On October 11th, Deborah will serve on the panel “Getting to the Bottom Line: Investing in Data Analytics to Reduce Operational Costs“ at Becker’s Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place October 9-12, 2019 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Deborah’s session, click here.
Question: What is the #1 principle you uphold and practice to effectively lead a team?
Deborah Chasco: Leading teams is a science encompassing relationships, innovation, global vision, passion, development and growth. The ability to lead others with motivation and inspiration while aligning measureable goals toward sustaining excellence every encounter, every person, every day is essential in healthcare. Building relationships centered on trust, honesty and integrity while consistently asking “why” is important in moving toward a common goal. The one principle leaders with character, charisma and connective leadership skills emulate is “trust”. This is the one principle that is transparent in both verbal and non-verbal cues and can make or break a team. With “trust”, leaders must lead with a sense of wonder. A sense of wonder goes beyond dreaming. It is actively thinking what the next steps are for moving the team forward with measureable actionable data.
As a leader, how do you stay connected to the actual work that is being done – and not just by watching others execute, but by executing yourself? If so, how do you balance between leading and executing personally?
As a leader, staying connected to the actual work is about connecting with teams throughout the organization. As a Director of Nursing Informatics, rounding weekly to include clinical and support teams is critical in determining if the work completed is making a difference at the bedside and improving patient care outcomes. The core of every organization is at the bedside. Face- to -face interaction is so important in today’s healthcare systems. Meeting with providers and clinical teams daily both formally and informally is part of the director role. Executing work in Nursing Informatics, IT, Quality and Safety, DSRIP, MIPS, HEIDIS, LEAPFROG, TJC, Administration, Physician Teams, Process Improvement, Fiscal, Compliance and Risk Management, Data Analysis Teams is accomplished through interactive work and engagement. Daily data analysis reports to clinical teams, provider and nursing training and education, regulatory agency measurement and validation, modifications and implementation of new content in the EMR utilizing evidence based practice, mentoring Nursing Informatics team members as well as students in Nursing Informatics, Administration, Health Information Management are some examples of personal execution. Balancing leading and executing is challenging without prioritizing, taking time to work side by side with teams. Balancing leading and executing cannot be accomplished without equally balancing health and family.
Q: What does healthcare need more of? Less of?
DC: Healthcare needs more innovative thinkers and actionable data that focuses on population health and social determinants of health. Changing the business of healthcare to focus on the wellness model every patient, every family, every encounter, every day is essential. We can choose to do nothing thinking that we have solutions to population health already and run the risk of jeopardizing patient care outcomes. On the other hand, we can choose to be early adapters in implementing technology, the sciences, clinical innovation while integrating and transforming data into actionable meaningful information that improve patient care outcomes.
Healthcare needs less of politics without research and insight. Healthcare organizations need unbiased scientific research that is evidence based and linked to patient care outcomes so that policy makers have relevant and meaningful data to make decisions. Politicians need healthcare research such as biomedical research that is readily available for all populations versus a select few. Politicians need research that identifies the challenges that exist in population health with a focus on social determinants of health.
Q: What is one topic or issue you’ve been investing time in to better understand as of late?
DC: Keeping healthcare providers healthy in organizations is a topic to better understand and invest time in researching. Evidence based practice on burnout is paramount. Yet, we are not focusing enough on implementing measures to keep a healthy environment and workforce. The same principles we as leaders focus on for healthcare organizations and patient care outcomes should be the focus for healthcare workforces. The Japanese word for occupational sudden mortality is “Karoshi”. Stress from overwork is everywhere. How do we manage stress to keep a balance for our workforce and teams? How are we preventing stress in our organizations as leaders? This should be the number one initiative for all healthcare organizations. We cannot fulfill our organization’s strategic initiatives and goals if we are not healthy or working on healthy goals. Recognizing workforce health utilizing predictive analytics should be a strategic goal for organizations.
