There are 19 secretaries working in the Orthopedic Department at Haukeland University Hospital. They want to be the best. Therefore, a cake was a welcome treat for user number 600,000 of EG CheckWare, who was a patient at the hospital.
The use of EG CheckWare grows by just over 100,000 patients annually. In September last year, half a million patients had adopted the digital self-reporting system.
Before the summer this year, we passed the milestone of 600,000 respondents. Due to holiday schedules, the cake was not sent until August, but nevertheless, Paula Carolina Sætre, office manager at the Orthopedic Department at Haukeland University Hospital, and Elisabeth Troye, deputy head of the Orthopedic Department, were very pleased.
Elisabeth Troye and Paula Carolina Sætre. Photo: Orthopedic Department, Haukeland University Hospital
They openly admit that they strive to provide the best service at the hospital in Bergen and like to be rewarded for it. The average response time on the phone in the department is 24 seconds(!)
- Yes, we have high pressure, the days go by fast, says Troye.
- We work very hard to be efficient. And to be efficient we need to have enough to do, Sætre adds.
- When we hire people, we say that if you’re looking for a job where the day goes by a bit too fast, then the orthopedic department is the right place to work. Of course, it can get a bit stressful sometimes, she says.
Not much small talk
The employees don’t get much time for an extra coffee break or chit-chat with other colleagues during work hours. Things move quickly: they have to handle emergency and urgent surgeries, while also taking care of chronic patients in the Orthopedic department who keep coming back time and time again. These are patients that the 19 secretaries get well acquainted with.
All the secretaries in the department are women.
Enjoying cake! Photo: Orthopedic Department, Haukeland University Hospital
- If a male secretary joins, there will be a fight over him throughout Haukeland Hospital, says Sætre with a laugh.
The colleagues are focused on creating a good working environment. They do things together outside of work hours, including football matches, trips, and dinners out or privately. These activities are organized by a social committee.
- We want our secretaries to be proud of the work they do in the orthopedic department. Fortunately, we only have skilled and competent secretaries who enjoy each other's company, says Paula Carolina Sætre.
Want to be the best!
The secretaries make no secret of the fact that they find it fun to be rewarded for their efforts.
- We are known for liking to be the best. We want to be the top department at the entire Haukeland Hospital. There is no doubt that the department consists of competitive people, says the office manager.
Elisabeth Troye, Deputy Head of the Orthopedic Department. Photo: Orthopedic Department, Haukeland University Hospital
- We boast about each other all the time, as often as we can, she says.
An important task is to ensure that patients get the right appointment at the right time with the right doctor. The key to good service is a pleasant environment combined with predictability in the job.
- We have fixed routines for everything, we do things the same way. We have created instructions for how to respond and what information we need. This makes it easier to handle tasks for other employees when they are away from work, says Elisabeth Troye.
- We also have to be good judges of character. We take many calls throughout the day and handle patients of all ages. It ranges from patients who are fetuses in the womb to the very oldest, says the consultant.
Everyone received an email about 600,000
When the department learned about patient number 600,000, the news was sent to everyone by email, with a message that there would be cake at lunch.
- We bragged that we had become so good that we got cake from CheckWare and that people had to take the time to come to lunch. There is one thing that is unfortunate for us, and that is that we work on five different floors. There’s a lot of running around, says Sætre.
Paula Caroline Sætre, Office Manager, Orthopedic Department. Photo: Orthopedic Department, Haukeland University Hospital
The solution from EG CheckWare, which they have been using for a couple of years, they are very satisfied with.
- We must be the department in the hospital that advertises you the most. The patient receives the form instantly on their mobile, it goes very fast. This way, they can respond quite quickly. And when they respond, the document is added to the patient's journal, says the deputy leader and explains that the area where it works best is in emergency operations:
- If, for example, you have been hiking, fallen and broken your wrist, you end up at the emergency room. Previously, you risked having to wait many hours at the emergency department at Haukeland Hospital. Then the doctor had to map out previous illnesses, medications, and everything else important before patients can receive anesthesia and be operated on. Today we only send a form to the patient where they enter personal information themselves after we have been notified by the emergency room. The next time they hear from us will be regarding the operation date for admission, says Paula Carolina Sætre.
She believes that patients find the setup user-friendly, and that they don’t need training because using the form is so simple. For the secretaries, it takes ten minutes before they are trained in EG CheckWare.
- The doctors are also confident that the information on the form is the actual information the patients have provided. The anesthesiologists can take the necessary considerations regarding the personal information from the patients. This makes the process with the patients' use of EG CheckWare more efficient and thus cheaper for the hospital, she concludes.
Thanks for the cake! Photo: Orthopedic Department, Haukeland University Hospital
