April 2020

Without question, each of us is experiencing some level of disruption to our professional and personal lives as a result of COVID-19. The demands on safety net health care staff have only been magnified with the required rapid response to patient needs, new workflows, personnel changes, and updated policies coming from their organizations and from government officials alike. This non-stop reactivity to the volume and frequency of change pushes us to operate in “survival mode,” and unfortunately puts us at high risk of burning out.

The magnitude and speed of changes over the past month have been crucial and daunting. As the focus shifts to what’s next, our vision may be on a grand scope – getting everything back to “normal” – but our efforts need to be tempered with considerations about the overall scale of the next steps. What can be accomplished? By when? With what resources?

For this week’s Thursday Thoughts, we’re considering Scope and Scale  – how to scale our efforts; leverage small steps; and remember that with any change, those impacted may need more time to adjust.

Those involved in quality and practice transformation efforts have likely experienced times when they’ve needed to put an improvement project “on pause” as higher-priority issues surface. It can be challenging to both put a project on hold and restart a project after a hiatus – even if the project is only in “hibernation” for a couple of months. Many of you are currently experiencing this as you pause some QI and practice transformation efforts to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For those who are considering putting a planned or active improvement project on pause, there are a few resources you may find useful.

In this period of uncertainty, we are all asked to stretch our capacities to react to the most urgent needs of the hour, which can quickly become overwhelming as other tasks fall to the wayside. While the sea of to-dos can be daunting, project management approaches can help keep us grounded and focused, breaking things down until they feel more manageable.

As we strive to keep a proactive mindset, consider adapting and applying these tools when faced with a new directive, task, or situation: