March MHHRA Newsletter
March 2006
Dear Colleagues,
I want to update you on a number of exciting initiatives and events that are taking place in the coming weeks and months.
At our March 21st program we will hold a two-part meeting. In addition to our educational program, we will showcase "The Pulse", a web-based tool promoting health careers to youth, teachers, parents and adults making second career choices. Many people have provided significant time and money to the development of these tools over the last two years. I encourage you to come and view first hand how these tools can support our collective need to ensure a high quality workforce in the future and celebrate the good work of so many.
DDI is providing their webinar series to MHHRA members at no cost. As you know, webinars can be a terrific way of continuing to learn proven practices and spark creative thought all with the ease of participating from our offices. I hope these educational offerings support the work of you and your colleagues. Thanks to DDI for sharing their expertise. Please select the link below for detailed information:
http://www.ddiworld.com/events/events.asp
There are two scholarships available for members of your workforce. The first is a Nursing Faculty Scholarship generously provided by BostonWorks. The purpose is to help support the development of academic faculty.
The next other scholarship, provided by MHA and MHHRA, is a $2000 award and is intended to support the preparation of allied health professionals.
The following link provides you with all the details, an application and deadline information: http://www.mhalink.org/public/education/scholarship.cfm
Please communicate these important initiatives to your colleagues. And hope to see you on March 21st.
Diane Bono
Chapter President
2005-2006
Consultant's Corner
Tap the power of multidisciplinary health care teams
By Ellen Leader and Dan Dangler
There is an inherent assumption in organizations today that when we work as a team, we achieve a higher degree of success. The common wisdom is that teamwork is essential for high performance, much like exercise is to health.
Teamwork now lives in our western psyche, as the ultimate path to performance nirvana. Some believe that without it, success cannot be achieved. Leaving behind the "go-it-alone," hierarchical days of the 1960s and 1970s, the steady endorsement of teamwork has been our shared organizational experience for the past 25 years.
For a group to move toward accomplishing great results together, it must begin with a shared assumption that the members are all different from one another. Teams, particularly those in a health care setting, are not for those looking for a shortcut or an easy path. Teaming is a complex process of bringing together differences to create something new. Therefore, it requires people to stretch beyond their own belief system and personal assumptions about themselves and others.
Initially, groups come together as a collection of individuals, where the only thing they really have in common is how different they are from one another. On a functional team like nursing or accounting, members assume they have a similar view of the departmental goals. In a cross-functional or multidisciplinary team, there is often an assumption of shared values and goals because they care about the same things. Yet the reality is that each individual sees the task from his or her own perspective, and depending on the task, from their own unique worldview.
While this can often be the case, we argue that the team can operate at its highest level of creativity and innovation if the underlying assumption of why a team is together is openly examined. When teams do not do so, the results can be disastrous. A particular case in point highlights this:
A patient came into the hospital having a severe reaction to medication from having her wisdom teeth pulled by a dentist. After many conflicting approaches to relieve the pain, a drug was administered in the ER, causing the patient to have a secondary reaction of a seizure. Hours later in intensive care, it was determined that a spinal tap was necessary to address symptoms of the seizure. After unsuccessful attempts by six different doctors to administer the spinal tap, the patient went into a coma. The final outcome was that the spinal tap was never needed in the first place, but was attempted because the ER and intensive-care staff did not communicate previous diagnoses and procedures properly. The ER staff was looking to relieve the pain of the initial medication reaction, while the intensive-care team focused on the symptoms of the seizure. All the while, ER knew there would be a seizure from the drug they administered. Both teams did the "right" things, but functioned under two different assumptions, leading to additional problems. Though the patient recovered, she was hospitalized an additional two weeks to address these unnecessary complications.
When teams can uncover their hidden assumptions, not only can errors be prevented, higher productivity and extraordinary results can be achieved.
So while it takes more work to create an innovative multidisciplinary team, the rewards can be tremendous. How can teams use these differences as leverage for creating great results? We offer some beginning suggestions:
- Assume that we each begin from a place of difference, not similarity. If we share our deeper assumptions and beliefs about a project or task, we can leverage new possibilities.
- Ask clarifying questions such as, "You said the patient is not doing well. How do you define 'not doing well' and why have you drawn that conclusion?"
