Videos

LMP at 25: Making Partnership Better

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Union members, managers and physicians share their thoughts on how the Partnership could be better in its next 25 years.

Videos

LMP at 25 with Heddy Steinman: Making Things Better

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Celebrate 25 years of the Labor Management Partnership by listening to the people who work in partnership. Heddy Steinman believes the LMP is such an important part of Kaiser Permanente that it should be taught about at our medical school.

Videos

LMP at 25 with Mariela Garcia ─ What's Working in Partnership

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Celebrate 25 years of the Labor Management Partnership by listening to the people who work in partnership. Mariela Garcia says people drive the Partnership's success by navigating challenges while maintaining mutual respect.

Videos

LMP at 25 with Heddy Steinman

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Celebrate 25 years of the Labor Management Partnership by listening to the people who work in partnership. Heddy Steinman looks to unit-based teams moving forward on the Path to Performance as proof of LMP's success.

Transformed Team Tracks Kidney Transplant Patients Follow-up Care

Hosting a short-term special clinic for post-transplant patients, enabling them to get all their follow-up care in one visit
Creating an Excel spreadsheet of post-transplant patients and their follow-up needs
Making outreach calls to patients with care gaps

What can your team do to fill patient care gaps? What else could your team do to proactively meet patient needs?

Read more about Transformed Team Tracks Kidney Transplant Patients Follow-up Care

Injuries Nearly Vanish After Workers Find Their Voice

Why We Speak Up

09/07/2016 - 12:00

Article by

Byline

Sherry Crosby

Deck

Workplace injuries vanish almost entirely after these pharmacy workers find their voice

Story body part 1

Angela Chandler and Nee Tang, Pharm.D., didn’t like what they were seeing.

The team co-leads for the West Los Angeles Ambulatory Care Pharmacy crouched beside Camille Wong, scrutinizing her posture as the pharmacist and UNAC/UHCP member sat typing at her computer.

After a quick huddle, the pair worked together to adjust Wong’s chair until she was sitting in the ideal position to protect her from pain—and a potential injury.

“I didn’t know I could adjust my chair this way. It feels good,” Wong said appreciatively, her feet resting flat on the floor and her legs bent at the appropriate 90-degree angle.

Shift in culture

Such peer safety rounds are one of the hallmarks of a dramatic shift in culture for the team, a shift that has built engagement and created a workplace where frontline workers feel confident speaking up. The department went 3½ years without injuries and earned a national workplace safety award earlier this year.

“We’re all in it together, and we’re all here for each other,” says Chakana Mayo, a pharmacy technician and UFCW Local 770 member who is the team’s workplace safety champion.

But the situation was not always so bright.

In 2011 and 2012, the department experienced a spate of workplace injuries. Employees, who spend most of their time on phones and computers, were sometimes reluctant to report pain—including one who suffered a repetitive motion injury so severe that it required two surgeries and time off from work.

“It was really a wake-up call,” says Tang, a pharmacy supervisor and the team’s management co-lead. “We needed to make sure that everyone feels comfortable enough to speak up when they have a problem.”