(Announcer 2)
Hello, and welcome to issue number three of MMS Radio
News...
(Rising Music)
(Announcer
1)
I'm Roger Newman...
(Announcer 2)
And I'm Veronica Flood. And you're tuned into the
audio newsletter produced exclusively for MMS managers across the U.S. and
Canada...
(Announcer 1)
In this issue, we'll bring you a new crop of stories
describing how our colleagues are using TQM to improve operations at MMS
facilities of all kinds. And, how you can put these simple tools and ideas to
work to help boost your success as well.
(Announcer 2)
In this issue of MMS Radio News...
(Announcer 1)
An Education Services account director confesses what he did on
spring break...at a Pittsburgh-area hospital, TQM measurement techniques get
MMS in hot water... working more closely with clients keeps Corporate Services
in good company...and a new Radio News feature looks at a beginning TQM
effort--maybe one of yours.
(Announcer
2)
Our first
stop is Waldorf College, where MMS Correspondent Maura Lee Smith reports that
Food Service
Director Allen Indrelie had an unusual Spring Break this year. Rather than
packing up his biological family, he packed up his MMS family and
took all 12 on a little working vacation. Maura Lee?
(Announcer 4)
Thank you,
Veronica. Waldorf College is a small school in northern Iowa, very rural, very
traditional. So when Allen Indrelie wanted to expand the horizons of his
associates, he thought, what better way to do it then get all 12 of them out on
the open road...
(Indrelie--Tape
1A--Start 12)
"We
went and visited five other Marriott accounts...(42)We asked them if we could
come and visit and they said sure, and we ate at all the accounts and just to
visually see the process out there that there's other processes than what we
have...(57)We had two vehicles, and we just took off, and it was a great
time."
(Announcer
4)
The Waldorf
group logged hundreds of miles over the two day trip, and they came back with a
number of new insights.
(Indrelie--Tape
1A--Start 195)
"Different
ways of doing garnishes, different ways of doing wall decorations, different
seasonal displays...(198)the way salad bars are set up differently and serving
lines."
(Announcer
4)
According to
Indrelie, even more important than what they saw was the feeling of
associate empowerment fostered by the trip.
(Indrelie--Tape
1A--Start 202)
"All
these people have been here five years plus and they've seen the same thing
every day. I go on these trips and I come back and say 'look at these neat things
I saw' and they say 'oh big deal, because we didn't see them.' That's just an
attitude everybody gets...(76)They saw different ways of changing the dining
hall appearance and just changing the way we do our everyday job to benefit the
students. And they took it upon themselves to make a lot of the changes--the
'what if' and 'why can't we do this' started to be a major part of their
vocabulary."
(Announcer
4)
Indrelie
says his customers have been impressed with the changes his associates have
made, and by their overall drive toward continuous improvement. And, although
no specific plans have been made, he does note that there are still 8 or 9
schools in the region his staff has not visited. Yet.
(Indrelie--Tape
1A--Start 251)
"Marriott
has so many great people working for them and they have so many great ideas.
But sometimes they're hesitant to use them because they think 'how that may be
a dumb idea.' But they're really not, I mean, change is good, and I tell it to
my staff all the time. And we've changed a lot since that one trip, and we'll
change again after the next trip."
(Announcer
4)
From
northern Iowa, I'm Maura Lee Smith.
(Announcer
2)
Sounds like
it could be another enjoyable "learning vacation." Thank you, Maura
Lee. We now join my colleague Roger Newman, who filed this report from
Sewickley Valley Hospital, near Pittsburgh. Take it, Roger.
(Announcer 1)
Here at
Sewickley Valley Hospital, TQM has become a strong problem-solving tool, as
well as a harbinger of change in the way associates perceive themselves and
their jobs. MMS Food Service Director Lil Garcia tells me that soon after her
Nutrition Services group participated in a hospital-wide cascading quality
training program, they began taking advantage of what they call
"opportunities for improvement."
(Lil
Garcia--Tape 3B--Start 133)
"One of
the very first opportunities that we tackled...(134)the big problem that you
have with contaminated items coming down on trays from the patient bedside. By
contaminated items, I mean gauze, medical equipment and so forth--things
dietary employees should not be exposed to and are not trained to handle."
