Transformational Leadership

Dan Garza working at desk
Dan Garza, RN, in the Infusion Suite at the Cancer Center

Mentoring for Clinical Nurses

In January 2019, El Camino Health's hospitals began the process of building an electronic mentoring platform for use by clinical nurses. The site launched on March 1, 2019, and nurses were invited to register on the site as either a mentor or mentee.

The online platform matches mentors and mentees based on interests, purpose for participating, and goal alignment. Seventeen mentor/mentee matches were made from the first group of registered participants.

Dan Garza and Mae Dizon began their mentoring partnership in April 2019, and like the other mentor/mentee partners, continue to meet regularly to discuss the goals and opportunities for growth and development.



Decreasing Length of Stay in the Los Gatos Emergency Department (ED)

As part of the enterprise-wide effort to improve patient throughput in 2019, Pam Fiehmann led an interdisciplinary initiative to reduce the "head to bed" time in the Los Gatos Emergency Department.

Lean processes were used to identify issues and develop action plans, and a number of activities were undertaken to address the various factors contributing to the ED length of stay. Nurse leaders, physicians, and nurse educators worked together to improve the admission process through the use of bridging orders and worked with staff daily to address gaps and issues. Enhancements in the lab improved turnaround time for results, and ED nurses helped implement a new robot for specimen transport.

In 2019 the average ED length of stay at Los Gatos improved from 279 minutes in Q1 to 231 minutes in Q4.

Pamela Fiehmann, RN, Clinical Manager
Pamela Fiehmann, RN, Clinical Manager of the Los Gatos Emergency Department and ICU

Surgical Site Infection: TKR, THR & Spine Surgery
Medical Unit Care Coordination team (from left): Donnalyn Basuel, RN; Molly Thomas; Millie Fisher, RN and Christine Lui, RN

Patient Flow and Discharge by Noon

In February 2019, Jennifer Meaney, 2C manager, and the Discharge by Noon Committee developed initiatives such as multidisciplinary rounds and an earlier focus on preparing patients for discharge to increase the number of patients discharged by noon.

Through these initiatives, patients discharged by noon increased by 18%, and inpatient length of stay in medical/surgical units decreased.

Average Length of Stay for Med?surg Units Graph