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8 7 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 | O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T ting people who had a genuine interest in patients and in people." And 15 years later, 10 members of the original staff remain with the center. "The only hiring I've done has been when we needed additional peo- ple," she says. To check on whether everyone's feeling up to par, the staff spends 15 or 20 minutes at the start of the day discussing the challenges ahead, or possibly the challenges they faced before leaving home. "If somebody says, my child was sick all weekend and I didn't get any sleep, people will step up and say, you need to have a little less on your plate today," says Ms. Radke. "They'll say, maybe you should just work in post-op today, where it's a little quieter. Or maybe go back in surgery and just do instruments. "We're a very, very close-knit staff and we've all become friends. I important thing to us. If you have any questions while you're here, please call … fol- lowed by a name and number. Ms. Beydler's personal cell phone number is on the business card that gets passed out by the center's "concierge," so providing excellent service can be a 24/7 proposition. "When we ask for feedback from family members, we ask them to tell us 3 things we can do to make things better," she says. "I just got one back yesterday that said there's not one thing you need to do differently. Just keep doing what you're doing. But sometimes people do say, it could be a little warmer, or you might consider pro- viding a certain kind of snack. If it's something we can do, then we absolutely do it." The feedback has been strong, and on the rare occasions that something needs to be addressed, the nurse manager of the appropriate area follows up with a phone call. "We're very proud of the work we do," says Ms. Beydler. "But we're not resting on our laurels. We want to distinguish ourselves. We don't want to just be known for trauma. We want to be known for service excellence in everything we do, and we are absolutely unrelenting in that." — Jim Burger