Mar
20
How can your hospital benefit by using the full suite of staffing solutions from API Healthcare?
Watch how the science of scheduling helps Julie better utilize her resources, improve staff engagement and provide quality patient care with our predictive scheduling, staffing & scheduling, and patient acuity solutions.
Jan
10
I woke up this morning to four new Twitter followers, all from various educational disciplines. I wonder if it’s because my last post said “school starts Monday,” or because I asked if I was in over my head, and they wanted to find out!
I often feel in over my head, yet in some strange way, it’s quite motivating. Right now we are gearing up for the Concerro University Kickoff on February 28 (http://expos2events.com/concerro/) , a virtual event to launch CU to our clients, the first inaugural Application Administrator classroom training in San Diego the week of March 12 (http://www.concerro.com/concerro-university.php) , and the 2012 Client Workshop also in San Diego the week of April 25 (https://s3.goeshow.com/concerro/CAC12/ereg806425.cfm). Additionally, all of the content for the CU App Admin training is being made available via the Concerro Learning Center (CLC) (https://concerrolearning.adobeconnect.com) , and will be accessible on demand to all of our clients. Not just CBTs and documents, either, full blown recorded meetings, courses and evaluations designed to make you feel like you had an instructor with you the whole time!
One of the things I am most excited about is teaming up with colleagues and Res-Q clients to design their On-Demand portion of the CLC. This corresponds very well with school starting because my post-grad certificate will be in Instructional Technology, which means I will become an Instructional Designer (ID). IDs focus on improving human performance to solve an instructional problem, and content is narrowed to the information and skills need to perform the tasks and job. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) approach design from a content perspective. Since I’ve been more of a SME all my professional life, even when I taught nursing at a college, this is a wonderful opportunity to enable us to make learning more efficient and effective, less difficult, and save time and money for all involved!
No matter which Concerro product you use, if you are interested in helping us “define the instructional problem” for yourselves and your staff, please let me know so we can involve you in upcoming and ongoing design. Once we understand the performance problem we are trying to solve and develop the learning objectives, we will explore these factors:
1) What is the level of readiness needed to accomplish the learning objectives?
2) What instructional strategies will be most appropriate for us to use?
3) What technology/other resources are most suitable?
4) What support is needed for successful learning?
5) What revisions are needed if the “tryout” doesn’t match expectations?
Then we will translate our design into the materials needed to accomplish the objectives, implement these and evaluate/revise as needed. Sound fun? I am literally jumping out of my shorts with excitement!
The Concerro Learning Center has been such a success since we launched it, but we know we need to continually improve and expand our offerings. We are thrilled to be able to do this with (and for) you! If you are a client who hasn’t yet logged in, let me know and we will get you set up!
Jan
25
Attention Concerro Clients! This just in….The team at Concerro is excited to announce the latest developments for our 2012 Concerro Client Conference this Spring. We hope you can join us for collaboration, networking, learning and fun at the beautiful Hilton San Diego Bayfront.
We have an amazing lineup of inspirational and thought-provoking keynote speakers including:
Review the preliminary agenda to see the presentations that are planned for this event, including the ability to earn up to ten CEUs!
Join us Wednesday night for an evening of dancing, drinks, food and fun as we celebrate our 10th Anniversary under the stars. (Hosted by Concerro.)
Take me out to the ballgame! Thursday night, head over to Petco Park to catch the Padres vs. Nationals game in Concerro’s Western Metal Suites. (Hosted by Concerro.)
The first 50 Concerro Clients to register will save $50 with the early bird rate so register today! Be sure to use the following coupon code to get your $50 discount: EARLYBIRD
Date: April 24 – 27, 2012
Location: Hilton San Diego Bayfront
We look forward to seeing you in San Diego!
Jan
26
Self-scheduling increases staff engagement and provides nurses with more control over their personal schedules. While this approach can be used positively, it’s critical that nurse leaders evaluate the level of staff readiness before implementing this scheduling model. Concerro can help you with this evaluation.
Try our self-scheduling assessment tool to determine your staff readiness for self-scheduling.
