Ms Melinda Ling Hou Chan1, Dr Jasper Weng Kong Tong1
1KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore
Abstract:
What is Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA)? How do we manage these in healthcare? Gathering like-minded Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) who are keen to make a CHANGE in their workspace is what we needed. A 2-year workgroup was formed following an AH retreat to unearth like-minded AHPs who are passionate about reducing carbon footprint, eliminating waste, and frequently providing suggestions for change or improvement, individuals who are tired of repetitive mundane work and would like to make a CHANGE, most importantly, not afraid to fail!
E-bulletins were sent out to all AHPs to gather potential CHANGE projects. Submissions (n=5) were screened, and workgroup team was sent to identify their pain points and suggest solutions for change, tapping on lean management strategies. Solutions were worked through with the respective professions until completion (n=4). Some completed projects even went on to submissions for quality improvement awards and environmental sustainability contributions.
An initiative like this may all seem like common sense to some, but it is often not so for most… It should be ongoing to challenge the status quo, to future proof and enable AHPs to develop a resilient mindset to embrace CHANGE as it comes along, be it digitalisation, innovation, sustainability, etc, in this VUCA world. The initiative by AH Office has since caught traction at hospital level and is now initiated to all professions under a theme called the Getting Rid of Senseless Stuff (GROSS) Campaign!
“CHANGE is here to stay! CHANGE begins with us… so wait no further…”