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Ep. 8: Dallas Freyer – Four Tips to Improve Staff Satisfaction | This Week in Surgery Centers
Here’s what to expect on this week’s episode. 🎙️
Has your ASC become a revolving door of staff coming and going? Staffing has steadily grown to be the primary concern on every admin’s mind. Retaining current staff and hiring new members to join your team seems like a never-ending battle right now.
Dallas Freyer is the Administrator at Corpus Christi Outpatient Surgery and the President of the Texas Ambulatory Surgery Center Society. She joins us this week to share tips for improving staff satisfaction and ensuring you close that revolving door once and for all.
In pre-COVID days – staffing was a lot simpler. A single job opening could have 30 applicants, and competing with hospitals was easy as ASCs offer no weekends, a reliable schedule, and a great work/life balance. But now, with a reduced pool of potential applicants and hospitals offering huge sign-on bonuses, those same job openings might have one applicant if you’re lucky.
What can you do?
📅 Get creative with your schedule. Dallas created a 12-hour, 10-hour, and 8-hour model to accommodate staff preferences and ensure she has proper coverage. This gives staff the autonomy to choose their shifts, swap shifts, and work the number of days per week that works for them.
🔎 Lead with transparency. If you’re not transparent about how hard hiring is right now, your staff will get frustrated and might feel like you’re not trying. Let them know how hard it is right now and what you’re trying, and see if they have better solutions you might be missing.
💕 Change management styles as needed. Like love languages, each team member prefers a different management style—some like autonomy, whereas others might like you to be more involved. You have to adjust between personalities, skillsets, career goals, and even generational differences.
👩 Make high-quality managers accessible. ASCs naturally don’t have a lot of mid-level managers, but for the ones you do have, make sure they aren’t as busy as your front-line staff and are ready to provide support and build camaraderie within their departments.
Find the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube to hear all the details!
Episode Transcript
0:00
welcome to this week in surgery centers
0:03
if you’re in the ASC industry then
0:05
you’re in the right place every week
0:07
we’ll start the episode off by sharing
0:10
an interesting conversation we had with
0:11
our featured guests and then we’ll close
0:13
the episode by recapping the latest news
0:15
impacting surgery centers we’re excited
0:18
to share with you what we have so let’s
0:20
get started and see what the industry’s
0:22
been up to
Welcome
0:23
[Music]
0:27
hi everyone here’s what you can expect
0:30
on today’s episode this week we’re
0:32
joined by Dallas Frayer Dallas is the
0:35
administrator at Corpus Christi
0:37
outpatient surgery and is the president
0:39
of the Texas ASC society and she’s here
0:42
to share four tips to improve staff
0:44
satisfaction at your surgery center from
0:47
Innovative scheduling to changing
0:49
management styles Dallas has implemented
0:51
these techniques at her own ASC and has
0:54
seen the positive results first hand
0:56
in our news recap we’ll cover lab-grown
0:59
red blood cells robots performing
1:02
microsurgerys a recent successful Cyber
1:05
attack on an ASC and of course end the
1:07
new segment with a positive story about
1:09
a 10 year old who delivered a baby hope
1:12
everyone enjoys the episode and here’s
1:15
what’s going on this week in surgery
1:17
centers
The Surgery Center
1:19
[Music]
1:23
welcome to the show
1:25
thanks
1:27
Dallas can you tell us a little bit
1:29
about the surgery center you run Corpus
1:31
Christi outpatient surgery our Surgery
1:33
Center that’s been open since 1998 we
1:36
have five operating rooms and currently
1:39
we are focused on musculoskeletal
1:41
surgeries so we do quite a bit of
1:44
Orthopedic some pain management and some
1:47
Podiatry
How many cases a month
1:50
great
1:51
in about how many cases do you see a
1:53
month
1:54
currently we’re doing about 425 cases a
1:57
month we’re going to be relocating uh
2:00
the first quarter of next year and we’ll
2:02
have six ORS and so we’re certainly
2:05
planning on growing from there
Staffing trends
2:07
fantastic
2:09
and so
2:10
um I wanted to kind of hit right in on
2:12
one of the topics that everybody seems
2:14
to be discussing in the industry lately
2:16
and that is Staffing what’s been your
2:19
experience you know over the last couple
2:21
years last 24 months or so regarding
2:24
Staffing at your Center uh burn out and
2:27
and what trends do you see
2:29
within your Center wow that is a really
2:33
timely topic because it’s probably the
2:35
the thing that I struggle with the most
2:38
um and the thing that’s changed the most
2:40
for my surgery center
2:42
um over the past couple of years you
2:44
know prior to covid recruiting to the
2:47
surgery center was a little bit easy
2:49
because you know we were the only place
2:51
in town that offered Monday through
2:53
Friday no weekends no holiday no call
2:56
and people were willing to you know
2:59
maybe
3:00
not have that call pay not have the big
3:03
sign on bonuses that the hospitals were
3:05
offering in exchange for having a nice
3:08
balance between work and and personal
3:10
life but since since covid and since
3:14
just the um the huge increase in sign on
3:19
bonuses and the competitive nature to
3:22
get nurses just
3:24
um to work in the non-coveted related
3:27
fields it’s been a real challenge
3:31
and so we’ve certainly had to rethink
3:33
our strategies of hiring and retaining
3:37
our nurses
Hiring and retaining staff
3:39
the two two sides of the coin there or
3:42
there’s the you know actually going out
3:44
and recruiting new staff and you know
3:46
the opposite side of the Cohen you know
3:48
probably retaining existing staff and
3:50
staff satisfactions probably more more
3:53
important than it’s been in a while and
3:55
so how do you think about balancing
3:57
those two are you are you more focused
3:59
on one side versus the other
4:02
no really you have to pay equal
4:06
attention to both I think because it’s
4:08
one thing to be able to go out and get
4:11
staff and everything that you tell them
4:13
about how great it’s going to be to work
4:15
here but if you can’t bring them into a
4:18
facility that does those things
4:20
routinely and that your staff that
4:22
they’re going to work with on day one
4:24
says oh yeah it’s a great place to work
4:26
then you’re just going to keep having a
4:28
revolving door
4:30
um and then your current staff are going
4:32
to be looking and seeking other jobs
4:34
because they’re certainly bombarded with
4:36
advertisements every day
Do you track staff retention
4:38
sure
4:40
do you guys track staff retention what’s
4:43
that look like over the last 12 months
4:45
we do and you know fortunately we’ve
4:48
tracked that for a number of years
4:51
um and so I feel like some facilities
4:53
are just starting you know to look at it
4:55
and they really don’t have something to