Feb
01
There is a direct financial return on your investment in an automated HICS solution to improve incident response at your hospital.
Try our HICS ROI Calculator to help you better understand the top five measurable financial benefits of HICS automation from three primary areas—Compliance, Performance, and Reimbursement (CPR).
Feb
06
Fortune magazine recently released its annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Healthcare companies nabbed 17 slots. What is their secret to creating a workplace that makes employees want to stay and makes their companies the ones for which job seekers aim? Concerro client Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) explains:
“You have to inspire the best in people, and you do that by creating an environment that puts people first,” said Linda Matzigkeit, chief administrative officer at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which ranked number 49. “We spend a lot of time asking our employees, ‘What do you need to be successful?’ We determine what they need and commit the time, resources and leadership needed to supporting and developing those needs.”
Congratulations to CHOA for making the list. What makes CHOA great?
Big on recognition, senior leaders hold frequent parties and push around beverage carts during the holidays — occasionally at 2:45 a.m. for the night shift — as a chance to touch base with employees.
Feb
08
Over the last year, there’s been a considerable amount of consolidation in the healthcare workforce management market. The smaller companies have been integrated into larger companies, with only a couple of strong players remaining.
Concerro understood that in order to compete successfully in this maturing market, it needed to partner with a strong industry leader. We’re pleased to report that API Healthcare has acquired Concerro and by bringing these two strong companies together, the Concerro clients will benefit from:
While change always puts some bumps in the road, the Concerro clients should expect a relatively smooth transition.
For the healthcare community, the acquisition means a stronger integrated solution suite available across the entire continuum of care. As the two companies’ products become fully integrated, a robust end-to-end workforce management solution will be available to healthcare organizations ranging from small retail clinics to large health systems. As reimbursements decrease and accountable care organizations gain momentum, understanding how long-term and day-to-day staffing decisions impact the quality of care and labor costs will be critical. Healthcare organizations of every kind will need to have a clear view into their workforce. API Healthcare’s mission – elevating quality and productivity across the healthcare community through innovative workforce management – is based on the needs of the healthcare community. And, with the combined strengths of Concerro and API Healthcare, we can deliver that mission.
Thank you for your support during this exciting time.
Patricia Levan, RN, MS
Associate Vice President, Client Services
Feb
13
With Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching, we can’t help getting warm and fuzzy when we hear from a client that is tickled pink (pun intended).
One of our Client Services Executives, Andy Thompson, received a wonderful note from his client at Maury Regional Medical Center. We love hearing from our clients, especially when they are happy clients. We thought this was so nice, we just had to share!
Here is what Cheri Childress had to say:
“Just to let you know, I am very pleased with the efficiency of Concerro. Overall with my previous scheduling system (ANSOS) it would take me anywhere from 4-6 hours to complete a 4 week schedule. Now, with the convenience of Concerro, I can complete a 6 week schedule in under 2 hours!
I love the fact that it is point-click (mouse) and that the system recognizes my nurses’ schedules and groups them together based on the fact that they work the same shifts.
It has really saved me time, too, since the nurses can make their own schedule changes and switches. I am no longer fumbling through paper requests to switch employee’s days.
I also like that my open shifts can be seen throughout the hospital by other staff who are qualified to fill my open shifts. It is MUCH better than the days before when I had to email out my open shifts to people who I thought may be interested, post open shifts on the break room door, and then remember to go back and see if anyone emailed me back or signed up, and then enter that into the system. It is all done by computer so it is all in the same place.
The convenience for my staff of having the ability to look at their schedule at home helps tremendously too. They can schedule personal appointments around their schedule, and if they need to get other staff to switch with them, they can do it from home, where there time is much less laid back than at work.
I am very pleased overall with the time this system has saved me. I look forward to Concerro’s communication [interface] with Kronos!!
Thanks for helping me with my questions this morning.”
Cheri Childress, RN
Nurse Manager
Skilled Nursing Unit
Maury Regional Medical Center
Well thank you for sharing such kind words with us, Cheri! We look forward to learning more about the positive outcomes you have at Maury Regional. In the meantime, please give yourself a big hug from the team at Concerro.
