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As a health care organization, our people are our most valuable assets. Technicians, nurses, doctors, maintenance workers, security, social workers, housekeeping and more 鈥� their firsthand experiences are instrumental in caring for our community.

Listening and fostering a workplace culture where employees feel comfortable asking questions, voicing concerns and contributing ideas will shape the future of health care.

Being the region鈥檚 largest employer, it is often difficult to get feedback from most of our people. We use many avenues to do this. One being a survey that is conducted twice a year and allows employees to lift up concerns anonymously.

Within the Bemidji region of Sanford Health, we also offer several opportunities for employees to communicate directly with me and our local leadership team. This includes monthly town halls, referred to as 鈥淪anford Scoops,鈥� where any employee can ask leaders questions 鈥� anonymously or live during the town hall.

We also have a dedicated email address where employees can confidentially email suggestions, questions or concerns to me and our employee experience team. Every month, our leadership team also rounds to speak with employees about current issues facing their team/department.

In addition to providing different ways for employees to have a voice, it鈥檚 also important to create opportunities where they drive improving our organization.

Teams throughout our region are always actively working on projects to improve care, patient outcomes and patient and employee experiences at Sanford Health. These projects require a great deal of collaboration and involvement from many employees over the course of several months and sometimes years.

Once a year, we host the Bemidji Sanford Improvement Symposium 鈥� an opportunity for these teams to share their ideas and showcase their ongoing improvement efforts.

This year, we received a record 37 project submissions, many of which were submitted by multidisciplinary teams. Topics ranged from employee wellness and job growth to bedside communication and patient outcomes. The following are just three of those employee-led projects.

Embracing our own: Enhancing employee wellness

Project led by Anna Chock, Nikki Bowman, Tiffany Garcia and Sara Zimmerman

Health care workers are consistently exposed to language, behaviors and emotional expressions of loss, pain, trauma, neglect, abuse, suicide and other high-risk issues. These are routinely identified as the leading causes of burnout, secondary trauma, moral injury and compassion fatigue.

To help support our employees and prevent burnout, the behavioral health department applied for and received a grant through the Minnesota Department of Health to hire a behavioral health therapist to provide rapid-response support, debriefing and therapeutic services to employees at no cost to them.

Since offering the new service in July 2023, demand has surpassed projections. In the first six months, 296 encounters with the therapist were recorded. Many of the employees have reported that, because of this service, they were able to continue with their day or week as scheduled versus taking unplanned time off to manage the effects of the trauma they experienced in the workplace.

Reaching everyone: New approach to screening for depression

Project led by Ericka Medberry, Joshua Smith, Alyssa Carlson and Hadeel Tanash

Psychological well-being impacts every aspect of our patients鈥� lives. Depression alone is associated with higher rates of chronic disease, increased health care utilization and impaired functioning across all aspects of a person鈥檚 health. Almost a third of the patients who visit Sanford Bemidji Eye Services come from an outside facility, where they may not regularly screen for depression.

This year, the Eye Services team has made it a high priority to screen patients for depression. The team screened 1,257 patients in January 2024 alone 鈥� a huge increase from 57 screenings the January prior. Because of these screenings, the team has already helped 22 patients find the follow-up behavioral health care they needed.

Every patient, every time: Ensuring excellence in emergency care by guaranteeing all patients are medically screened

Project led by Katelyn Galligan, Shawna Ogundeji, Jonathan Rudolf, inpatient nurse leaders and all Emergency Department employees 

Patients who leave prior to completing a medical exam have an increased risk of adverse health events, higher return rates to the Emergency Department, increased admission rates and decreased satisfaction, especially for those who experience health care disparities. Since 2021, the Bemidji Emergency Department has made it their long-term goal to decrease wait times and the overall rate of patients who Leave Without Being Seen (LWBS).

For the past two years, the team has proactively been working on opportunities to improve staff communication, develop high census planning and partner with other hospital departments to address systemic issues, such as inpatient bed capacity, increasing behavioral health encounters, higher acuity patients and shortages of primary and support staff.

As a result, they have cut the department鈥檚 LWBS rate nearly in half and are well on their way to their goal of 3% or less by December 2024.

These projects are just a few of the ways employees have improved patients鈥� access to care, our community鈥檚 health and the well-being of their peers. Thank you to all Sanford Bemidji employees for your innovation and hard work as we navigate the ever-changing health care environment together. I am honored to work with so many dedicated and compassionate people.

Karla Eischens, RPh, is the President and CEO of Sanford Health鈥檚 Bemidji region located in northern Minnesota. She can be reached at (218) 333-5264 or  karla.eischens@sanfordhealth.org.