4:57
compare it to so our run rate for this
5:00
year we’re running about 18 percent
5:04
um staff turnover and that’s compared to
5:07
uh prior to covid we were down around 12
5:10
percent
5:11
and last year we were upwards of 24 25
5:16
that’s when it was at its worst
Youre not there yet
5:21
progressing a little bit
5:23
but uh but but you’re not there yet in
5:25
terms of the pre-covered levels right
5:27
and it’s taken a lot of work and a lot
5:30
of
5:30
um intention to get there
Shifts
5:33
sure
5:34
okay great and I’d love to to talk about
5:38
that intention a little bit one of the
5:40
things that we discussed with you you
5:42
know prior to recording this episode was
5:44
you know it sounds like you’ve got a set
5:46
of really good management best practices
5:48
and tips and tricks around your staff
5:51
that you you employ at Corpus Christi
5:53
and so we’d love to touch on a couple of
5:54
those uh can you tell us a little bit
5:57
about your shift method and specifically
5:59
the the 12 versus 10 versus 8 hour shift
6:03
method that you’ve used
6:05
sure and that’s something that’s
6:06
relatively new to us over the past year
6:09
one of the things that we found when I
6:12
couldn’t even get anybody to interview
6:14
was people did not want to come to work
6:17
and work five days a week they’re kind
6:21
of really gotten into this well I worked
6:23
12 hours at the hospital and then I’m
6:26
off for four days and it’s just not
6:28
anything that we had ever offered before
6:30
so I really had to sit down and um you
6:35
know do it on by hand on paper figuring
6:37
out how can I offer 12-hour shifts how
6:40
can I offer 10 hour shifts and and
6:43
really look at the
6:45
um at the best practices regarding the
6:48
12-hour shifts and make sure that you
6:50
weren’t going to be setting yourself up
6:52
for
6:53
um for more burnout on a daily basis and
6:56
and how to manage those types of shifts
6:58
but we’ve put together
7:00
um you know a different model for each
7:02
department you know in recovery I have
7:04
several people people working 12-hour
7:06
shifts and in my operating room I only
7:08
have one person working 12 hour shifts
7:10
but I have three people working 10 hour
7:13
shifts and it’s it’s worked out really
7:16
well I’m applying the same methodology
7:18
to pre-op and being able to
7:22
advertise that that we’re hiring for a
7:25
12-hour shift or a 10 hour shift has
7:28
really increased the ability to get
7:29
those applicants in the door to even to
7:33
interview
7:34
um and then it’s really seeing a big
7:37
change for our current staff you know
7:40
they’re they’re finally some of them
7:42
were working 12-hour shifts before but
7:45
they were just doing it four or five
7:46
days a week and that is not good for
7:49
anyone so being able to offer something
7:52
very routine
7:55
gives them a great sense of
7:56
accomplishment but still being able to
7:58
balance with doing things at home
8:01
right I like that it sounds like it’s a
8:03
nice value prop you can recruit to on
8:06
the new Talent acquisition side it
8:07
sounds like it’s you know increasing
8:09
satisfaction of your existing staff it
8:12
does sound like it might be more
8:13
complicated to track and juggle the the
8:17
schedule are you using a spreadsheet for
8:20
that is it a marker board do you have a
8:22
software tool how do you best kind of
8:24
manage that that you know I it’s really
8:27
basic I have it you know just hand
8:29
written on a piece of paper
8:31
um and and really it’s accomplished by
8:34
getting the feedback from the current
8:36
staff and I found that the more I can
8:39
let them kind of self-schedule with some
8:42
guidance the better it works so you know
8:46
they’ll trade shifts they’ll
8:49
um trade weeks around each other and
8:53
they’ll make sure that if they need time
8:54
off that they kind of get it covered
8:56
amongst themselves
8:58
um because they really have a good
9:00
ownership of making sure that everything
9:03
gets accomplished and it doesn’t miss a
9:06
beat so it’s hard not to micromanage it
9:09
but in the long run it really benefits
9:12
everybody
Management Techniques
9:14
great
9:16
um what about management style and
9:19
management techniques of your of your
9:21
front line managers what have you seen
9:23
to be effective there as it relates to
9:25
employee morale and employee
9:27
satisfaction
9:28
well you know that’s another thing that
9:31
we’ve really focused on over the past
9:33
few years is I’m engaging with the front
9:37
line staff and you know you’re in in the
9:41
surgery center you don’t have a lot of
9:42
middle managers but you need to empower
9:45
people to be that
9:48
um and give them the tools and the
9:50
training of how to do that you know how
9:52
to have a conversation with the front
9:54
line staff of what are the challenges
9:56
and ask them how they would fix them and
10:00
then be open to what they say and follow
10:03
through
10:04
um if it’s no we can’t do that or you
10:07
know we’re looking at it how can we
10:09
modify it and tweak it you know that’s
10:12
very similar to what we came up with
10:13
these schedules and just having them be
10:18
accessible and open-minded with the
10:21
front-end staff and not be well that’s
10:24
nice but we haven’t been doing that here
10:26
and and
10:28
that that’s good that it worked over
10:29
there but not here
Do Different Frontline Staff Acquire Different Management Styles
10:31
sure sure and and in terms of you know
10:36
management style
10:38
um you know techniques have you found
10:39
that it’s a one size
10:41
fits all proposition or you know do
10:44
different Frontline staff members
10:46
acquire different management styles and
10:48
different approaches
10:49
absolutely
10:51
um you know we we all kind of learn and
10:54
hear about the five love languages you
10:58
know I kind of teach my managers to to
11:02
think similar ways you know with their
11:04
Frontline staff and to try to figure out
11:06
what motivates somebody so you know what
11:09
type of rewards are important to them
11:12
um some nurses are going to want to be
11:14
able to work very independently and be
11:16
asked their opinions where other nurses
11:19
or other staff members will see that as
11:22
like oh my gosh she doesn’t know how to
11:25
tell me what to do they want a very
11:27
structured environment and so even if
11:30
you have the same message or the same
11:32
question to ask being able to tailor
11:34
that to the staff member is very
11:37
important
11:39
but again you don’t know what works with
11:42
that individual staff member unless
11:44
you’re just having daily conversations
11:45
with them and being engaged with them
11:49
um and being able to pair them with each
11:52
other that complement one another you
11:55
know you may hire somebody thinking that
11:57
they’re going to be great in one
11:58
Department working with one manager and
12:00
then you actually find that you know
12:02
what given
12:04
given your personality or given your
12:06
skill set or given what you want to
12:08
learn you it maybe work better in
12:11
another area of the facility
Generational Differences
12:13
sure that makes sense and if you found a
