Physician Handbook

Mercy Hospital has long been considered a great place to work and continually stays in the top three in Catholic Health East patient satisfactions scores.  However, the hospital has experienced much change in the last few years with a lot of new managers and staff.  Also, graduates of the Mercy School of Nursing and many of the Sisters of Mercy are retiring.  As the hospital goes through so much change, the question has been asked, "how do we keep the Mercy magic?"  We decided that the most important thing we can do is to renew our commitment to Mission, practicing Mercy Values with each other and patients, and preserving this legacy far into Mercy's future.   As a result, the Mission Excellence - Values in Practice initiative was established in 2003.

The process of renewal starts with leadership.  One of the main purposes of Mission Excellence is to develop leadership by training on the philosphy, strategy, techniques, and systems, which reinforce and develop values-driven leadership.   The Studer Group, experts in culture and leadership enhancement, is assisting us in providing a framework for this process.

Key Areas of Focus for Mission Excellence - Values in Practice

• Redefine the role of leaders at Mercy Hospital
  • Develop values driven leadership.
  • Involve employees in changes and inprovements.
• Reconnect to the Mercy Mission and Values
  • Strive to live the Mercy Mission and Values in our daily lives with everyone we interact with.
  • Remember and sustain the spirit of giving and caring that Catherine McAuley began and the Sisters of Mercy brought to Mercy from the beginning.
  • Help each other to remember, every day, the great service we provide.
• Involve employees in the future success of Mercy Hospital
  • Through our Service Excellence Teams we are directly involving around 90 employees in improving communications, employee satisfaction, patient satisfaction, physician satisfaction, standards (how we live our values) and how we measure our success.
• Improve teamwork both within divisions and cross functionally
  • Each Service Excellence Team is made up of employees from a variety of different departments.
  • Ongoing Leadership Development Training has an element of teamwork built in to each session.
• Hardwiring effectively over an appropriate period of time
  • Hardwiring refers to developing written processes, policies, procedures and/or schedules to support the desired actions or behaviors.