In addition to establishing a great relationship with all who work and visit her hospital, Ms. Hay’s strong leadership has led to her being voted as one of the runners-up for The Hospital Review’s Hospital CEO of the Year.
Ms. Hay oversees operations at the Texas Institute for Surgery, a surgical specialty hospital that primarily performs surgical and pain management procedures. The hospital contains a nine-bed inpatient unit, nine ORs and three specialty treatment rooms. Among its top surgical specialties are orthopedics, pain management and ENT, according to Ms. Hay.
Creating an environment of respect
When describing Ms. Hay’s great leadership, one of her colleagues says, “Debbie Hay serves gallantly as president of this small specialty surgical hospital. Her executive leadership skills are great. She’s innovative, flexible and always has the hospital and its employees as her first priority.”
Another commends Ms. Hay, saying, “Debbie Hay [is an excellent leader] because of her professionalism, quality of care for the facility and employees and patient care. She is personable, has great character and has a spirit of excellence. She brings out the best in others.”
Ms. Hay is modest about her management style, saying that she simply treats everyone equally by being “fair, honest and supportive with people.” This approach to management has led many who work at the Texas Institute for Surgery to see Ms. Hay as an effective leader.
For instance, a colleague says, “She always has a willing spirit, will get in there no matter what the department is and get things done and help out when there is a short staff situation. She is very professional, smart and witty and always has an ‘open-door policy’ to come to her with whatever is needed.”
Ms. Hay notes that while she does have an open door, she encourages her staff to use the proper chain of command when they have an issue. “I am available when a staff member feels their concerns aren’t being addressed,” she says.
Always willing to lend a hand
Before coming to the Texas Institute for Surgery, Ms. Hay has served as the administrator of a surgery center, an ER nurse and manager and has more than 30 years’ nursing experience. This clinical understanding is clearly an asset to her when addressing staff problems.
Ms. Hay credits her background with helping her to work more effectively with the hospital staff.
One colleague says, “She is uniquely qualified for her position with the vast years of clinical and administrative experience. Her past experience in the OR raises her credibility with surgeons and staff alike.”
“It helps to boost staff and physicians confidence,” Ms. Hay says. “I can discuss clinical issues, understand and help resolve them.”
Ms. Hay makes sure to commit a significant amount of time in the departments and areas of her hospital. “I frequently ask questions when I’m in the department,” she says. “You can find out things that you may not know otherwise.” Often, this helps her to address problems before they become bigger issues and allows her to bring these concerns up with department management.
You can often find Ms. Hay lending a hand in departments that need her, as her colleagues mention. Using her experience as a registered nurse, she is not afraid to step in and assist with the clinical side of the hospital She also helps out on the business side of operations. She doesn’t consider this anything out of the ordinary.
“I help out wherever I can to fulfill the needs of the hospital,” she says. “In orientation, I tell every employee that there is no task that is ‘not in my job description.’ I include myself in that statement. If they need me to serve food in the cafeteria or assist in the clinical area, I’ll do it because there is a need.”
She sees the benefit in spending times in different areas of the hospital. “By helping out, I’m supporting the fact that we need to have respect for one another’s job responsibilities,” she says.
Going green
One of Ms. Hay’s major projects over the past year has been to encourage her hospital to “go green.” A colleague says, “In addition to electronic medical records, she has speared an amazing effort to ‘green’ the Texas Institute for Surgery facility — she personally started the effort, and today the program is widely embraced by TIS employees who recycle just about everything possible and has become a model for other hospitals in our area.”
Ms. Hay’s green campaign consists of “a lot of little things” that a hospital can do.
Some of her “little things” include adding new ground cover and planting trees on the hospital’s grounds, converting to EMS, using green housekeeping supplies and monitoring the use of electricity around the facility. This latter technique includes automatic light sensors that shut off the lights and adjusting temperatures in specific areas when they are not in use.
In addition, Texas Institute for Surgery uses green couriers who drive hybrid cars or use bikes if they are close-by.
Ms. Hay’s biggest effort when it comes to her green campaign has been in recycling. “The hospital environment is a huge waster of resources because we use so many disposable things that are thrown away,” she says.
Her hospital uses a single-stream recycling company that doesn’t require them to separate their recyclables. Texas Institute for Surgery recycles everything from bottles to IV bags to tubing to paper products.
“It’s had a big impact and has taken the most effort,” she says.
Maintaining an excellent staff
Ms. Hay has also managed to maintain an extremely high staff retention rate at her organization. One colleague puts the number near 95 percent. “Our facility attracts great physicians and staff in large part due to the leadership that Ms. Hay has established,” the colleague says.
Ms. Hay says that it is important for the staff to know that they have someone within the hospital who will listen to their concerns.
“Finding a good staff that works well together and fits well within the organization has been essential,” she says. She notes that although an employee may be a good worker, it is important that he or she works well with the rest of the staff and within the culture of the hospital.
“Money doesn’t solve all problems,” she says, in regards to creating an excellent team. “You have to acknowledge situations and be strong enough to say to a person, ‘You aren’t a good fit.'”
Ms. Hay notes that the process of creating a good team doesn’t happen overnight, but working diligently to do so does pay dividends.
According to a colleague, patient satisfaction at the Texas Institute for Surgery is “consistently more than 95 percent,” which Ms. Hay attributes to assembling an excellent staff.
“It’s the people who maintain patient satisfaction,” she says. “A compassionate staff makes patients feel like they are listened to and cared for, and leads to exceptional care.”
These many factors have helped the hospital to grow in spite of the current economic situation, and Ms. Hay can’t attribute the success to any one element.
“We have an outstanding group of physicians and physician-owners who are concerned with the safety, well-being and happiness of the patients and the staff,” she says. “Everyone is on the team.”
Learn more about Texas Institute for Surgery.
Learn more about The Hospital Review’s CEO of the Year award and the winners.