(Announcer 1)
As a result
of the TQM training, Garcia realized that, in order to initiate change, she
needed to present the responsible parties with some specific, real world measurements. Her associates
began keeping a careful record of inappropriate items they saw and where they
came from.
(Lil
Garcia--Tape 3B--Start 148)
"Now I
have facts to go to the nurse managers meeting with. I'm not going in there
saying 'we have a big problem with this, it happens all the time.' I can go in
there and say 'in 30 days I had 37 instances of contaminated items coming down
on trays.' That's measurable and you can get someone's attention when you do
that..."
(Announcer 1)
Garcia
reports that by presenting the problem in this way, most of the nursing staff
was cooperative in helping to reduce the instance of contaminated items getting
sent down on the trays.
(Lil
Garcia--Tape 3B--Start 181)
"It was
really a joint effort, because both departments worked on it together until we
agreed the problem was solved...(157) Now we average about 2 instances a month.
My employees are happy, they are involved in the measurement, and they see an
immediate result to their efforts."
(Announcer
1)
For their
next project, Garcia's group began measuring the temperatures of hot foods,
which had become an issue at the hospital. They first measured the temperature
of the food as it left the kitchen, and found that it was plenty hot at that
point.
(Lil
Garcia--Tape 3B--Start 210)
"So we
decided what should we measure next? And we measured when the steam tables were
being turned on, and we found that that was not a problem. And we measured the
temperature of the hot water they were putting in the steam tables. That was not a
problem either. After about 2 months of constant monitoring what we identified
was a problem in our steam tables, that the wattage was not what it should have
been."
(Announcer
1)
Garcia
reports that her team has solved a number of problems using these measurement
techniques. Still, she admits that her team was not always as
enthusiastic about TQM as they are now, that there was a lot of resistance at
first. According to Barry Jordan, a chef at the Hospital, positive response
from customers had a lot to do with the associates getting onboard.
(Jordan--Tape
3B--Start 492)
"I
think initially, it was kind of 'oh well here's more things to do,' and more of
a headache, 'well you gotta worry about this now, you gotta worry about
that'... (509) Once we started seeing the feedback from patients and
stuff--cause they would do a survey with the patients--there's a gradual
increase in patient satisfaction. I think that really helped a great deal--you
know what we're doing here is beneficial and showing people are appreciating
what we're doing."
(Announcer 1)
Whatever the
reasons, Garcia says that TQM has helped spark a real culture change at
Sewickley Valley Hospital.
(Lil
Garcia--Tape 3B--Start 246)
"We
come from the old world where you don't admit that you can do things better...I
think when you get into TQM you have to change that. You have to be able to
admit that there's opportunity for improvement here, and I've got to measure to
see how much opportunity for improvement I have. (243) It's okay to say 'this
job can be done better'..."
(Announcer 1)
From
Sewickley Valley Hospital near Pittsburgh, I'm Roger Newman.
(Announcer 2)
One dictate
of TQM is that our actions demonstrate that we are working with our clients
rather than simply working for them. MMS is striving to move away
from the traditional, sometimes even adversarial supplier-customer
relationships, and establish and maintain win-win partnerships at all client
accounts. Ray Martinez recently visited two different Corporate Services
locations that seem to be meeting that goal. Ray?
(Announcer
3)
Veronica, my
first stop was the headquarters of Mellon Bank. According to MMS General
Manager Gail Adams, when Mellon initiated their Total Quality Process a few years
back, MMS client Michael Zito wanted everybody onboard.
(Gail
Adams--Tape 2A--Start 20 )
"Mellon
Bank is very involved with the Total Quality Process, and our client who is the
Total Quality Coordinator for the bank...he wanted to form a partnership with Marriott
...(115)they wanted to bring the food service into that loop to be sure they
were covering all their bases."
(Announcer
3)
MMS held
focus groups with Mellon Bank associates. The suggestions and ideas raised in
these meetings spurred MMS to make a number of changes in menus, in dining
concepts and in operating hours, all in an effort to better serve customer and
client. One change in particular was an instant success...
