Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Five Pieces of Excellence

The journey from good to great for Good Samaritan Hospital of Baltimore started with differentiating itself through service and operational excellence in a very competitive market. A 317-bed hospital, Good Samaritan highlights service, quality, people, growth and financial in its annual operating plan, which is given to all employees. These five "puzzle pieces" are improved by keeping score (measurement), developing and using tools for ownership, communication and teamwork, and focusing on nuts and bolts, like rounding and discharge calls. In addition to balanced scorecards, the Support Services Evaluation (SSE) helps identify solutions to improve care and teamwork. Communication tools used by Good Samaritan include daily huddles, rounding, quarterly town hall meetings, and communication boards?with the five puzzle piece headers?in every unit. The hospital also focuses on developing people, with structured leadership development and career ladders for all positions. Good Samaritan gets consistently high scores on quality indicators and patient, physician and staff satisfaction surveys. For more information, contact Jennifer Weiss Wilkerson, vice president, strategic planning and business development, at jennifer.wilkerson@medstar.net.