Supported by an educational grant from

Co-Sponsored by

November 8-9, 2007
Singing River Hospital System, Pascagoula and Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Singing River's innovative work in building a high-performance culture based on communication, quality and community engagement has been the key to its impressive performance gains, leading to its recognition as a Solucient Top 100 Hospitals® Performance Improvement Leader for the past two years.  Its tight-knit workplace culture and strong ties in its community served the organization especially well during its recovery from the devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

This Action Learning Lab at Singing River Hospital System explored the dynamics of a high-performance culture that is based on communication and relationships and how it is leading to new levels of clinical and operating performance.

Click on the titles below to view PDFs of the Learning Lab presentations.

The Singing River Hospital System Story
Chris Anderson, President and Chief Executive Officer
This presentation set the context for the Lab program by reviewing Singing River Hospital System's (SRHS) performance improvement success, elements of measurement and goal setting that have led to SRHS’s transformation into a high-performance organization, and the strategies used to successfully integrate them into the fabric of providing care at SRHS.

Journey to Excellence through Shared Governance in Nursing
Marsha White, Associate Administrator, Chief Nursing Officer
Iva Nell Vaughan, MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner
Shared Governance is a model that affords professional nurses the opportunity to contribute to decisions on nursing practice.  Learn how SRHS’ Department of Nursing encourages creativity and innovation toward the goal of improving patient outcomes through professional accountability and team participation.

Developing a Comprehensive Wound Care Program: Success with Healing
David L. Spencer, MD, FACS, Medical Director, Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Centers
Angela Wenstrom, Clinical Coordinator, Wound Care Center
Learn how SRHS built a comprehensive wound care center.  This presentation covers internal marketing strategies to engage both referring physicians and hospital administration, as well as SRHS’ eight point evaluation process for wound care patients.

DVT Prevention: Clinical Quality Solutions through Collaboration
Diana McClintock, MSN, Adult Nurse Practitioner
Randy Roth, Medical Director of Inpatient Physician Services
Learn how SRHS overcame barriers to engage a team and applied data to develop new clinical processes for preventing deep vein thrombosis.

Strategic Planning as a Team Sport: Building the Vision with the Board, Medical Staff and Administration
Kevin Holland, Administrator
Lynn Truelove, MHA, Administrator
Learn how to bring the board and medical staff leadership together for effective strategic planning.  This presentation tells the story of SRHS’ strategic planning process and the specific benefits of using a retreat to build innovative and engaged relationships that support effective strategic planning.

Creating a Culture of Communication and Trust
Chris Anderson, Chief Executive Officer
Richard Lucas, Director of Communications
SRHS’s strength as a health care organization rests on how the leadership team nurtures a culture of communication and trust. This presentation tells how staff engagement at all levels, transparent decision-making, respect for ideas, and development of a shared mental model across the organization guide SRHS’ performance improvement efforts.

Developing Leaders from Within
Paul Carter, Director, Human Resources
Lena Crain, Employee Relations, Human Resources
Learn about SRHS’s voluntary Leadership and Management Development Program.  This presentation shares the motivation for and origins of the program as well as how it is linked to SRHS’ strategic agenda.  Learn how the program prepared SRHS managers to meet the challenges of their current managerial roles and to participate as a team to support culture change. 

The Data Highway: Overcome Common “Bumps in the Road” to Quality Reporting
Kathy Dier, Director of Clinical Data Management
Larry Shoemaker, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer
The ability to effectively communicate quality successes and challenges can help motivate an entire organization to achieve the culture change required to sustain improvements. This presentation shares tips on reporting quality data smoothly and efficiently to a variety of important audiences, including the hospital board, medical staff, administration and hospital staff.  This session covered common barriers and proven strategies for success.

Unlocking the Path to Success: Revenue Cycle Redesign
Mike Crews, Chief Financial Officer
Kathleen Lee, PhD, Associate Administrator
Learn about SRHS’ experience in redesigning the revenue cycle.  This presentation shares SRHS’ story of facing challenges, engaging the Board of Trustees and Executive Team, appointing a Steering Committee to oversee the project, getting started, and communicating final successes.

Additional Resources from Singing River Hospital System

Board Policy on Quality

Community Benefit Report

Electronic Contract Management System