Written by: GCC
We have been in the business of partnering with hospitals to produce their custom, quick-reference directories for over 35 years and – not to sound too old – but we have seen the changing times.
Years ago it was the norm for an employee onboarding at a hospital to be 2 solid weeks! Now we hear that many are less than a full work day. Technological advances have allowed the automation of much of the paperwork side of onboarding, and the training side keeps getting cut back. Why? One of the reasons we often hear is that there is no longer a drive to invest as significant energy into onboarding when the turnover rate is so high, and we need the staffing now.
Has your onboarding process been cut back? If so, have you dug into what has been cut out. One key thing that we are hearing from the Emergency Manager that we work with is there is no longer any personal training from the Emergency Management Department. In many facilities, what used to be a personal visit from someone involved in Emergency Planning is now a power point slide and/or a hand out. This creates a unique challenge for the Emergency Mangers impacted – How do you, as the Emergency Manager and person responsible for ensuring everyone knows what to do – actually tell them what to do?
Quick reference – easy to use resources are the key to success.
Thousands of facilities have decided the Guide to Emergency Preparedness is the focal point of empowering staff – easily, effectively and affordably. The guides allow staff to, even at times when they are in a panic and cognitive skills are limited – or simply when they are talking to a surveyor, to immediately locate the resource, open it and see what they should be doing. Keep it simple – no computer to sign on to, no excessive pages to try to skim – only what is needed in the easiest format possible.
Keep it consistent. The Guide to Emergency Preparedness is designed to be updated page-by-page, when and as needed. The guide itself is often used for 10 years or longer, with only the inside pages changing. Each page can be date stamped to show when it was last updated and/or initially printed. This makes it incredibly cost effective over the years and makes it easy to ensure every resource out there has been updated properly. Even as your responses and plans evolve, change and grow – the guide stays consistent and familiar, outwardly looking the same.
For those that want something mobile/digital – we all know the challenges that brings – connectivity in a crisis being high on that list. We created My-EOP to fill that need. My-EOP is a mobile app that can be used as a stand-alone resource – or as a perfect companion to the guides. The app allows access to whatever custom content you want to share through a mobile device even at times when connectivity is not available. My-EOP has no connection to your network or systems – we manage all the back end work for the app for you making it as easy as possible!
The 3rd component is a unique twist on what many are, or have, been doing – badge backers/buddies. We provide the highest quality badges, at the best prices. These are nothing new but using them as a way to encourage the staff to download the facility’s My-EOP plan is brilliant.
If I am a new staff member in orientation and being shown a quick slide – 1 of dozens – with information about the resources available and it mentions things like the quick-reference guides and/or a mobile app – or whatever resources you choose to use – the reality is I am NOT retaining that information. There is simply too much. We heard from several that their new hire onboarding/orientation for staff had been reduced from as long as 2 weeks to 2 hours! When I walk out of there and digest it all I may or may not remember to download what was mentioned. But if I were handed a badge backer that on one side had important information for me to reference, and the other had a QR code and instructions to download My-EOP – I am much more likely to see that later, think about it and check it out!
Think you can’t use badge backers because it will cover the ID? We can help with that too! We have CLEAR badges that can be made to match the size of the current ID – allowing it to always be visible, but still have information hang below!
The Emergency Management Teams have an immense task and the challenges they face seem to grow daily. Meeting with so many of them on a regular basis and hearing the stories of what can go right and wrong one thing is certain – all the planning and work put into creating a plan must be followed with good training and engagement. Our tools are the ideal solution for that. If you already know, you know! If you don’t, contact me and let me send you free samples of any/all of the above, for you to share with your Emergency Management Team.