12:15
lot of people talk about
12:17
generational differences and you know
12:19
maybe how you know gen Z staff you know
12:22
like to go about things as opposed to
12:23
Millennial staff
12:25
I tend to see that sometimes it’s more
12:27
personality profile and you can have
12:29
different types of Personality profiles
12:31
with it you know so it’s less around how
12:34
old they are or what generation they’re
12:36
in and more just you know getting to
12:38
know them and getting to know their
12:39
personal style what what have you seen
12:41
do you buy into the concept of it’s a
12:44
generational thing and and all gen Z
12:46
needed to be managed a certain way or is
12:48
it more unique to the individual
12:50
it’s absolutely unique to the individual
12:53
and it’s really about
12:56
um tapping into what what makes them
13:00
satisfied you know is it Independence is
13:04
it
13:05
um being able to
13:08
be very social at work you know some
13:11
people find that disrespectful some
13:13
people find you know a joking
13:15
environment to be unfocused and and it’s
13:18
just you and then the whole one thing
13:21
that you do hear about very often with
13:23
the um generation X’s immediate
13:28
um satisfaction right and they want
13:30
immediate feedback so doing an
13:33
evaluation on somebody you know once a
13:35
year giving them feedback it’s not great
13:38
no matter what generation you are but
13:40
being able to immediately identify yes
13:43
you did a good job today thanks or but
13:46
you on the flip side of it if you want
13:48
something improved you have to tell them
13:50
immediately but that’s good management
13:52
style with any generation and any
13:55
employee I think we’ve just gotten away
13:59
with it for a long time
Transparency
14:01
I agree I agree what about transparency
14:03
you know where does this fit in the year
14:05
management philosophy so you know
14:07
probably one thing that I’ve been
14:09
accused of throughout my entire career
14:11
is being too transparent
14:14
you know but I I very much am the type
14:17
that the more I want my staff to be just
14:20
as knowledgeable about as of everything
14:22
as I am because then they can come up
14:25
with the better Solutions than often I
14:27
can
14:29
um and so I think transparency
14:31
especially when it comes to hiring and
14:33
training staff if if they don’t know how
14:36
hard it is to hire somebody then they
14:39
just think you know we don’t want to
14:41
fill the positions well
14:43
it’s completely different when you know
14:46
four years ago you’d have 30 people
14:49
apply for a job and now you’re lucky if
14:52
you get one
14:53
you know and and I think that you have
14:55
to be very transparent with your current
14:57
staff for that and help them help you
15:02
create the environment where everyone
15:04
not only wants to stay but maintains
15:08
your reputation as being a great place
15:11
to work
Transparency in Staff Satisfaction
15:13
sure and where where do you feel like
15:15
that concept of transparency really
15:18
resonates in terms of Staff satisfaction
15:21
is it transparency around and being
15:24
vulnerable around hey here’s what we’ve
15:26
heard here’s what we’ve maybe gotten
15:27
negative feedback on and here’s what
15:29
we’re going to do to improve it is true
15:31
is it transparency around the overall
15:33
Center goals and objectives what are
15:36
some some areas in particular it’s kind
15:39
of all of that what I what I found
15:43
um
15:44
it’s about what’s important to that
15:46
individual you know some some people may
15:49
care about the center goals and some of
15:52
your staff may really not but it’s it’s
15:55
transparency about what we can and can’t
15:57
do you know if somebody’s consistently
16:00
asking me
16:02
um you know we need another staff member
16:05
here we need another this or we need
16:08
another widget and I know that I can’t
16:10
do it either because it’s just not in
16:13
the budget or it’s really not needed
16:16
I’ve got to be able to tell them and
16:19
explain to them give them a no you know
16:22
and and the reason why but basically be
16:25
very transparent with yeah we can’t do
16:27
that and for whatever reason instead of
16:29
just you know continuing to lead them on
16:31
thinking that oh maybe someday maybe
16:34
next month maybe next year
16:36
when in reality you know that it’s not
16:38
going to happen
Being Up Front
16:40
I like that I think sometimes
16:43
it can be easier to to say hey that’s a
16:46
good idea we’ll we’ll think about that
16:48
yeah we’ll work after that
16:50
the problem will be that that you don’t
16:52
come back to it for a long time so I
16:53
like that just kind of being up front if
16:55
it’s not possible and explain that early
16:58
yeah and and I think you know as we as
17:01
we changed our Focus from becoming a we
17:04
were a multi-specialty facility and
17:06
becoming focused and orthopedic and uh
17:10
starting to do total joints and and more
17:13
complex surgeries there was a lot of
17:16
anxiety from the staff around that and
17:20
just being transparent and owning that
17:22
you know hey we’re going to have to
17:23
learn this together but we’re going to
17:26
do it in the best and safest way
17:28
possible
17:30
um and that there’s nobody better to
17:31
take care of patients than we are you
17:34
know and and we’re all we’re all here
17:37
for the same reason
MidLevel Management
17:41
you touched on earlier Dallas kind of
17:43
management in a surgery center and and
17:46
you mentioned hey there’s not a lot of
17:48
mid-level you know managers it’s not
17:51
like you know in a hospital or a bigger
17:53
setting
17:54
how do you make sure that the Frontline
17:56
staff does have someone to talk to how
18:00
do you make sure that the managers that
18:02
you do have although you you run lean
18:05
have time to keep up with their staff
18:07
members and and get to know that unique
18:10
style and personality that you mentioned
18:12
is so important
18:13
you know that’s probably the biggest
18:15
challenge there is and I think that it’s
18:19
for me it’s about not micromanaging and
18:24
it’s about allowing them extra time in
18:27
the mornings or extra time in the
18:29
afternoon and not a lot of time but
18:31
instead of just okay don’t come in until
18:34
five minutes before your patient’s gonna
18:36
get here you know just allowing them
18:38
that networking time and encouraging it
18:42
you know
18:43
bringing donuts and bringing tacos and
18:47
not us always mean the person doing it
18:50
but you know telling hey why don’t you
18:52
bring donuts for your department you
18:54
know just creating those moments where
18:56
they can get together and talk
Modeling
19:00
and
19:01
and as upper management you know
19:05
my boss told me just the other week you
19:08
know
19:09
we’re we’ve got to constantly be looking
19:12
to see if if the if our
19:16
next manager is modeling the same
19:19
behavior as we are
19:22
and if they are is that what we want
19:25
them to be doing so that gives us a
19:28
check of the behavior we’re modeling but
19:30
also gives us
19:32
um the opportunity to make sure that
19:35
that’s what our Frontline staff are
19:36
