on the Mayo," she says. "That doesn't happen here. They don't just
flip it toward you or throw it down. They either hand it back or
say, 'Hey, I'm putting this down.' There's an essence of care."
But caring and efficiency don't have to be mutually exclusive.
"We have rapid turnover, but everybody has the ability to stop
everything if they need to," says Ms. Todd. "There are areas where
you can speed up, and there are some where you just cannot. You
cannot speed up at the cost of safety. If you speed up to the point
where somebody gets stuck, you just delayed that case 30 min-
utes while that gets taken care of."
And when you're trying to handle the daily hustle of health care,
you also need to make sure staff know that no matter how intense
the pressure feels to keep the line moving, it's OK to blow the whis-
tle and stop running when personal safety is at stake.
OSM
9 6 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A R C H 2 0 1 7
