Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 1, 1994                   TAG: 9404010228
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By LEIGH ANNE LARANCE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

CLASS GIVES HOSPITAL WORKERS A GREATER SENSE OF TEAMWORK

But they should better understand the workings of Pulaski Community Hospital and be better equipped to be a part of the hospital's quality improvement programs.

The course is a new venture for the hospital and for New River Community College, which helped develop the curriculum and hired McCartney as the instructor.

What the hospital wanted was a course that would give workers some of the same instruction in quality improvement that previously had been directed toward managers, said Mary Hlavac, the hospital's education director.

"We were looking at developing something to give our employees the basis for some of the teamwork that would be required,'' she said.

The class was modeled after one introduced in Winchester, where workers at Winchester Medical Center studied problem-solving using a curriculum designed around materials they used on the job.

"People were excited about using their brains in new ways. . . . They were taking [what they learned] back to their departments and feeling more confident about making suggestions and offering ideas,'' said Fran Mitchell, New River Community College's employee development director. She works with area businesses and organizations to set up employee training programs.

The course, which lasts 10 weeks, began in mid-February. McCartney said she's already seeing progress.

"I think their powers of assessment, of analysis, are improving.''

Students meet twice a week for two hours and work in groups as they move through the curriculum. The class focuses on participation and discussion, rather than lectures and quizzes - something new for many of the students, McCartney said.

"One student said the course led her to conclude that people formed cliques at work because they didn't feel they could take a complaint out of a group." She said the course was teaching the class how to tackle issues and problems rather than sitting and stewing about it,'' McCartney said.

One benefit of the class is its diversity, planners said. Students range in age from 20s to 50s and work in 13 different departments, from maintenance to housekeeping to nursing to medical records. They are developing relationships with people in other departments and are learning how their work affects one another.

Students have told McCartney that because they have a better understanding of the system as a whole, they feel more confident approaching a supervisor with an idea for improvement. "The general consensus in the class is that they feel this is something everybody in the hospital should have,'' McCartney said. "They feel that it would really lead to better teamwork.''

Seventy-eight people signed up for the course which could accommodate 19, Hlavac said. "We hope to have another class, and the others are on a waiting list.''