seeing
19:38
because your your next manager is a
19:41
direct reflection of yourself and is
19:44
that
19:45
and is that the reflection that you want
Culture
19:47
to see
19:48
right and are they cascading the culture
19:51
exactly that you’d like the center to
19:53
have overall exactly because they’re
19:56
because they are they’re casting the
19:58
culture you just want to make sure it’s
20:00
the right culture
Final Question
20:01
that’s right that’s right
20:04
okay Dallas final question for you here
20:06
and we do this every week with our
20:07
guests what is one thing our listeners
20:10
can do this week to improve their
20:12
surgery centers
20:15
ask your most important person in each
20:19
department
20:21
what their biggest challenge is
20:24
and listen to their answer
20:26
whether it’s something personal or
20:29
whether it’s something work related
20:31
you don’t have to fix it but just listen
20:34
for the answer
Wrap Up
20:36
listen and learn fantastic
20:40
well Dallas this was this was great we
20:42
got some really actionable tips here I
20:44
heard you know Flexible Staffing
20:46
schedule flexible management style a
20:48
focus on transparency and understanding
20:52
individuals personal Styles and what
20:54
they respond to from a management
20:55
perspective
20:57
and also you know making sure to allow
20:59
time for networking team to team
21:02
interaction you know manager to an
21:06
individual contributor interaction so
21:08
this is great it’s a top a Hot Topic
21:11
it’s top of mind that I have no doubt
21:13
our listeners are going to get some good
21:15
nuggets from listening to this one
21:17
well thanks so much for putting this
21:18
together I think it’s just so exciting
21:21
to be able to have this
21:23
um for leaders of surgery centers it’s
21:25
not something we’ve had before and very
21:27
excited for it
Healthcare News
21:29
[Music]
21:33
as always it has been a busy week in
21:35
healthcare so let’s Jump Right In in an
21:38
article by Pharma news intelligence the
21:40
first humans of the world were
21:42
transfused with lab-grown red blood
21:44
cells during a randomized controlled
21:46
clinical trial
21:48
so let’s start with the trial itself the
21:50
trial is a joint initiative between a
21:53
couple different organizations the NHS
21:55
blood and Transplant the University of
21:58
Bristol and the University of Cambridge
22:00
and all of those are across the pond in
22:02
the UK
22:03
and also it’s important to note that the
22:06
trial is funded in part by the National
22:08
Institute for Health and Care research
22:10
so today only two participants have been
22:13
transfused with lab-grown blood and the
22:16
researchers shared that they have both
22:18
tolerated the transfusion well and
22:20
without any side effects so assuming
22:22
everything continues going well the
22:24
study will transfuse 10 participants
22:27
twice at least four months apart just to
22:30
continue testing
22:31
I’m sure you can assume why this is a
22:33
huge breakthrough but according to the
22:36
United States Red Cross someone in the
22:38
U.S alone requires blood every two
22:41
seconds which means 29 000 units of red
22:45
blood cells are needed each day and I
22:47
don’t know about you but I get texts
22:49
from the Red Cross probably every week
22:51
telling me there’s an emergency blood
22:53
shortage and encouraging me to make an
22:55
appointment so
22:57
if they can be successful in pulling
22:59
this off we could start to rely on
23:01
lab-grown blood rather than donors and
23:04
it could really ease the burden and also
23:06
revolutionize care for patients with
23:08
long-term blood disorders
23:11
in our Second Story according to
23:13
outpatient surgery magazine the first
23:15
robot supported microsurgical operation
23:18
was recently performed on humans so
23:21
between the lab-grown blood cells and
23:23
robots performing surgeries this new
23:26
section is kind of starting to sound
23:27
like an episode of Black Mirror but I
23:30
promise these are all real stories with
23:32
real potential to change Healthcare two
23:35
doctors in Germany recently performed
23:37
the first completely robot supported
23:40
micro surgical operation on humans
23:43
the robot mimics human hand movements
23:45
with an electromagnetic field and
23:48
joysticks and using tiny surgical
23:50
instruments the surgeon’s movements are
23:52
reduced in size by up to 20 times which
23:55
eliminates the shaking that may
23:56
naturally present in human hands
24:00
five operations have been successfully
24:02
performed and more are set to follow
24:05
according to the doctor who performed
24:07
the procedure with the robot procedures
24:09
can be performed with a greater degree
24:10
of precision increasing patient safety
24:13
and allowing patients to recover faster
24:15
so those are the those are the benefits
24:18
for the patient but for the doctors it
24:20
allows them to perform surgeries with
24:22
better ergonomics and less fatigue
24:25
um and while this type of robot won’t be
24:27
widely available for a long time
24:29
unfortunately it does show us where the
24:31
future of micro surgeries is headed so
24:34
we would love to know what you think
24:36
would you try it do you see the benefits
24:38
head over to HST Pathways LinkedIn page
24:41
and leave a comment on this episode
24:43
um really curious about how the industry
24:46
is feeling about these sorts of
24:48
technological advancements
24:51
in our third story from Becker’s ASC a
24:54
surgery center in North Carolina shared
24:56
that their patient data was
24:58
unfortunately leaked after a successful
25:00
email phishing attack
25:02
according to the report two employees
25:05
were targeted during an email phishing
25:07
Cyber attack and a thorough
25:09
investigation showed that the
25:10
unauthorized party the attacker had
25:13
access to emails from February 14th to
25:16
May 10th which is almost a full three
25:19
months during that time frame patient
25:22
names Social Security numbers driver’s
25:25
license numbers health insurance
25:27
information medical history dates of
25:30
service and a bunch of other data points
25:32
were compromised and the ASC did have to
25:35
notify patients of the breach just a
25:38
couple weeks ago on October 31st
25:41
now I share this story not to shame
25:43
anybody because unfortunately we are all
25:45
under cyber attacks on a daily basis and
25:48
these attacks are getting smarter and
25:50
smarter and more human-like every day
25:52
but this is just a reminder that
25:54
following recommendations from your it
25:56
department is non-negotiable so install
26:00
your patches uh reboot the computers
26:02
don’t click any suspicious links change
26:05
your passwords and we’ll include a few
26:08
extra links in the episode notes with
26:10
useful tips and reminders for how you
26:12
can protect yourselves and your patients
26:14
from these never-ending cyber attacks
26:16
because unfortunately they’ll just be
26:18
ramping up
26:20
uh but to end our new segment on a
26:22
positive note a 10 year old girl helped
26:25
her mom deliver a baby at home when her
26:27
mom very quickly went into labor three
26:30
