Managers for care improvement on WIHI

Madge Kaplan writes:

The next WIHI broadcast — The Managers and Management We Need to Improve Care — will take place on Thursday, March 26, from 2 to 3 PM ET, and I hope you'll tune in.

Our guests will include:

• David Munch, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer, Healthcare Performance Partners
• Stephanie Calcasola, MSN, RN-BC, Director of Quality and Medical Management, Baystate Medical Center
• Kedar Mate, MD, Senior Vice President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

Health care leaders have an incredibly important role to play in driving improvement initiatives in their organizations. So do people on the frontlines of care. What we aren’t as articulate about is the role that middle managers play. You know, the people with the job titles of House Supervisor or Shift Supervisor or Team Lead or Manager of the PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit). A growing number of experts say we can’t afford to ignore that people in these jobs are essential to improvement, too. 

One of those experts is Dr. David Munch, who will help lead our discussion on the March 26 WIHI: The Managers and Management We Need to Improve Care. Dave Munch will be joined by IHI’s senior innovation and improvement capability expert, Dr. Kedar Mate, and Baystate Medical Center’s Stephanie Calcasola. All three will help us look at what middle managers do, now, on behalf of quality improvement – and what they could do more of, if their contributions and unique positioning in the organization were better utilized and understood. Especially when it comes to making improvement endeavors operational and sustainable.

Dave Munch recently wrote a blog post about this topic for ihi.org that we invite you to read ahead of the March 12 show. He’s also pointed us to some interesting research that suggests, among other things, that senior leader support for the middle management team helps build managers’ confidence and commitment to drive change and ignites enthusiasm across the organization.

No one’s capabilities and talent should be wasted when it comes to improving health and health care for those we serve. We know you agree. So, join us on March 26! You can enroll for the broadcast here.