Feb
26
Wow, so much has happened in the year since this blog began – let’s take a look back.
Last January, I attended the eLearning Intensive in Orlando, FL, where the idea for Concerro University was born. Envisioning a world where clients could access any materials any time using any media, an approach was pitched and embraced by our leadership. In May, 2011 the Concerro Learning Online Center launched. Flying by the seat of our pants, we learned to navigate AdobeConnect, hosting meetings and virtual classes, and set up a unique approach to client educational document access. By summer, we had a large number of documents and some computer based training courses, and embarked on a visionary exercise with the Services Team to design Concerro University Classroom.
By fall we had both the plan and agenda for CU Classroom, focusing on training required by client Application Administrators. Concerro Client Application Administrators hold the “keys to the kingdom” and are responsible for configuring the system and troubleshooting issues, as well as contributing to the design and management of strategic and operational policies and processes.
The big question became, “will we see you at CU?” In December, we held a “Dry Run” for content validation with an audience of cross-departmental staff (engineering, marketing, services, sales) and came away with spectacular ideas for content revision. With these put into place, we held a full blown Dress Rehearsal in January of 2012, where another cross-department audience (some from the original Dry Run and some new) went through both didactic and hands on training.
This past week, we kicked off Concerro University Classroom for Vidant Health (formerly University Health System of Eastern Carolina), where ten Application Administrators with various tenure (some with the program at their sites over two years, some new to the role in sites live over two years, some at various stages of implementation, and a few who had just been named to their roles and their sites not even in implementation yet), came together to partake in the full blown curriculum. The results were stellar, with comments like, “Overall the program was great. I love the way they gave an overview and the demonstration and hands on,” and “This training was a wonderful and critical refresher for a “seasoned” App Admin. I learned new things and sparked reminders of things I had forgotten that the system could do. It also introduced the new features that will be coming out.”
Our participants were also excited that even though the classroom experience ended, the entire curriculum is available as a distance learning program in the Concerro Learning Center, complete with narrated presentations covering all of the strategic and operational content.
As we look forward to our new partnership with API Healthcare, we are excited to have a foundation of experience to bring with us, and an opportunity to mesh and collaborate with their tremendous team of Instructional Designers, Methodology and Content Developers, and Trainers. It’s been an exciting journey thus far. Hang on as we continue our Journey into the Next Century with a whole expanded cast!
Mar
12
There is much in the industry news in the last few weeks around “Mandatory Overtime”. A number of states have legislation on the books restricting the use of Mandatory Overtime.
Mandatory Overtime is pretty much as it sounds, an employer comes to a nurse who is working and “mandate” that they stay overtime in order to fill a critical staffing shortage. This does not apply to officially declared disaster situations. When mandatory overtime is invoked nurses have been told that if they don’t continue working they will be considered to have abandoned their patients, a terrible threat for a nurse.
With the increasing focus on the negative patient safety implications of fatigue, and results published from recent multi-year longitudinal study of new nurses, mandatory overtime has gained increased attention. At issue in the study was the extent to which laws or regulations had actually affected the workplace. Researchers examined Newly Licensed RNs’ self-reported mandatory and voluntary overtime hours, as well as their total work hours.
According to the study, in 2010, 16 states had rules restricting mandatory overtime hours for nurses: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.
Clearly by posting open shift needs and engaging their staff to be part of the staffing solution, Concerro clients are helping to ensure that patient care requirements are being met through extra shifts &/or voluntary, planned overtime.
Mar
29
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta implements a Web-based clinical staffing and scheduling system to maximize filled shifts and staffing efficiency while lowering staffing costs by more than $2 million.
Mar
28
Like so many hospitals, St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, Georgia was having staffing problems that forced their own nurses to float between units when they didn’t want to.
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Deborah Crist-GrundmanConcerro Senior Clinical Strategist |
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Diane Hamm-VidaConcerro Director of Clinical Informatics & Education |
