As I spend more time at Ipswich Hospital in the UK, I have had a chance to get to know people and admire their approaches to improving patient quality and safety. Given the financial issues facing the NHS, there is also a growing recognition that such improvements often have a virtuous relationship with cost efficiency.
That being said, I have found modesty to be evident, with full recognition of where improvements are still needed. But appropriately, that does not preclude recognizing people who have made notable contributions to the organization. On a main corridor, there are photographs of "Shining Lights," staff members who have done particularly noteworthy things.
And then, this morning as I arrived, there was a photo session taking place to prepare images to accompany an internal newsletter story about a significant improvement in one of the surgical specialties. The colorectal surgery group has reduced the length of stay associated with major bowel surgery from 11 days to 4.5 days. Among those getting credit for this improvement was Vicki Reid, a colorectal nurse specialist, who is universally acknowledged by the doctors as a key player in implementing the steps necessary to accomplish this.
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