What is a Goal?
When you think of the word “goal”, what comes to mind? Perhaps you remember last weekend when your team scored the last-minute goal to win the game. Or the word might resonate more personally to you when considering healthy habits, professional achievements, or financial budgeting.
Goals are typically challenging and can be frustrating, especially when the game is lost, or the scale does not go in the right direction. However, when goals are met (a winning score, a debt paid off), one is invigorated and excited. Celebration of the accomplishment happens in the presence of others who either shared in the goal or are supportive of the one with the achievement.
The reasons behind setting goals are obvious, as they can help one focus and provide direction.
Healthcare Quality Goals
While athletic and personal goals are an important part of growth, so are quality-related goals in the healthcare arena. Quality goals are a significant part of what helps us strive for the best care for our patients, the strongest and safest practices for our team members, and collaboration in working towards shared objectives.
Working with oncology patients takes a special individual. Patients have multifaceted needs amid often complex treatment regimens. There is the individual registering the patient, ensuring accurate information for the rest of the team. Or, a clinician, assisting the patient with labs, side effects of treatment, recommending a treatment plan, or comforting a patient who just received some difficult news (or celebrating with a patient who just received some excellent news). Additionally, there is the team member working with the insurance company to ensure the prescribed treatment starts on time. There are any number of roles in which our team members fill.
Wherever you find yourself in a patient’s care (even if behind the scenes), know that your role becomes part of their journey. Therefore, your engagement in the achievement of our goals is critical, no matter your job at Thompson.
Our Goals
At TCSC, we have programmatic as well as department/specialty-specific goals. These are patient-centered and developed based on known or anticipated needs/gaps, all with the intent of pushing us forward. Success of our goals positively impacts patient care, team member engagement, and our overall processes which support our vision of being the first and best choice of cancer care in our community.
Some of our goals are developed based on national industry guidelines, such as time between when a patient with breast cancer has surgery until receiving radiation treatment. Other goals are developed with operational motives in mind, such as developing a structured, patient-centered scheduling process for patients receiving chemotherapy and discreet documentation of cancer staging in the medical record. Minimizing the time from radiologic abnormality and/or symptoms until diagnosis is of primary concern in our breast center, as is ensuring patients are properly prepared for their study so that they are scanned on time in the PET department.
Much of our work on quality goals is centered around having the right information. Our leadership team is focused on access to critical data and the best approach in sharing that data. You might find that a process is being adjusted in your department so that it is consistent across our sites. Consistency in processes supports our goal of meaningful data collection.
Our program goals for this year include:
- The development of a quality measure dashboard
- The development and implementation of a policy/procedure for referring out proton patients based on insurance delays.
- The development and implementation of a standardized policy or procedure for scheduling TOG infusion patients.
- The development of a policy for accepting non-TOG referrals at TCSC managed infusion centers.
Additional specialty-specific goals will be discussed through your site leadership.
The effort of all our team members helps to support our goals. Thank you for the care you provide to our patients!
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