I certainly wanted to stay as productive as possible during these past four weeks of winter break.\u00a0 Thanks to the assistance of Career Services, I had the opportunity to spend three days conducting an externship with Terry Hamilton \u201989.\u00a0 Mr. Hamilton, an economics major in his time at Wabash, is President of St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital in suburban Detroit.\u00a0 My exposure to the world of healthcare prior to this externship was limited to visiting a grandparent in a hospital, going to a check-up, or as a hospital volunteer in high school.\u00a0 Administration may not be able to be seen from your back in a hospital bed; rather, it is what makes the process as seamless as possible (even though it may not always be all that seamless).<\/p>\n
As a morning-time ritual, Mr. Hamilton and I reviewed two important sets of documents.\u00a0 The first is a daily census of the hospital.\u00a0 In my time at St. John\u2019s, the hospital was experiencing numbers nearing capacity.\u00a0 Upon my arrival, there were 22 patients in the emergency room who were going to be admitted to the hospital, but were waiting on a bed.\u00a0 It\u2019s great news for a hospital administrator when it comes to knowing \u201cbusiness is booming,\u201d but by the same token, one cannot hope for high patient satisfaction ratings when waiting 12 hours or more for a room.\u00a0 An important number that we looked at when it came to the operations of the emergency room is the LWBS, or left without being seen, number.\u00a0 In the recent days of heavy patient volume, there were, at times, 10 to 15 patients who had checked-in to the emergency room, but had decided to leave before being seen by a physician.\u00a0 By using linear regression through Excel, we were able to look at the number of ER visits and how that correlated to the number of LWBS patients.\u00a0 With the equation you find from that linear regression, the question becomes: what number of ER staff will it take to minimize the LWBS number?<\/p>\n
The second document set is a detailed safety report from the previous day.\u00a0 Another great tool that St. John\u2019s utilizes each morning is a \u201csafety huddle,\u201d where representatives from each department meet to discuss what occurred in the past 24 hours that was unsafe for patients.\u00a0 This can range from falls to putting the wrong identification wristband to a delay in care.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great way for staff to constantly ask what can be done to better serve patients, and question what can be learned from situations where something does go wrong.<\/p>\n
A side of the healthcare system that I didn\u2019t know about prior to my visit was the role of a hospital president as a liaison between the hospital and physicians.\u00a0 In the case of St. John\u2019s, physicians at the hospital are not employed by the hospital, but instead choose to practice medicine there and choose to send their patients there.\u00a0 Hospital administrators are forced to walk a tightrope and hold contract negotiations as though they were the GM of a professional sports franchise.\u00a0 Essentially, the administrator must keep physicians happy in order to ensure that patients are happy and being treated with the utmost of care.<\/p>\n
The experience reminded me, yet again, what great opportunities I\u2019m afforded as a Wabash student.\u00a0\u00a0 I want to extend my thanks to Career Services, Mr. Hamilton for his kindness and time taken with me, and the entire staff of St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital for making me feel so welcome and providing such a great environment for me to learn and observe.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Patrick Bryant \u201916<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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