Ideas That Work: Set Reminders to Make the Rounds

Days fill up fast when you’re managing a busy surgical facility, and it’s often difficult to remember — or find the time — to get out from behind your desk to connect with staff, see how they’re doing and answer questions they have about their work. “Set a series of alarms on your phone,” suggests Harry Mullen, CRCST, CIS, CHL, CER, the CEO and managing director at Central Sterilization Solutions, a trade school located in Southern California. “When the alarms go off, walk through your facility or department to check in on the staff.” When Mr. Mullen managed a busy sterile processing department, he’d program alarms to go off at 30-, 45-, 60- or 90-minute intervals on different days. When his phone buzzed, he’d move through the department, observing staff in action and stopping to conduct spot audits of their practices. “To my staff, it appeared as if I was passing through randomly, when in fact the process was quite structured,” he says.