(Gail
Adams--Tape 2A--Start 205)
"We do
have quite a bit of competition here where people constantly ordering from
outside areas for pizzas and things like that, so what we did was institute a
Mr. Z's pizza program. We named it after the client...(211) we've picked up
additional revenues through pizza delivery service...(214) and we also provide
fresh homemade pizza daily in the cafeterias...(220) We give them a delivery
within 20 minutes...(222) our prices are very competitive...(224) We did a take
off on the "Wild Pizza" program, but we improved our pizza dough a
little bit. We added a couple different ingredients to make it taste a little
better, look a little nicer, and it's just been unbelievable. We started off in
the cafeteria serving about 10 pizzas a day and now we're up to 40 pizzas a day
in the cafeteria. And our deliveries--one week we had over 110 pizzas
delivered."
(Announcer
3)
MMS also
reevaluated all of their programs in an effort to reduce food service deficits.
In the past few years, they've slashed the subsidy by nearly 85%.
(Gail
Adams--Tape 2A--Start 440)
"We're
very proud of what we've done here. I think over the past 8 years that I've
been here we've made many changes, and we know that we're going to be making
many more. We're looking to the future to see what we can do here to get...both
cafeterias to a break even."
(Announcer
3)
Mellon seems
to be proud of Marriott's performance as well. They recently awarded MMS their
Quality Service Award during the Bank's Vendor Recognition Day.
(Gail
Adams--Tape 2A--Start 162)
"We
were willing to have a 'whatever it takes' attitude. That we were willing to
accept constructive criticism and work within the guidelines that Mellon had
set for us...(167)I think that in general they just felt that we would do
whatever it takes...to meet their needs, and I think that's primarily why we
won this award.
(284)
"Our response has been just unbelievable. We get some good feedback. I
feel real positive about the things that we're doing here...(293) I feel that
we're doing everything we can possibly do to provide...a quality food service
to Mellon Bank..."
(Announcer
3)
After Mellon
Bank, I spoke to associates in the San Francisco Bay area, where MMS is also
taking a partnership approach to Quality in the more than a dozen
Hewlett-Packard facilities they serve.
HP is a
leading manufacturer of computers and electronics. They are a quality-oriented
company, and have a supplier certification program in place. But over time,
their program proved to be geared more toward manufacturing-related
suppliers, and less effective in assessing the performance of service suppliers.
Fortunately, HP's food service supplier proved to be willing and able to
assist, as Mary Beth Binkley, MMS Director of Operations, explained to me.
(Mary Beth
Binkley --Tape 2B--Start 290) (Note--this is tape from last issue
set)
"They're
applying more and more of the TQM tools and skills that they're getting from
the manufacturing side to a service, but they're not finding it so easy to
transfer...(309)There's things like error rates...(314)what does that mean to
you? We're not talking about a manufacturing part, a widget that when you stick
it in a computer, .03 times it's faulty, and they'll say 'oh yeah what do we mean by
that?' And then we have to help them to develop what it is that they're wanting
us to improve on.
(219)"Mainly
it's been a process of working together in a partnership to transfer a tool
that HP had that they used for manufacturing suppliers to transfer this tool to
be used for their service suppliers, starting with food service. They chose
Marriott because they felt we were a little further ahead than our competitors
in Total Quality Management."
(Announcer
3)
Since HP
uses a number of service providers, including other food services, Binkley
believes that Marriott's assistance in creating service quality guidelines will
give a boost to HP's overall supplier certification program. They will be able
to better compare suppliers, and that, Binkley says, will be good for MMS.
(Mary Beth
Binkley --Tape 2B--Start 241)
"They'll
look at that and see how they measure up to Marriott...(274) They're constantly
looking for ways that we can prove to them that we're the best provider for
their food service."
(300) And
when they talk to your competitors or talk to their fellow clients who work
with your competitors very often you look a lot better than your competitors do
because you're already providing materials that they haven't even thought about
doing yet."
(Announcer
3)
This is Ray
Martinez reporting.
(Announcer
2)
Interesting
perspective, Ray. So they've found that the TQM process itself can be a
tool for competitive advantage, as well as a driver of performance improvement?
(Announcer
3)
That's
right, Veronica. Binkley tells me that the trust and credibility they're
building in this cooperative effort can't help but strengthen the business at
HP.