- Ask for help and suggestions from others. When we resist the temptation to just plunge ahead with what we think is right, and we take the time to ask for other perspectives, new opportunities are created.
- Encourage others to ask for help by modeling it yourself. Be accessible and readily offer your assistance to others.
Clearly teamwork is much more complex than these initial suggestions. However, if we begin working together with the assumption that we are all different, the foundation will be laid to reveal the whole picture, providing new opportunities and creating new behaviors that lead to unrivaled team results.
Dan Dangler is principal and Ellen Leader, is organizational consultant at Authenticity, a Boston based leadership and team-development firm.
 KEY TO YOUR PASSWORD...
As you know, our web site features a members-only section - please respect the privacy of our membership!!
CONFIDENTIAL Member Only Access can be granted with the following information:
Login: Member
Password: MHHR4
We are very interested in your comments and thoughts on our web site – please share them with us via email at mhhra@mhhra.org.
This wonderful member benefit would not be possible without the help of our Business Partners:
BostonWorks
A division of the Boston Globe, BostonWorks is the largest and most popular recruitment tool dedicated to the Boston market. BostonWorks has more jobs, more resumes and reaches more active and passive job seekers than any other recruitment site in the market. BostonWorks and BostonWorks.com leverage the power of The Boston Globe and Boston.com to reach an audience of more than 2.4 million each week.
In addition to the BostonWorks section in The Boston Sunday Globe and the online recruitment site BostonWorks.com, the division offers industry-specific magazines such as "On Call" for nurses and allied health professionals and JobSource, a weekly career publication with distribution of over 100,000. BostonWorks also produces a number of career fairs held in Greater Boston throughout the year. Please visit http://www.bostonworks.com
LaRhette Manin Benefit Service Group
At LaRhette Manin BSG, products, consulting and service converge to provide a single-point resource for the human resources and financial executive. We can approach your strategic requirements from any angle, and provide your organization with the following array of services bundled in a comprehensive package: Design initiatives, Investment and insurance carrier selection and management, Employee communications and training, Enrollment and on-going educational services, On-going plan administration and Comprehensive employee services.
Our capabilities are built on an infrastructure of NASD-registered account executives, licensed insurance representatives and certified benefits counselors who have been trained in all aspects of compensation reward systems that offer employees choices and options - which we believe to be the cornerstone of future benefits strategy. Please visit http://www.lmbsg.com
MHHRA Board Goals and Objectives 2005-2006
MHHRA BOARD GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 2005-2006
1. To ensure that the mission of the organization is carried out:
Mission Statement Through educational programs and collegial exchanges, the mission of MHHRA is to develop leadership, increase competencies and foster excellence for Human Resources professionals and service producers in the healthcare industry.
2. To ensure that on-going program development meets the needs of the membership
MHHRA INDIVIDUAL OBJECTIVES 2005-2006
President – Diane Bono
1. Ensure MHHRA is a strategic, vibrantly, strong (50% member growth) association for health care and health care related industry human resources professionals demonstrated through membership growth, diverse educational/networking programs, communications updated via technology (website) and financial stability.
2. Secure collaboration and strategic relationships with targeted organizations, such as MHA, MONE, Higher Education, ASHHRA, and other ASHHRA New England Chapters.
3. Seek additional opportunities for workforcedevelopment, enhancing the healthcare/healthcare related industry, as a desired field of employment opportunities through such vehicles as the Human Resources Work Group (HRWG) and Pulse.
4. Guide and support the achievement of goals and objectives established by the Board of Directors
Immediate Past President – Marge Ransom
1. Assist the President, President-elect and Association Manager in the preparation of the ASHHRA Chapter Management submission
2. Serve on other projects as determined by the President
President Elect – OPEN POSITION
Secretary/Treasurer – Terri Petropoulos
1. Record all minutes and all associated documents of Board of Directors meetings
2. Oversee the ongoing, timely payment of bills.
3. Report periodically to the membership on the Chapter's financial status.
4. Ensure the timely completion and filing of all tax and government reports.
5. Provides quarterly report to the Board of Directors the status of the budget and any significant variances.
Program/Diversity Committee – Donna Bonaparte
1. Define members' needs for education and training through surveys, focus groups, and/or other research.
2. Provide forums of information sharing, training and development that assist healthcare HR professionals address or respond to challenging related issues.
