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STAFFING
and staff behind closed OR doors, but also to subject myself to the
same challenges. Both provide invaluable insights into physician and
employee satisfaction, and operational efficiency.
This also has the added benefit of breaking down hierarchy. I was a
fairly new manager once, at a facility in which bickering and fractured
teamwork were common due to nurses who didn't mop — "It's not
my job" — and OR techs who didn't move equipment — "That's not
what I was hired to do."
My solution? I started scrubbing in and doing whatever needed to be
done. Mopping, circulating, turning over rooms, pulling supplies
between cases. Don't get the idea I was taking it all on myself. Instead,
I pulled in the rest of
the staff. "Hey, do you
mind helping me with
this trash?" It didn't
matter who they were
— physicians, nurses,
anesthesia providers
or surgical techs. It
quickly became clear
that, if I could step outside the confines of my
managerial title, they
could too. The end
M A R C H 2013 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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