(Announcer
2)
Do you think
clients and customers are really interested in our quality improvement efforts themselves--or just in
their results?
(Announcer
3)
Results are
important, but our dedication to the Quality process is also an important way
to differentiate us from our competitors. So I think it's vital to make
customers aware of our efforts, and to share information with them. Participate
in each other's quality meetings, for example. Or play them MMS Radio News, as
I hear a lot of MMS managers are doing.
(Announcer
2)
That's good advice, Ray. Thank you. Next up is a new
segment we call TQM Progress Report. Each issue, we'll focus on a
particular MMS facility that is just beginning its TQM
efforts--literally in just the past few months. They'll tell us a bit about
what they're doing, and share any insights they've developed as they move
ahead. Then, in a future edition of MMS Radio News, we'll catch up with them
and see how they're progressing.
For this Progress Report, we go to Heritage Hospital
in Taylor, Michigan, where we spoke with Patient Services and Clinical
Nutrition Manager Ocene Naglik.
(Naglik--Tape 1B--Start 363)
"TQM here is not a formal program...I was pretty
much feeling my way through a situation that...appeared to have two different
areas butting heads. And all I could see short of me being the problemsolver
was to get these two people together and start having them listen to each
other."
(Announcer 2)
The areas in question were the trayline
associates--those who portion the food and prepare the food trays, and the tray
passers--the associates that pick up the trays and bring them to the patients.
Two groups, obviously, that needed to coordinate their efforts in order to
effectively serve the patient.
(Naglik--Tape 1B--Start 200)
"It's often been a 'we and they' type of
thing...(104)They are blaming their problems on other areas without recognizing
that not only are their problems similar but they can help each other solve the
problem."
(Announcer
2)
Naglik's first action was to start meeting with each
group separately, and have them discuss their perceptions. Then, carefully, she
began making arrangements to bring the groups together in an appropriate forum.
(Naglik--Tape 1B--Start 230)
"I began to see that they had similar problems
and I suggested to both groups that we sit down and meet and set the
groundrules, being that you can't criticize someone's suggestion, you have to
let a person speak. You have to listen. And anyone can say anything
constructive without being embarrassed."
(Announcer 2)
Perhaps symbolic of the distance between the two
groups, they hit a snag almost immediately. And perhaps symbolic of the
progress they will make, they overcame the snag using TQM.
(Naglik--Tape 1B--Start 183)
"Between the traypassers and the trayline there
didn't seem to be a time when one or the other were free...(190) they were able
to compromise and set up a schedule whereby the meetings time flex each month
in order not to overburden one area or the other. It was a small TQM process.
But the problem was identified and they helped come up with a solution as a
team."
(Announcer 2)
Naglik reports that the first meeting was kind of uncomfortable, with a lot
of staring and not a lot of talking. But by the second and third meetings,
people began communicating, and from there, the process began to accelerate
quickly.
(Naglik--Tape 1B--Start 268)
"The number one thing I've seen is that they're
opening up more, identifying problems even before the meeting takes place.
Number 2 is that they are addressing problems amongst themselves as a group or
between two people and coming to me and saying we'd like to do this or this...
(292)They're talking to each more, and that in itself is improving the cooperation
between the two groups. They won't blame each other for a problem before saying
how come you didn't do this or how come this happened or yesterday I saw this,
rather than jumping to the conclusion that someone did something wrong and its
someone else's fault...(43) I think that what they're seeing is that they both
have the same goals in mind and that is how can they best help the patients.
(Announcer
2)
Naglik expects this teamwork approach, as encouraged
by the TQM process, to help make her group more effective than the sum of its
parts. But, she understands the time involved, and doesn't expect overnight
miracles.
(Naglik--Tape 1B--Start 427)
"We're just getting started. And for us, it's
just learning the process, not only between the traypassers and the trayline
people, but for myself...(430) we're really in the early stages of
learning...(434) and we'll probably make mistakes."
(Announcer 2)
Mistakes...and successes. We'll keep you posted on
both, as the TQM effort at Heritage Hospital moves forward.
(Announcer 1)
You know, Veronica, as I listened to that story, I
couldn't help but see the parallels to Joyner's stages of team growth.
