and machine learning in shaping the future not just in the healthcare sector but in many aspects of American life is undeniable. Organizations that want to improve workplace performance should leverage those technologies.
Aside from using data analysis as a jumping-off point for identifying potential areas of workplace performance improvement, healthcare facilities can also take advantage of automation. Automatically populating patient records across healthcare departments, for example, reduces the amount of time doctors and nurses must spend on data entry while simultaneously minimizing the potential for human error.
Policy Changes Won’t Help Without Employee Buy-In
Implementing policy changes won’t help to improve work performance unless those changes receive adequate employee buy-in. Administrators will have an easier time getting everyone on board if they take the time to solicit workers’ advice and consider it as they develop new policies and protocols.
The same is true of implementing new technologies designed to improve efficiency and optimize workflows. Employee buy-in and subsequent commitment to learning how to use new equipment and technologies to their greatest potential will always be crucial to the success of a new initiative.
It’s Time to Make a Change
Improving work performance in healthcare facilities shouldn’t just be about increasing efficiency and maximizing profits. The priority should always be to provide healthcare workers with the tools and knowledge they need to provide better patient care. It’s best to view work performance improvement goals as long-term objectives integrated into a facility-wide plan than as individual acts to be implemented.
