Mayo Clinic Consulting Edge

Cracking the Code on Patient Wait Times for an Express-Care Practice

[https://mecedge.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/shutterstock_588852386-300x200.jpg]Over the last ten years, the advent of electronic medical records has dramatically changed the nature of healthcare practitioners’ work. As these health records are optimized and re-engineered, changes to provider schedules may be required. In today’s podcast join Spencer Richards, Health Systems Engineer and host Jodi Grimm as they illustrate how non-visit care time (time spent by providers charting in the medical record) can be successfully optimized to reduce patient wait times.

Stronger Together: Integration of Management Engineering and Consulting and Planning Services

[https://mecedge.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/shutterstock_1223568487-300x200.jpg]In today’s special edition of Mayo Clinic Consulting Edge we will introduce a significant organizational change for Mayo Clinic.  The departments of Management Engineering and Consulting (ME&C) and Planning Services are combining forces to help enable and accelerate the organization’s strategic vision.  We are joined today by Janine Kamath and Steve McNeil for an extended podcast highlighting the background, benefits, and the need to execute on this important organizational change.

Turning on a Dime: The Story of the COVID-19 Nurse Line

[https://mecedge.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/shutterstock_1742011862-300x200.jpg]As the COVID-19 Pandemic entered the U.S. and the nation’s fears began to surge, Mayo Clinic nurses were asked by the Hospital Incident Command Center to stand up a nurse line specifically for COVID. The COVID Nurse Line went live on March 11th, 2020 with a unit of about 40 nurses but quickly expanded to about 100.The initial intent of the COVID Nurse Line was to screen callers across the Mayo Clinic enterprise, including the Midwest, Arizona and Florida to determine if the caller met the criteria to be tested for COVID-19. If they were to screen positive for testing, the staff on the COVID Nurse Line would then place the order request and provide patient education related to quarantine and exposure recommendations, symptom management and urgent symptom assessment with appropriate recommendations for care. It quickly morphed into a help line for anyone across the United States with questions regarding COVID-19 testing, care, travel, vaccinations, etc. Management Engineering and Consulting was requested in January 2021 to help evaluate the processes and workflows developed to help assist with increasing demand. Listen as Allyssa Stevens, Health Systems Engineer Associate, Jean Johnston, Nurse Manager, Tina Oian, Lead Charge Nurse for the COVID Nurse Line and host Tony Chihak as they discuss the trials and success of lifting a designated nurse line off the ground to provide excellent care and support to patients across the enterprise.

Biospecimens Accessioning and Processing Lab

[https://mecedge.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1537718_3437766_0094R-300x200.jpg] The Mayo Clinic Biospecimens Accessioning and Processing (BAP) Lab, which has facilities at all three Mayo Clinic sites, has been involved in various projects which were supported by Management Engineering and Consulting. The mission of the BAP lab is to provide world-class Biorepositories and state-of-the-art Biospecimen Processing and Storage with a focus on quality and service. The Mayo Clinic Biobank and the Center for Individualized Medicine’s Biorepositories Program are important resources that enable genomic medicine studies. Investigators can study millions of samples that can lead to evidence-based discoveries. the BAP lab has completed a number of projects for greater efficiency, increased automation, greater uniformity, and increased standardization of procedures and processes, all leading to high-quality material for investigators. In today’s episode, Senior Principal Health Systems Engineers Keri Kirby and Rachel Martin, Bailey Van Ommeren, Health Systems Engineer and host Tony Chihak discuss the long standing relationship between the Center for Individualized Medicine, which is the organizational home for BAP, and ME&C, and how their collaboration has helped to evolve BAP and it’s capabilities.

It’s Okay Not to be Okay: Mental Health for Mayo Employees & Learners

[https://mecedge.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/shutterstock_604681685-300x200.jpg]Even though employee mental health was a large topic of discussion during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayo Clinic identified this as a concern beforehand. The pandemic created new levels of stress and anxiety, with employee needs becoming more complex in this continuously changing environment. National data found that symptoms of anxiety disorders and depressive disorders have increased by approximately three to four times then what was reported in 2019. A multidisciplinary team was formed to collectively address the complex barriers to care and optimize support to employees and learners. This team reached out to Management Engineering and Consulting for assistance providing an objective third-party lens by assisting the current state of navigation to mental health recourses, mapping those barriers and coaching the team through those solutions. In today’s episode we are joined by ME&C’s Allyssa Stevens, Associate, members of the multidisciplinary team Kaisa Wieneke, Human Resources Director for Employee Well-Being and Recognition, Gretl Kruse, Senior Human Resources Analyst for Employee Well-Being and Recognition, and host Jodi Grimm as they dive into this important topic of employee mental health.