weeks early so Miracle is the 10 year
26:33
old’s name and when she realized what
26:35
was going on she did the right thing and
26:37
called 9-1-1 and the dispatcher did an
26:40
amazing job at keeping her calm and
26:43
coaching her through it before the
26:45
ambulance could even arrive
26:47
so to put it in perspective the call
26:49
itself was only a total of 11 minutes
26:51
long and during that time frame Miracle
26:54
got her mom all set up delivered the
26:57
baby uh cleared her baby sister’s mouth
26:59
and nose checked the umbilical cord and
27:02
performed a couple other life-saving
27:04
measures to make sure her mom and her
27:06
new sister were okay so thankfully
27:09
everyone is doing just fine today and a
27:11
huge thanks to miracle and the 911
27:13
dispatcher for making it happen
27:16
and that news story officially wraps up
27:19
this week’s podcast thank you as always
27:21
for spending a few minutes of your week
27:23
with us make sure to subscribe or leave
27:25
a review on whichever platform you’re
27:27
listening from I hope you have a great
27:30
day and we’ll see you again next week
27:34
[Music]
welcome to this week in surgery centers
0:03
if you’re in the ASC industry then
0:05
you’re in the right place every week
0:07
we’ll start the episode off by sharing
0:10
an interesting conversation we had with
0:11
our featured guests and then we’ll close
0:13
the episode by recapping the latest news
0:15
impacting surgery centers we’re excited
0:18
to share with you what we have so let’s
0:20
get started and see what the industry’s
0:22
been up to
Welcome
0:23
[Music]
0:27
hi everyone here’s what you can expect
0:30
on today’s episode this week we’re
0:32
joined by Dallas Frayer Dallas is the
0:35
administrator at Corpus Christi
0:37
outpatient surgery and is the president
0:39
of the Texas ASC society and she’s here
0:42
to share four tips to improve staff
0:44
satisfaction at your surgery center from
0:47
Innovative scheduling to changing
0:49
management styles Dallas has implemented
0:51
these techniques at her own ASC and has
0:54
seen the positive results first hand
0:56
in our news recap we’ll cover lab-grown
0:59
red blood cells robots performing
1:02
microsurgerys a recent successful Cyber
1:05
attack on an ASC and of course end the
1:07
new segment with a positive story about
1:09
a 10 year old who delivered a baby hope
1:12
everyone enjoys the episode and here’s
1:15
what’s going on this week in surgery
1:17
centers
The Surgery Center
1:19
[Music]
1:23
welcome to the show
1:25
thanks
1:27
Dallas can you tell us a little bit
1:29
about the surgery center you run Corpus
1:31
Christi outpatient surgery our Surgery
1:33
Center that’s been open since 1998 we
1:36
have five operating rooms and currently
1:39
we are focused on musculoskeletal
1:41
surgeries so we do quite a bit of
1:44
Orthopedic some pain management and some
1:47
Podiatry
How many cases a month
1:50
great
1:51
in about how many cases do you see a
1:53
month
1:54
currently we’re doing about 425 cases a
1:57
month we’re going to be relocating uh
2:00
the first quarter of next year and we’ll
2:02
have six ORS and so we’re certainly
2:05
planning on growing from there
Staffing trends
2:07
fantastic
2:09
and so
2:10
um I wanted to kind of hit right in on
2:12
one of the topics that everybody seems
2:14
to be discussing in the industry lately
2:16
and that is Staffing what’s been your
2:19
experience you know over the last couple
2:21
years last 24 months or so regarding
2:24
Staffing at your Center uh burn out and
2:27
and what trends do you see
2:29
within your Center wow that is a really
2:33
timely topic because it’s probably the
2:35
the thing that I struggle with the most
2:38
um and the thing that’s changed the most
2:40
for my surgery center
2:42
um over the past couple of years you
2:44
know prior to covid recruiting to the
2:47
surgery center was a little bit easy
2:49
because you know we were the only place
2:51
in town that offered Monday through
2:53
Friday no weekends no holiday no call
2:56
and people were willing to you know
2:59
maybe
3:00
not have that call pay not have the big
3:03
sign on bonuses that the hospitals were
3:05
offering in exchange for having a nice
3:08
balance between work and and personal
3:10
life but since since covid and since
3:14
just the um the huge increase in sign on
3:19
bonuses and the competitive nature to
3:22
get nurses just
3:24
um to work in the non-coveted related
3:27
fields it’s been a real challenge
3:31
and so we’ve certainly had to rethink
3:33
our strategies of hiring and retaining
3:37
our nurses
Hiring and retaining staff
3:39
the two two sides of the coin there or
3:42
there’s the you know actually going out
3:44
and recruiting new staff and you know
3:46
the opposite side of the Cohen you know
3:48
probably retaining existing staff and
3:50
staff satisfactions probably more more
3:53
important than it’s been in a while and
3:55
so how do you think about balancing
3:57
those two are you are you more focused
3:59
on one side versus the other
4:02
no really you have to pay equal
4:06
attention to both I think because it’s
4:08
one thing to be able to go out and get
4:11
staff and everything that you tell them
4:13
about how great it’s going to be to work
4:15
here but if you can’t bring them into a
4:18
facility that does those things
4:20
routinely and that your staff that
4:22
they’re going to work with on day one
4:24
says oh yeah it’s a great place to work
4:26
then you’re just going to keep having a
4:28
revolving door
4:30
um and then your current staff are going
4:32
to be looking and seeking other jobs
4:34
because they’re certainly bombarded with
4:36
advertisements every day
Do you track staff retention
4:38
sure
4:40
do you guys track staff retention what’s
4:43
that look like over the last 12 months
4:45
we do and you know fortunately we’ve
4:48
tracked that for a number of years
4:51
um and so I feel like some facilities
4:53
are just starting you know to look at it
4:55
and they really don’t have something to
4:57
compare it to so our run rate for this
5:00
year we’re running about 18 percent
5:04
um staff turnover and that’s compared to
5:07
uh prior to covid we were down around 12
5:10
percent
5:11
and last year we were upwards of 24 25
5:16
that’s when it was at its worst
Youre not there yet
5:21
progressing a little bit
5:23
but uh but but you’re not there yet in
5:25
terms of the pre-covered levels right
5:27
and it’s taken a lot of work and a lot
5:30
of
5:30
um intention to get there
Shifts
5:33
sure
5:34
okay great and I’d love to to talk about
5:38
that intention a little bit one of the
5:40
things that we discussed with you you
5:42
know prior to recording this episode was
5:44
you know it sounds like you’ve got a set
5:46
of really good management best practices
5:48
and tips and tricks around your staff
5:51
that you you employ at Corpus Christi
5:53
and so we’d love to touch on a couple of
5:54
those uh can you tell us a little bit
5:57
about your shift method and specifically
5:59
the the 12 versus 10 versus 8 hour shift
6:03
method that you’ve used
6:05
sure and that’s something that’s
6:06
relatively new to us over the past year
6:09
one of the things that we found when I
