Who signs your PTO slip?

In my last blog post I mentioned that Trudy and I would be discussing organizational clarity at the next managers meeting.  Organizational clarity has a lot of different pieces that are important in not only MPMC's hierarchy, but patient safety and care as well.  This is important from front line staff to the Board of Directors.

 

Advis, S., A. (2010) states that "when hierarchical differences exist between health care clinicians, communication problems may occur. Those individuals that exhibit intimidating behaviors may further hinder communication between health care clinicians, causing delays in patient care particularly if the organization’s chain of command fails to outline structured communication techniques and clinical practice guidelines to follow when disruptive behaviors are encountered. Disruptive behaviors of health care clinicians have been linked to adverse events."

 

This amplifies the need for a clear chain of communication/command.  I use the communication/command interchangeably because largely that is what it is, a direction of communication flow for conflict resolution.  However, the number one first thing one should do when there are non-life-threatening urgent matters is always work the issue at hand out with the person of interest.  This always helps prevent wasteful, productivity killing, unnecessary use of the chain of communication.

 

Only then if the issue at hand cannot be resolved you should move up the chain of command.  You might wonder which area to go to...go to your immediate supervisor, the person "who signs your PTO slip".  That is the best place to start.  The following is the Senior Leadership chain of communication.  This is MPMC design and the Joint Commission best practice.  

 We will be rolling out the full chart at the managers meeting.