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Research ArticleOriginal Contributions

Impact of an Annual Retreat on Process Improvement in a Respiratory Therapy Section

Vincent T Roberts, Lucy Kester and James K Stoller
Respiratory Care December 2005, 50 (12) 1654-1658;
Vincent T Roberts
Section of Respiratory Therapy, Department of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
RRT
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Lucy Kester
Section of Respiratory Therapy, Department of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
MBA RRT FAARC
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James K Stoller
Section of Respiratory Therapy, Department of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
MD MSc FAARC
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: In order to fulfill the mission of providing superb respiratory care, managing respiratory care services requires communication and collaboration. To enhance communication and collaboration in our Section of Respiratory Therapy at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and to generate ideas for improvement, since 1996 we have conducted annual retreats for the Section, during which important challenges and opportunities are discussed in a large-group forum. The current report describes the retreat process and outcomes, namely the ideas generated during these retreats and the frequency with which ideas were implemented successfully.

METHODS: The annual retreat brings together all clinical specialists, supervisors, and managers in the Section of Respiratory Therapy, along with the medical director of Respiratory Therapy and representatives of the staff from each shift. In advance of the annual half-day retreat, supervisors and clinical specialists are asked to write a brief description of things that need improvement and actionable proposed solutions to these challenges. These documents are reviewed by the supervisors, managers, education coordinator, and medical director, and a list of discussion topics for the retreat is formulated. The retreat day begins with a brief introduction and summary of the year's activities and then encourages open-ended discussions regarding the various topics, with the explicit, repeated goal of generating solutions. Minutes are kept to identify specific action items, a list of which is visited repeatedly throughout the year, to assess progress toward successful completion of each action item. In the current analysis, the primary outcome measures are the number of ideas generated as action items during the retreats and the frequency with which these ideas have been implemented.

RESULTS: Over the 8 years of annual retreats, 103 action items have been generated, of which 84% (n = 87) have been successfully implemented or completed. As evidence of the importance of this group-based activity, we cite several examples of suggestions and action items that were felt to uniquely represent group process and wisdom and which were not proposed beforehand by individuals.

CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of this experience, we recommend conducting annual respiratory therapy department retreats. We believe the benefits include collective problem-solving in a public forum to identify solutions not advanced by individuals. Also, we believe that the direct communication in such retreats contributes to enhanced morale, further evidence of which is the very low turnover rate among our respiratory therapists during the 8 years in which we have conducted annual retreats.

  • respiratory care
  • medical staff
  • group processes
  • program evaluation

Footnotes

  • Correspondence: James K Stoller MD MSc FAARC, Department of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, A90, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland OH 44195. E-mail: stollej{at}ccf.org.
  • Copyright © 2005 by Daedalus Enterprises Inc.
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Respiratory Care: 50 (12)
Respiratory Care
Vol. 50, Issue 12
1 Dec 2005
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Impact of an Annual Retreat on Process Improvement in a Respiratory Therapy Section
Vincent T Roberts, Lucy Kester, James K Stoller
Respiratory Care Dec 2005, 50 (12) 1654-1658;

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Impact of an Annual Retreat on Process Improvement in a Respiratory Therapy Section
Vincent T Roberts, Lucy Kester, James K Stoller
Respiratory Care Dec 2005, 50 (12) 1654-1658;
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  • group processes
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