6:12
couldn’t even get anybody to interview
6:14
was people did not want to come to work
6:17
and work five days a week they’re kind
6:21
of really gotten into this well I worked
6:23
12 hours at the hospital and then I’m
6:26
off for four days and it’s just not
6:28
anything that we had ever offered before
6:30
so I really had to sit down and um you
6:35
know do it on by hand on paper figuring
6:37
out how can I offer 12-hour shifts how
6:40
can I offer 10 hour shifts and and
6:43
really look at the
6:45
um at the best practices regarding the
6:48
12-hour shifts and make sure that you
6:50
weren’t going to be setting yourself up
6:52
for
6:53
um for more burnout on a daily basis and
6:56
and how to manage those types of shifts
6:58
but we’ve put together
7:00
um you know a different model for each
7:02
department you know in recovery I have
7:04
several people people working 12-hour
7:06
shifts and in my operating room I only
7:08
have one person working 12 hour shifts
7:10
but I have three people working 10 hour
7:13
shifts and it’s it’s worked out really
7:16
well I’m applying the same methodology
7:18
to pre-op and being able to
7:22
advertise that that we’re hiring for a
7:25
12-hour shift or a 10 hour shift has
7:28
really increased the ability to get
7:29
those applicants in the door to even to
7:33
interview
7:34
um and then it’s really seeing a big
7:37
change for our current staff you know
7:40
they’re they’re finally some of them
7:42
were working 12-hour shifts before but
7:45
they were just doing it four or five
7:46
days a week and that is not good for
7:49
anyone so being able to offer something
7:52
very routine
7:55
gives them a great sense of
7:56
accomplishment but still being able to
7:58
balance with doing things at home
8:01
right I like that it sounds like it’s a
8:03
nice value prop you can recruit to on
8:06
the new Talent acquisition side it
8:07
sounds like it’s you know increasing
8:09
satisfaction of your existing staff it
8:12
does sound like it might be more
8:13
complicated to track and juggle the the
8:17
schedule are you using a spreadsheet for
8:20
that is it a marker board do you have a
8:22
software tool how do you best kind of
8:24
manage that that you know I it’s really
8:27
basic I have it you know just hand
8:29
written on a piece of paper
8:31
um and and really it’s accomplished by
8:34
getting the feedback from the current
8:36
staff and I found that the more I can
8:39
let them kind of self-schedule with some
8:42
guidance the better it works so you know
8:46
they’ll trade shifts they’ll
8:49
um trade weeks around each other and
8:53
they’ll make sure that if they need time
8:54
off that they kind of get it covered
8:56
amongst themselves
8:58
um because they really have a good
9:00
ownership of making sure that everything
9:03
gets accomplished and it doesn’t miss a
9:06
beat so it’s hard not to micromanage it
9:09
but in the long run it really benefits
9:12
everybody
Management Techniques
9:14
great
9:16
um what about management style and
9:19
management techniques of your of your
9:21
front line managers what have you seen
9:23
to be effective there as it relates to
9:25
employee morale and employee
9:27
satisfaction
9:28
well you know that’s another thing that
9:31
we’ve really focused on over the past
9:33
few years is I’m engaging with the front
9:37
line staff and you know you’re in in the
9:41
surgery center you don’t have a lot of
9:42
middle managers but you need to empower
9:45
people to be that
9:48
um and give them the tools and the
9:50
training of how to do that you know how
9:52
to have a conversation with the front
9:54
line staff of what are the challenges
9:56
and ask them how they would fix them and
10:00
then be open to what they say and follow
10:03
through
10:04
um if it’s no we can’t do that or you
10:07
know we’re looking at it how can we
10:09
modify it and tweak it you know that’s
10:12
very similar to what we came up with
10:13
these schedules and just having them be
10:18
accessible and open-minded with the
10:21
front-end staff and not be well that’s
10:24
nice but we haven’t been doing that here
10:26
and and
10:28
that that’s good that it worked over
10:29
there but not here
Do Different Frontline Staff Acquire Different Management Styles
10:31
sure sure and and in terms of you know
10:36
management style
10:38
um you know techniques have you found
10:39
that it’s a one size
10:41
fits all proposition or you know do
10:44
different Frontline staff members
10:46
acquire different management styles and
10:48
different approaches
10:49
absolutely
10:51
um you know we we all kind of learn and
10:54
hear about the five love languages you
10:58
know I kind of teach my managers to to
11:02
think similar ways you know with their
11:04
Frontline staff and to try to figure out
11:06
what motivates somebody so you know what
11:09
type of rewards are important to them
11:12
um some nurses are going to want to be
11:14
able to work very independently and be
11:16
asked their opinions where other nurses
11:19
or other staff members will see that as
11:22
like oh my gosh she doesn’t know how to
11:25
tell me what to do they want a very
11:27
structured environment and so even if
11:30
you have the same message or the same
11:32
question to ask being able to tailor
11:34
that to the staff member is very
11:37
important
11:39
but again you don’t know what works with
11:42
that individual staff member unless
11:44
you’re just having daily conversations
11:45
with them and being engaged with them
11:49
um and being able to pair them with each
11:52
other that complement one another you
11:55
know you may hire somebody thinking that
11:57
they’re going to be great in one
11:58
Department working with one manager and
12:00
then you actually find that you know
12:02
what given
12:04
given your personality or given your
12:06
skill set or given what you want to
12:08
learn you it maybe work better in
12:11
another area of the facility
Generational Differences
12:13
sure that makes sense and if you found a
12:15
lot of people talk about
12:17
generational differences and you know
12:19
maybe how you know gen Z staff you know
12:22
like to go about things as opposed to
12:23
Millennial staff
12:25
I tend to see that sometimes it’s more
12:27
personality profile and you can have
12:29
different types of Personality profiles
12:31
with it you know so it’s less around how
12:34
old they are or what generation they’re
12:36
in and more just you know getting to
12:38
know them and getting to know their
12:39
personal style what what have you seen
12:41
do you buy into the concept of it’s a
12:44
generational thing and and all gen Z
12:46
needed to be managed a certain way or is
12:48
it more unique to the individual
12:50
it’s absolutely unique to the individual
12:53
and it’s really about
12:56
um tapping into what what makes them
13:00
satisfied you know is it Independence is
13:04
it
13:05
um being able to
13:08
be very social at work you know some
13:11
people find that disrespectful some
13:13
people find you know a joking
13:15
environment to be unfocused and and it’s
13:18
just you and then the whole one thing
13:21
that you do hear about very often with
13:23
the um generation X’s immediate
13:28
um satisfaction right and they want
13:30
immediate feedback so doing an
13:33
evaluation on somebody you know once a
13:35
year giving them feedback it’s not great
13:38
no matter what generation you are but
13:40
being able to immediately identify yes
13:43
you did a good job today thanks or but
13:46
you on the flip side of it if you want
13:48
something improved you have to tell them
13:50
immediately but that’s good management
13:52
style with any generation and any
13:55
employee I think we’ve just gotten away
13:59
with it for a long time
Transparency
14:01
I agree I agree what about transparency
14:03
you know where does this fit in the year
14:05
management philosophy so you know
14:07
probably one thing that I’ve been
14:09
accused of throughout my entire career
14:11
is being too transparent
14:14
you know but I I very much am the type
14:17
that the more I want my staff to be just
14:20
as knowledgeable about as of everything
14:22
as I am because then they can come up
14:25
with the better Solutions than often I
14:27
can
14:29
um and so I think transparency
14:31
especially when it comes to hiring and
14:33
training staff if if they don’t know how
14:36
hard it is to hire somebody then they
14:39
just think you know we don’t want to
14:41
fill the positions well
14:43
it’s completely different when you know
14:46
four years ago you’d have 30 people
14:49
apply for a job and now you’re lucky if
14:52
you get one
14:53
you know and and I think that you have
14:55
to be very transparent with your current
14:57
staff for that and help them help you
15:02
create the environment where everyone
15:04
not only wants to stay but maintains
15:08
your reputation as being a great place
15:11
to work
Transparency in Staff Satisfaction
15:13
sure and where where do you feel like
15:15
that concept of transparency really
15:18
resonates in terms of Staff satisfaction
15:21
is it transparency around and being
15:24
vulnerable around hey here’s what we’ve
15:26
heard here’s what we’ve maybe gotten
15:27
negative feedback on and here’s what
15:29
we’re going to do to improve it is true
15:31
is it transparency around the overall
15:33
Center goals and objectives what are
15:36
some some areas in particular it’s kind
15:39
of all of that what I what I found
15:43
um
15:44
it’s about what’s important to that
15:46
individual you know some some people may
15:49
care about the center goals and some of
15:52
your staff may really not but it’s it’s
15:55
transparency about what we can and can’t
15:57
do you know if somebody’s consistently
16:00
asking me
16:02
um you know we need another staff member
16:05
here we need another this or we need
16:08
another widget and I know that I can’t
16:10
do it either because it’s just not in
16:13
the budget or it’s really not needed
16:16
I’ve got to be able to tell them and
16:19
explain to them give them a no you know
16:22
and and the reason why but basically be
16:25
very transparent with yeah we can’t do
16:27
that and for whatever reason instead of
16:29
just you know continuing to lead them on
16:31
thinking that oh maybe someday maybe
16:34
next month maybe next year
16:36
when in reality you know that it’s not
16:38
going to happen
Being Up Front
16:40
I like that I think sometimes
16:43
it can be easier to to say hey that’s a
16:46
good idea we’ll we’ll think about that
16:48
yeah we’ll work after that
16:50
the problem will be that that you don’t
16:52
come back to it for a long time so I
16:53
like that just kind of being up front if
16:55
it’s not possible and explain that early
16:58
yeah and and I think you know as we as
17:01
we changed our Focus from becoming a we
17:04
were a multi-specialty facility and
17:06
becoming focused and orthopedic and uh
17:10
starting to do total joints and and more
17:13
complex surgeries there was a lot of
17:16
anxiety from the staff around that and
17:20
just being transparent and owning that
17:22
you know hey we’re going to have to
17:23
learn this together but we’re going to
17:26
do it in the best and safest way
17:28
possible
17:30
um and that there’s nobody better to
17:31
take care of patients than we are you
17:34
know and and we’re all we’re all here
17:37
for the same reason
MidLevel Management
17:41
you touched on earlier Dallas kind of
17:43
management in a surgery center and and
17:46
you mentioned hey there’s not a lot of
17:48
mid-level you know managers it’s not
17:51
like you know in a hospital or a bigger
17:53
setting
17:54
how do you make sure that the Frontline
17:56
staff does have someone to talk to how
18:00
do you make sure that the managers that
18:02
you do have although you you run lean
18:05
have time to keep up with their staff
18:07
members and and get to know that unique
18:10
style and personality that you mentioned
18:12
is so important
18:13
you know that’s probably the biggest
18:15
challenge there is and I think that it’s
18:19
for me it’s about not micromanaging and
18:24
it’s about allowing them extra time in
18:27
the mornings or extra time in the
18:29
afternoon and not a lot of time but
18:31
instead of just okay don’t come in until
18:34
five minutes before your patient’s gonna
18:36
get here you know just allowing them
18:38
that networking time and encouraging it
18:42
you know
18:43
bringing donuts and bringing tacos and
18:47
not us always mean the person doing it
18:50
but you know telling hey why don’t you
18:52
bring donuts for your department you
18:54
know just creating those moments where
18:56
they can get together and talk
Modeling
19:00
and
19:01
and as upper management you know
19:05
my boss told me just the other week you
19:08
know
19:09
we’re we’ve got to constantly be looking
19:12
to see if if the if our
19:16
next manager is modeling the same
19:19
behavior as we are
19:22
and if they are is that what we want
19:25
them to be doing so that gives us a
19:28
check of the behavior we’re modeling but
19:30
also gives us
19:32
um the opportunity to make sure that
19:35
that’s what our Frontline staff are
19:36
seeing
19:38
because your your next manager is a
19:41
direct reflection of yourself and is
19:44
that
19:45
and is that the reflection that you want
Culture
19:47
to see
19:48
right and are they cascading the culture
19:51
exactly that you’d like the center to
19:53
have overall exactly because they’re
19:56
because they are they’re casting the
19:58
culture you just want to make sure it’s
20:00
the right culture
Final Question
20:01
that’s right that’s right
20:04
okay Dallas final question for you here
20:06
and we do this every week with our
20:07
guests what is one thing our listeners
20:10
can do this week to improve their
20:12
surgery centers
20:15
ask your most important person in each
20:19
department
20:21
what their biggest challenge is
20:24
and listen to their answer
20:26
whether it’s something personal or
20:29
whether it’s something work related
20:31
you don’t have to fix it but just listen
20:34
for the answer
Wrap Up
20:36
listen and learn fantastic
20:40
well Dallas this was this was great we
20:42
got some really actionable tips here I
20:44
heard you know Flexible Staffing
20:46
schedule flexible management style a
20:48
focus on transparency and understanding
