Recently I had the opportunity to speak to the mother of an infant hospitalized with respiratory illness in a hospital in another state. She was the daughter of a friend of a relative but it was a joy to speak to her, talk through some of her concerns and reassure her that from what she was telling me, she was in good hands. (Her baby did well!)
In the course of the conversation, I remembered that I knew a senior physician at the hospital and I send him a quick text. By the time I caught up with him a little while later, he had already been to the patient’s room. He missed the baby’s mother but left his card with his cell-phone number in case she needed anything.
His generous gesture reminded me of the “Bat-Phone” we instituted when I was a hospital CEO (Commander) a decade or so ago. I am relatively sure that I stole the idea from Quint Studer or another of the quality and patient experience gurus to whom we owe so much of the great things we were able to do at that facility while we were shaping a “Culture of Excellence.” We shared the Bat-Phone cell phone number with all of our staff, our hospitalized and ambulatory patients – probably thousands of people. I carried the phone with me every day. It was a visible symbol of our efforts to be accessible to our staff and patients. In addition to the phone number, we also had a link on our public and internal websites where people could reach out to the CEO by email directly. Continue reading
Henry V 4.3 