(Announcer 2)
Oh, you mean forming, storming, norming and
performing.
(Announcer 1)
Right.
(Announcer 2)
I think it's applicable to most teams. In forming, you
benefit from some early enthusiasm, but trust has not yet been established.
Then, you hit storming, that period where enthusiasm wanes and trust
has still not been established. That's the dangerous point where people
sometimes want to give up. But the team will quickly move forward into norming, with team
spirit beginning to form and the team working together to resolve
conflicts.Then you move together into the fourth stage, performing,
characterized by a high level of trust, and the ability to work together to
diagnose and resolve a wide range of problems. I think Heritage Hospital is now
solidly in the norming stage, preparing to claim the big successes of
the performing stage.
(Announcer 1)
Great. You lnow,
I'd like to hear about similar team-building efforts at other MMS
facilities. See if they're having the same experiences.
(Announcer 2)
That's our goal with this new feature, Roger, but to
reach it, we need help from our listeners.
If you're just starting a TQM effort at your
facility, why not share your key learnings and experiences with colleagues
throughout MMS. Your group could be featured in the next installment of TQM
Progress Report. Just call the TQM Hotline at 1-800-638-8108, extension 85200,
and leave all appropriate information, including, of course, your name and
phone number, so that someone can get back to you. That's the same number, by
the way, you use to contact TQM Notes, our sister publication.
(Announcer 1)
You can also use that number to suggest stories to
cover here on MMS Radio News. And to give us your feedback on
the audio newsletter. We've received quite a few calls since establishing our
voicemailbox after the second issue. We appreciate them, and carefully consider
each and every suggestion. For example:
(Comments--Tape
5B--Start 141)
"Have
an address or preferably a phone number after the story so that we can contact
the folks in the story to understand better how they made the changes that they
made."
(Announcer
1)
Excellent
idea. We're looking into the feasibility of printing and presenting detailed
contact information on the cassette label or box card. In the meantime, if
you'd like information on a specific contact, just call the TQM Hotline.
Someone will get back to you quickly with the information you need.
(Announcer
2)
We also
received some ideas for new stories, such as...
(Comments--Tape
5B--Start 43)
"Something
that I thought would be a good article or story to talk about in the future
would be some success stories on Covey--on how people have actually changed
themselves through the Covey leadership training."
(Announcer
2)
Good
suggestion--we are working on it. We invite our listeners to share some good
early examples of the impact of our Covey training. Just call our voicemailbox
through the TQM Hotline. That number again is 1-800-638-8108, extension 85200.
(Announcer
1)
Please call
us to share your story ideas. We need your help now more than ever as we move
to a regular production schedule of every other month in 1994, as many of you
suggested. We need your ideas to keep a steady flow of fresh new stories here
on MMS Radio News.
(Announcer
2)
That's
right. Nobody knows what's going on out there better than you. So please share
your knowledge with us.
(Announcer
1)
Veronica,
let's hear what some other callers had to say...
(Comments--Tape
5B--Start 17)
"I
enjoyed it very much and enjoyed the opportunity to use my drive time more
effectively as I'm going from account to account in my district...I noticed the
improvement over the first tape."
(78)
"It was great to hear about other units in other divisions and to get
ideas from their success stories. I may not be able to duplicate exactly what
they did but I was really brainstorming as to some improvements for my own
unit."
(160)
"It seems very economical, that it's a very inexpensive way to communicate
with a lot of people quickly. So I like that idea."
(Announcer
1)
The idea to
present an audio cassette newsletter rather than
"another" printed newsletter
came as a result of focus groups held with unit managers, and we're pleased
that MMS Radio News is proving to be such an effective and cost-effective medium.
(Announcer
2)
Roger,
environmental issues are of special concern to our listeners, as they are to
us. Several people suggested "recycling" the tapes, sending them back
to us to rerecord and use again. A good thought, but the fact is, the postage
it would take to send the tape back to us is actually more than the cost of the
tape. So keep it. Play it for as many people as possible, and, after you've
gleaned all the information and ideas you can, feel free to record over it.
(Announcer
1)
You may be
aware that most prerecorded tapes, including previous issues of MMS Radio News,
have their recording tabs removed before distribution to prevent accidental
erasure. This also makes rerecording inconvenient. Starting with this issue,
we've left the recording tabs in place so you can reuse the tapes easily.
(Announcer
2)
Let us know
what you think of this idea. On the one hand, it facilitates a major benefit of
the cassette format--unlike paper, it can be quickly and easily
"recycled" by the users themselves. On the other hand, accidental
erasure becomes a possibility. What has your experience been?
(Announcer
1)
Of course,
Veronica, some people may prefer to sidestep the issue entirely by building
their own MMS Radio News library and keeping all the issues as reference. We
salute that approach.
(Music)
(Announcer
1)
And now, in the second half of MMS Radio News...
(Announcer
2)
A self-directed TQM effort shows that expanded choice
is the key to student satisfaction in a southern California District...MMS
helps a client hospital in its drive to decrease expenses in the face of rising
admissions--while actually improving patient care...the customer driven process
is warming up our client partnership at Frostburg State
University...and in Washington, a school where the food choices are
healthy--and so is the bottom line.
(Announcer 1)
First up--One of the goals of MMS Radio News is to
demonstrate how basic TQM can be, and how simple efforts can lead to big
successes, even without formal training--just a little horsesense and a little chutzpah. That seems
to describe the people at Fontana Unified School District in California, where
Maura Lee Smith reports.
(Announcer 4)
Don Lander, the GM here at this school district in
Southern California, told me that his group's accelerating TQM efforts have
their roots in TQM Notes and other MMS Publications.
(Lander--Tape 4B--Start 24)
"Just reading the Notes that have been coming in and the information
that I have been receiving through Marriott throughout the past year... (36)I
kinda started talking about TQM, talking about the Notes, talking to
Administrators and what have you and found out that the District was basically
into pretty much the same thing that Marriott was into."
(Announcer 4)
Building on the basic ideas and success stories he read about, and mixing
in his own experience and intuition, Lander and his group began conducting
focus groups with principals and some of the 30,000 students they serve.
(Lander--Tape 4B--Start 130)
"We invited principals to invite x number of students to participate
in our meetings and focus groups...(133) we just started asking questions and
we started getting information from students in terms of their likes and
dislikes, and we just kind of rolled it all together...and start giving them
really what they wanted and once we did that not only our participation but
also our sales, there's just been a tremendous growth..."
(Announcer 4)
Lander reports that the major messages they received related to food choice and variety. In response, they increased the number
of selections offered each day, and provided foods specifically requested by
customers. Almost immediately, a number of existing problems began to almost
solve themselves...
(Lander--Tape 4B--Start 315)
"Since we've gone to the five selections we really don't get
complaints anymore from parents or students...(323) saying that, you know, the
kid didn't like the food or they didn't get enough to eat or something like
that...(327) also it's helped participation grow tremendously...(334)it also
has eliminated, pretty much eliminated our waste so if they chose a pizza or if
they chose a burrito its because they want that burrito and usually they will
eat pretty much 100%, where prior if we had one entree or two entrees they
might take it and might eat half of it and throw it away."
(Announcer 4)
As part of their drive to provide student favorites, they negotiated with
popular nearby restaurants to provide their foods right on campus. For example,
a local pizza parlor now delivers several pizzas a few minutes before each
meal, and MMS serves slices on the hot lines right alongside the other choices.
In addition to boosting revenues and keeping more students on campus during
meals, this process has also created part-time delivery jobs for several
students.
But students aren't Lander's only constituency--he heard some ideas from
principals as well. One of their main concerns: keeping the parents
satisfied. So Lander arranged a "tasting" in which parents were
offered hors d' oeuvres-sized selections of a dozen or more food items.
(Lander--Tape 4B--Start 293)
"What this did for us is all of a sudden the parents would say you
know the kids might come home and complain and they're tasting the pizza and
tasting the particular item, and they're seeing that we're giving them a good
quality product."
(Announcer 4)
The net result of all this, as Lander told me--
(Lander--Tape 4B--Start 108)
"We've been able to grow anywhere from 12 to 15% per year in
participation, and even though the growth in the school district has only gone
from 28,000 to 30,000 we've been able to grow the program that much."
(Announcer 4)
From Southern California, this is Maura Lee Smith reporting.
(Announcer 2)
Thank you Maura Lee. With the universal concern over
the cost of healthcare, it's no surprise that TQM processes are being used at
hospitals across the country to help improve the efficiency of patient care.
Ray Martinez reports from one hospital that is doing more with less, because
they're doing it together.
(Announcer
3)
TQM came to Northwest Hospital in Seattle about two
years ago, when everyone, including the MMS Clinical Nutrition Services
Department, was trained in the Quality process. Almost immediately, Department
Manager Donna Ojiri told me, hospital associates formed a cross-functional
Super Quality Action Team, and set their sights on increasing their level of
teamwork.
(Ojiri--Tape 5A--Start 220)
"People were doing things in their departments
within their barriers, within their parameters... (227)This is nursing's
responsibility. This is dietary's responsibilities and no one crossed over...(235)
with TQM, it's gotten people thinking more patient-focused and breaking down
the department barriers."
(Announcer
3)
This new willingness to expand job roles and cooperate
with each other has been a boon to problem-solving efforts at the hospital. For
example, if they are trying to determine why food trays are late, everyone is
approachable and cooperative in a search for a solution.
(Ojiri--Tape 5A--Start 243)
"In the past the food and nutrition department
would just work on late trays by themselves. But now we involve nursing, we
involve the unit secretary, we may involve the physician. We involve everyone
who may play a part in late trays...(252) it gives you a better understanding
of what's going on throughout the hospital."
(Announcer 3)
More dramatically, this new spirit has allowed the
hospital staff to change the way they evaluate patients, reducing labor while
improving patient care.
Before TQM, incoming patients would be evaluated in
turn by the physician, the nurse and the dietician, who were often looking at a
lot of the same data--such as height, weight, weight loss and food
concerns. This process demanded that Dietary visit every patient--a
workload that meant patients could not receive a dietary evaluation until a day
or more into their stay.
(Ojiri--Tape 5A--Start 302)
"I would say about 35% of patients need some sort
of nutrition intervention. So in the past what we were doing was screening all
the patients and trying to find out the 35%. So that was very labor intensive
and also not very timely...(67)we found that...we could increase the efficiency
by eliminating that screening step done by the dietician and have the nursing
person do it because she really does it first...
(Announcer 3)
Nutrition Services educated Nursing on screening
patients for special nutrition needs, and they began doing so during their regular evaluation,
calling in Nutrition Services only when necessary.
Now, Nutrition Services could get malnourished or
allergic patients on their special diets within hours of checking into the
hospital. In addition, Ojiri reports, this sharing of hospital responsibilities
goes both ways.
(Ojiri--Tape 5A--Start 204)
"We're not just looking at nutrition, we're looking at the total patient
care. And so we can make recommendations as far as now the patient needs a
speech evaluation or a swallowing evaluation from another discipline and not
just looking at it from strictly a nutrition background."
(Announcer
3)
Efforts such as these have allowed MMS Nutrition
Services to reduce labor hours by 2 FTEs while actually improving quality of
care. It's a trend underway throughout Northwest Hospital. As a matter of fact,
a Seattle business newspaper recently praised the hospital for actually decreasing expenses in
the face of rising admissions. And suggested that Northwest may in many ways
become a model for the hospital of the near future.
(Ojiri--Tape 5A--Start 408)
"I
think for us to survive in the future with healthcare reform I think you have
to work together with other departments and you can't work alone...(411)with
everybody trying to decrease expenses and one of the biggest expenses is labor
you really just need to coordinate efforts a lot better."
(Announcer
3)
Ojiri also has some advice for her MMS colleagues at
other accounts, healthcare or otherwise...
(Ojiri--Tape 5A--Start 414)
"If we are not aggressive in this, I think that
other people will then decide how it should be done and perhaps may not
understand what we do as much and might not do it the way we would prefer to
do. So I think taking an active role helps us there...(419)it's better to be
part of the change rather than be consumed by it."
(Announcer
3)
From Seattle, this is Ray Martinez, MMS Radio News.
(Announcer 1)
We've reported before about the Customer Driven
Process, the TQM effort being introduced account by account in Marriott
Education Services. In this issue, MMS Radio News goes to Frostburg State
University in northwestern Maryland, where CDP was initiated about 2 years ago.
Correspondent Maura Lee Smith reports that, well, there's a lot to report.
Maura Lee?
(Announcer
4)
Director of Dining Services Pete Delany is very
enthusiastic about the Customer Driven Process introduced at Frostburg State
University, one of the first half dozen Education Services accounts to begin
the process.
(Delany--Tape 4A--Start 40)
"The neat thing about the process is we actually
talk to customers, we actually talk to staff, we actually talk to the other
clientele on campus. And the decisions are made in a partnership..."
(Announcer 4)
In initiating CDP, Delaney and his group first
organized several focus groups to brainstorm areas to be covered in a
comprehensive survey. Then, with the assistance of several Frostburg
Administrators, they wrote and released the survey. It was a bit unusual. For
one thing, it was nearly 10 pages long. And, in order to get maximum student
involvement, it included a $1 credit coupon good at any campus location. But
perhaps the most unique feature was that the survey didn't only solicit
feedback on food service, it also asked for student input on every area of
Frostburg campus life, from parking to residence hall living.
(Delany--Tape 4A --Start 325)
"We are a partnership. We are not here providing
service in a vacuum...We realize we are an integral part of residential
life."
(Announcer 4)
MMS's partner--the Frostburg Administration--received
a lot of valuable information. Students wanted more parking, more accessible
computers, tighter security and renovations to the residence halls. It was real
data the Administration could use to get things done.
(Delany--Tape 4A --Start 304)
"...It's a state institution, there's lots of
rules and regulations and policy they need to go by but ...(302)That kinda
gave, it was so loud so clear, the Administrative Services VP said 'I finally
have concrete information that lets me begin to do something.'"
(Announcer
4)
And, of course, the survey also gave MMS information
that would help them fine tune the success of the food service in meeting the
needs of the students. This included a slight change in meal hours, more
flexibility in meal plan structure, and, most importantly, feedback on the most
desired meal choices. Students wanted pizza, more healthy choices, an expanded
grill area and wider deli selections. But they didn't want to break completely with the
cafeteria-style food of the past.
(Delany--Tape 4A --Start 240)
"And then they wanted, they told us very clearly
that they wanted traditional meals, and we were probably the first school the
students were clear in saying that. There are always some kids that want the
meatloaf or the roast beef, but they were very clear here in indicating that no
matter what we did with the facilities we needed to be able to provide some of
the old familiar standbys."
(Announcer
4)
MMS took immediate steps to answer the needs that the
students communicated. And measurable results soon followed.
(Delany--Tape 4A--Start 348)
"Year to year I am up at least 5-6% over last
year...(360)we have more than doubled the numbers of participants on our
commuter meal plan."
(Announcer 4)
These numbers Delany attributes to the power of
fact-based decision-making, and to the Customer Driven Process.
(Delany--Tape 4A--Start 459)
"We are finally putting the customer in the middle
of the circle and taking management out of the middle of the circle. We're
finally making decisions based on real solid information we can point to and
not just grasping at things out of the air...(464) we haven't gone wrong. We
maybe skip a little bit once in a while because things are different but at
least we're starting 40 steps ahead of where we would have without going
through this."
(Announcer
4)
From Frostburg State University, I'm Maura Lee Smith.
(Announcer 2)
Thank you Maura Lee. On the other side of the country,
MMS School Services had an unusual opportunity recently--the chance to help
build a new food service from the ground up. And, working with a visionary
principal, they are building in features that should keep things healthy for
both students and our bottom line. Ray Martinez reports.
(Announcer 3)
Veronica,
MMS provides food service for the 40 schools in this Lake Washington district.
Well before the ground breaking began for the district's new Inglewood Junior
High, MMS started making plans with principal-select Tim Stonish. Stonish was
intrigued by the "healthy schools" concept which has been gaining
attention in academic circles. In a "healthy school," every aspect of
the environment, from classroom lessons to food offerings is designed to help
point students toward healthier lifestyles. Stonish spoke with MMS personnel
about his vision, and about MMS's role as a partner in bringing the concept to
life, as Food Service Director Mark Beattie explained to me.
(Beattie--Tape
3A--Start 37)