David Barham, vice president of finance for operations for Baptist Memorial Health Care in Memphis, Tenn., is this month's Newsmaker.
What prompted Baptist Memorial to adopt workforce management technology in operations?
We first began using an automated time and attendance system sixteen years ago. We've since found that we needed a replacement scheduling system, and we're still in the process of rolling that out across our 14 hospitals. It's a massive effort and takes a lot of work. We're putting it in all departments that have 24/7 employees.
How is the technology used in operations?
You can use a time and attendance system to move employees around to departments that need extra staffing. The scheduling system is really the pearl. You can create a core schedule or a six-week cycle, or you can have staff perform self-scheduling or participative scheduling. It really helps in managing overtime. I did some research on the system from a cost perspective. Roughly, a tenth of a percent decrease in overtime is a million dollars saved. Our overtime percentages have gone down significantly since we automated. There is the business side of overtime, of course, but there are also the clinical implications of overtime. Workplace fatigue can be a real problem for clinical staff, and that can impact patient care and reduce employee satisfaction.
What are the biggest challenges to implementing a change like this system-wide?
People love paper. Our staff has always had their paper schedules, and it's a hard sell to get rid of it. You have to create the expectation on the front end and manage that expectation throughout, because all of our facilities didn't think they needed it. This kind of software requires constant data entry, so achieving success is an ongoing, hour-by-hour process. But in the end, any technology is only as good as the people and processes that support it.