3. Incorporate diversity into programming.
4. Assist our members to build collaborative relationships with HR professionals within healthcare and partnering organizations.
5. Promote chapter's program calendar and individual programs through strategic, creative marketing and to increase chapter membership.
Recruitment/Retention/Recognition Committee – Ginny Rehberg
1. Continue to reach out to HR professionals in the broader Massachusetts and Rhode Island healthcare industry including mental health, home care organizations, skilled nursing home facilities, managed care and community health organizations; examine feasibility of inclusion of healthcare-related areas such as medical technology, biotechnology, medical device organizations, etc.
2. Continue to collaborate with various board committees to more closely to ensure membership and program activities are pursuing the same goals, serving the membership needs and evaluating results for ongoing improvement.
3. Devise new ways to boost membership including personal outreach to new prospective members and former members as well as innovative reward programs.
Labor/Legislative/Employee Relations Committee – David Ryan, Ed Fiander
1. Forge a stronger link with ASHHRA Region I representative serving on ASHHRA's Legislative and Labor Committee so that MHHRA members can be kept informed about ASHHRA's activity in these areas, including keeping the membership updated on federal legislative initiatives related to our workforce and other “hot topics" on the labor relations front
2. Produce a newsletter article for inclusion in MHHRA's quarterly newsletter to keep the membership apprised of the committee's activities
3. Forge a stronger relationship/link with MHA on legislative issues at the state level to assist the committee in following workforce related state legislative activities
4. Continue to collaborate with MHA for the Annual MHA Labor Forum
Regional Integration Partner – Joan Handstad, Leonard Pansa, David DeJesus
1. Host a meeting or contact in some way each region (south, north, west, and central) during the year to solicit advice and ideas on recruiting new members, interesting programs, share educational information and discuss other issues of importance to other regions.
2. Develop contacts in other regions to assist in meeting planning, speaker and locations of regional meetings.
3. Attend meetings of the ASHHRA Region I Leadership Committee and report back to MHHRA on national issues
Business Partners – Mark Manin, Linda Rappaport
1. Increase number of business partner relationships.
Industry News
American Hospital Association (AHA) News
Council Recommends Updating Language Standard for Foreign-Educated Nurses
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, which represents the 60 state and territorial boards that regulate nurses in the U.S., recently recommended state and federal policymakers update the minimum score foreign-educated nurses must achieve on two federally recognized English language proficiency tests before they can work in the U.S. The Council recommended requiring overall scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language of 560 or higher for the written version of the test, 220 for the computer-based test, and 83 for the new Internet-based version. For the alternative International English Language Testing System test, the Council recommended minimum scores of at least 6.0 on all modules and 6.5 overall. The recommendations exceed the Department of Health and Human Services' current standards for the TOEFL written test (540) and computer-based test (207). Also, HHS currently does not designate a minimum score for each IELTS module. However, HHS requires minimum scores for spoken English that are not part of the NCSBN proposal.
ASHHRA Annual Chapter Leadership Conference
April 21-22, 2006
Hyatt Regency O'Hare (tentative)
Rosemont, IL
Registration information will be available soon!
ASHHRA's 42nd Annual Conference
Transformation in Healthcare: Leading the Way through HR Leadership
October 15-17, 2006
Gaylord Opryland
Resort & Convention Center
Nashville, TN
Exhibit Information: contact Corcoran Expositions 312-541-0567
Rates Information: contact ASHHRA ashhra@aha.org
MHHRA Budget:
MHHRA's most recent budget update is available to our members. To view a copy, please download the Budget PDF.
New Members
MHHRA would like to welcome the following new and returning members to our Chapter!
Leslie Connors, Manager Labor Relations, Quincy Medical Center
Michelle Donohue, HR Generalist, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital
Greg Hyland, Regional Vice President, CitiStreet
John Lew, Director, Employment Services, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Joanne Lynch, Consultant, Blue Cross
Glen McKenney, HR Generalist, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital
Jeff Toner, Partner, Toner Consulting
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