20:52
individuals personal Styles and what
20:54
they respond to from a management
20:55
perspective
20:57
and also you know making sure to allow
20:59
time for networking team to team
21:02
interaction you know manager to an
21:06
individual contributor interaction so
21:08
this is great it’s a top a Hot Topic
21:11
it’s top of mind that I have no doubt
21:13
our listeners are going to get some good
21:15
nuggets from listening to this one
21:17
well thanks so much for putting this
21:18
together I think it’s just so exciting
21:21
to be able to have this
21:23
um for leaders of surgery centers it’s
21:25
not something we’ve had before and very
21:27
excited for it
Healthcare News
21:29
[Music]
21:33
as always it has been a busy week in
21:35
healthcare so let’s Jump Right In in an
21:38
article by Pharma news intelligence the
21:40
first humans of the world were
21:42
transfused with lab-grown red blood
21:44
cells during a randomized controlled
21:46
clinical trial
21:48
so let’s start with the trial itself the
21:50
trial is a joint initiative between a
21:53
couple different organizations the NHS
21:55
blood and Transplant the University of
21:58
Bristol and the University of Cambridge
22:00
and all of those are across the pond in
22:02
the UK
22:03
and also it’s important to note that the
22:06
trial is funded in part by the National
22:08
Institute for Health and Care research
22:10
so today only two participants have been
22:13
transfused with lab-grown blood and the
22:16
researchers shared that they have both
22:18
tolerated the transfusion well and
22:20
without any side effects so assuming
22:22
everything continues going well the
22:24
study will transfuse 10 participants
22:27
twice at least four months apart just to
22:30
continue testing
22:31
I’m sure you can assume why this is a
22:33
huge breakthrough but according to the
22:36
United States Red Cross someone in the
22:38
U.S alone requires blood every two
22:41
seconds which means 29 000 units of red
22:45
blood cells are needed each day and I
22:47
don’t know about you but I get texts
22:49
from the Red Cross probably every week
22:51
telling me there’s an emergency blood
22:53
shortage and encouraging me to make an
22:55
appointment so
22:57
if they can be successful in pulling
22:59
this off we could start to rely on
23:01
lab-grown blood rather than donors and
23:04
it could really ease the burden and also
23:06
revolutionize care for patients with
23:08
long-term blood disorders
23:11
in our Second Story according to
23:13
outpatient surgery magazine the first
23:15
robot supported microsurgical operation
23:18
was recently performed on humans so
23:21
between the lab-grown blood cells and
23:23
robots performing surgeries this new
23:26
section is kind of starting to sound
23:27
like an episode of Black Mirror but I
23:30
promise these are all real stories with
23:32
real potential to change Healthcare two
23:35
doctors in Germany recently performed
23:37
the first completely robot supported
23:40
micro surgical operation on humans
23:43
the robot mimics human hand movements
23:45
with an electromagnetic field and
23:48
joysticks and using tiny surgical
23:50
instruments the surgeon’s movements are
23:52
reduced in size by up to 20 times which
23:55
eliminates the shaking that may
23:56
naturally present in human hands
24:00
five operations have been successfully
24:02
performed and more are set to follow
24:05
according to the doctor who performed
24:07
the procedure with the robot procedures
24:09
can be performed with a greater degree
24:10
of precision increasing patient safety
24:13
and allowing patients to recover faster
24:15
so those are the those are the benefits
24:18
for the patient but for the doctors it
24:20
allows them to perform surgeries with
24:22
better ergonomics and less fatigue
24:25
um and while this type of robot won’t be
24:27
widely available for a long time
24:29
unfortunately it does show us where the
24:31
future of micro surgeries is headed so
24:34
we would love to know what you think
24:36
would you try it do you see the benefits
24:38
head over to HST Pathways LinkedIn page
24:41
and leave a comment on this episode
24:43
um really curious about how the industry
24:46
is feeling about these sorts of
24:48
technological advancements
24:51
in our third story from Becker’s ASC a
24:54
surgery center in North Carolina shared
24:56
that their patient data was
24:58
unfortunately leaked after a successful
25:00
email phishing attack
25:02
according to the report two employees
25:05
were targeted during an email phishing
25:07
Cyber attack and a thorough
25:09
investigation showed that the
25:10
unauthorized party the attacker had
25:13
access to emails from February 14th to
25:16
May 10th which is almost a full three
25:19
months during that time frame patient
25:22
names Social Security numbers driver’s
25:25
license numbers health insurance
25:27
information medical history dates of
25:30
service and a bunch of other data points
25:32
were compromised and the ASC did have to
25:35
notify patients of the breach just a
25:38
couple weeks ago on October 31st
25:41
now I share this story not to shame
25:43
anybody because unfortunately we are all
25:45
under cyber attacks on a daily basis and
25:48
these attacks are getting smarter and
25:50
smarter and more human-like every day
25:52
but this is just a reminder that
25:54
following recommendations from your it
25:56
department is non-negotiable so install
26:00
your patches uh reboot the computers
26:02
don’t click any suspicious links change
26:05
your passwords and we’ll include a few
26:08
extra links in the episode notes with
26:10
useful tips and reminders for how you
26:12
can protect yourselves and your patients
26:14
from these never-ending cyber attacks
26:16
because unfortunately they’ll just be
26:18
ramping up
26:20
uh but to end our new segment on a
26:22
positive note a 10 year old girl helped
26:25
her mom deliver a baby at home when her
26:27
mom very quickly went into labor three
26:30
weeks early so Miracle is the 10 year
26:33
old’s name and when she realized what
26:35
was going on she did the right thing and
26:37
called 9-1-1 and the dispatcher did an
26:40
amazing job at keeping her calm and
26:43
coaching her through it before the
26:45
ambulance could even arrive
26:47
so to put it in perspective the call
26:49
itself was only a total of 11 minutes
26:51
long and during that time frame Miracle
26:54
got her mom all set up delivered the
26:57
baby uh cleared her baby sister’s mouth
26:59
and nose checked the umbilical cord and
27:02
performed a couple other life-saving
27:04
measures to make sure her mom and her
27:06
new sister were okay so thankfully
27:09
everyone is doing just fine today and a
27:11
huge thanks to miracle and the 911
27:13
dispatcher for making it happen
27:16
and that news story officially wraps up
27:19
this week’s podcast thank you as always
27:21
for spending a few minutes of your week
27:23
with us make sure to subscribe or leave
27:25
a review on whichever platform you’re
27:27
listening from I hope you have a great
27:30
day and we’ll see you again next week
27:34
[Music]
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