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 The saying cleanliness is next to Godliness may have new meaning for many Environmental Services employees at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. They recently completed an extensive training program funded, in part, by a grant from the Employer Workforce Training Fund.
The $39,500 training grant was combined with another $52,000 from Samaritan Health Services and provided the Environmental Services staff with twelve training modules designed to improve performance and retain skilled employees.
Samaritan Health Services (SHS) is a network of Oregon hospitals, physicians and senior care facilities that serves the health care needs of people in the mid-Willamette Valley and the Central Oregon Coast. Their commitment is to building healthier communities through a network of facilities in seven locations.
The work of the Environmental Services staff is critical to the fulfillment of this commitment because hospitals and medical facilities must adhere to tough hospital cleanliness standards in order to prevent infections and maintain a sanitized environment.
"We didn't focus just on what it takes to be a housekeeper - though one of the most popular things was the science behind cleaning," said Nancy Bell, Director for Professional Development. "It's way easy to say ‘I'm going to clean your room,' but it looks a lot different to clean your room to hospital standards."
She explains that hospital infection rates are closely monitored and that Environmental Services staffs are an important part of the team when it comes to keeping infection rates low. That's why the popular science topics were incorporated into the training. They brought in a science professor from Linn Benton Community College and actually swabbed different areas of the hospital and used Petri dishes to see what grows there and see what happens if areas are not clean.
While limiting infections is mission critical, a patient's satisfaction with their experience at the facility is also a primary concern. That meant the training course design would need to go beyond the basics of housekeeping and cover health care philosophy, communication skills, customer service, problem solving, conflict resolution and team concepts in the workplace.
Nancy got together with Environmental Services Manager Judy McCool and quickly identified that high performance and customer satisfaction depended on having well-trained employees. The two also wanted their staff to be aware of their value to the organization and to pursue career paths to leadership opportunities with Samaritan Health Services. A stubborn high employee turn-over rate was a big obstacle to their goals and it was also costing the organization thousands in recruitment and training costs.
They contacted Linn Benton Community College's Heath Occupations/Services Center (HOSEC) to investigate funding and instruction resources. Consultants at the college told them about the Employer Workforce Training Fund, how to apply, and reviewed the instructional resources available there.
Once the resources were identified, Judy and Nancy went to work on the grant process.
"It wasn't particularly difficult," said Nancy. "I think it was a two or three-page process. It was a statement of what we were going to do, how we thought we could roll that out, and a budget."
When the grant was approved, Judy McCool teamed up with Staff Educator Elaine Dinsel to provide input on the curriculum, arrange for facilities and make sure the project was up and running, and on track. They worked closely with Training Specialist Ann Custer at HOSEC to develop and deliver the short-term training in response to Samaritan Health Services' continuing education needs.
Different instructional modules were offered on site twice a week. This required some schedule shifts for both management and employees. Over forty employees, about eighty percent of the environmental services staff, completed the curriculum.
"We broke it up into bite-sized chunks because obviously you can't close the hospital down to do the training," said Nancy. "Work doesn't stop, it all still needs to be done."
Management and employees agree that the training investment is paying dividends.
"In watching the housekeepers as they progressed through the class they became more of a health care team. Before, they seemed to be kind of on the outskirts of it, and working through the class they became that intrinsic part of the team," said Elaine.
Customer satisfaction is steadily improving, according to a post-care survey conducted by the hospital that asks about room cleanliness and a patient's overall experience with the stay.
"While a clean room is a bit of a hard skill, it's really a lot about the soft skills. Often the housekeepers are the people the patients see first in the room and every day in the room. Patients may say things to housekeepers that housekeepers would then would take to the clinical staff. Its very important they know, and that the team works together," said Nancy.
According to training participants, the classes helped them see the bigger picture surrounding their jobs, gave them a sense of pride, and also provided them with skills they can use at home and in their lives.
"One thing that really fascinated me was the science part of it - where all the germs are and so on, they're creepy little things." said Barbara Fernbaugh.
Newly promoted Assistant Department Manager Laura Raby said, "Customer service was the part that benefited me the most because I run into a lot of people, both external and internal customers. It helps with the communication skills and how to deal with people because not everybody is happy, not everybody is cheerful, and you have to learn to deal with that."
New Lead Worker Barbara Johnston said, "The classes were very fascinating and very interesting. It helped me, first of all, to decide to become a lead. It taught me how to deal with my fellow employees much better. And the science classes were fascinating - to see those little germs grow - I had no idea where they hide, and how to clean them, and to see that they do die when we clean them properly."
"It gave me more ideas on how I deal with work and do a better job. I'm more aware," said Jeanette Hahn, Linen Department.
Jeanette says people may have said ‘oh, she's just a housekeeper,' but now she responds to them "Hey, I went to school for this - I'm certified!"
Future plans for the successful training pilot project call for instructors to deliver the modules at the other Samaritan Health Services campus locations around the state.
The Employer Workforce Training Fund was created by Governor Ted Kulongoski to assist companies with the cost of training their workers. The objective is to invest in training projects which create and retain living wage jobs in Oregon.
Look in the Employer Training section to learn more about how this Fund can help you!
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