Why did Campbell County Memorial Hospital choose allcustomwear.com?

Campbell County Memorial Hospital is located in Gillette, Wyoming. Gillette is a booming little town and new construction is taking place at the hospital. The administrators desired a new color-coded uniform program but were concerned with the ability of the local retailer to support the program. Trust us, these fears should not be taken lightly, because whether you are in a small town or large city, the limitations of a local retail scrub shop are the same. In fairness to the retailer, please let me explain why their model was sufficient prior to the color-coded uniform program.

Without the color coded uniform program, the store can stock a broad selection of prints (flowers, Sponge Bob and Hello Kitty), basic colors (black, navy and white) and trendy colors (Orange, Bright Yellow and Blueberry). The store could offer 20 – 30 style options, but it didn’t necessarily have to offer deep inventory in any given style or color. When the employee entered the store, it appeared as if the selection was endless because of all of these options.  It wasn’t important to the employee if the store ran out of XL Navy pants, because they could just select black, or red.

Once a color coded uniform program is implemented, it begins to cause problems for the box retailer at the most basic levels. Now, the retailer is required to carry 20 – 30 styles, but unlike previously, it’s very important to the consumer that XL Navy pants are available. This is where the old retail model breaks down. To offer 20 - 30 styles in 8 to 11 colors in XXS – 5XL and Petite and Tall creates two problems. The first is a space issue. The second is financial. To accommodate the new demand of an exponential increase is SKU’s, the retailer needs more space for shelves, more clothes racks and more inventory that will in many cases sit for months instead of days or weeks. Financially, this new demand creates slower turns of inventory and financial risk at the hands of the owner. These are the same reasons many hospital gift shops experiment with, but quickly stop selling scrubs.

While options are very important to healthcare employees, of equal significance is convenience. Campbell County Memorial Hospital recognized its employees didn't necessarily want to spend their days off shopping for scrubs. What the employees really want is a place to order online, where the product is ordered and delivered directly to their homes with the hospital logo already on the garment.

Based upon our model, allcustomwear.com is able to accommodate the particular demands of a color-coded uniform program. Our model is not simply designed to launch a program to get the employees into uniform in the shortest time period, but we are also structured to best handle new hires and replacement uniforms, years after initial implementation.  

Why will promotional products brokers disappear?

The reason why people say promotional products brokers will disappear is simple:  The Internet.

It's all Al Gore's fault so don't shoot the messenger...  

Al Gore invented the Internet to ruin promotional products brokers.

It really shouldn't be this way, but so many promotional products brokers have fallen into the trap of doing nothing more than just finding you stuff.  And, once they sense that you may have multiple brokers also finding you the same stuff, they just give it away.  Giving it away is totally sensible really.  After all, they aren't adding any value to the products they sell so why should they expect to make any money off of selling it to you untouched.

I know, I know, there are a ton of brokers that are adding a ton of value.  But, I wouldn't call these people brokers.  These people are marketing professionals that just happen to work for themselves instead of your company.  These people I love.  The promo brokers that will disappear are the ones that are just "brokers".

If you don't believe what I'm saying, just think logically about what a promo broker does.  They use the Internet to find you stuff and they work like heck to get the price of that stuff down.  It's actually cheaper for the people selling that stuff to just let you, the end customer, buy the stuff directly from them.  It's cheaper because they don't have to put up with the brokers constantly pecking away at their pricing, all while submitting handwritten orders because they're not real companies.

I know none of this sounds very nice.  It's a little on the nose, I admit.  There was definitely a time when brokers were a great way to scale up a sales force without having to hire a bunch of sales people, but if that time hasn't already passed us by, it's about to.  

Let's get real here and just admit that Al Gore killed the promo broker when he invented the Internet.

Why should hospital scrubs have the hospital's logo?

Doesn't this seem like an unimportant question?  What possible benefit could come from something so inconsequential as a small hospital logo on the chest or sleeve of a scrub top?

While we can all agree that having a logo on your chest doesn't directly do anything to make you a better caregiver, this is actually an issue being discussed at hospitals these days so we felt like it would be worthwhile to document some of what is going on and why.  The benefits to having a uniform branded with the hospital logo are manyfold and the downsides can be easily avoided.

First, the upsides...

Most obviously, branding the entire network of people wearing scrubs with the hospital mark improves the appearance of the employee. This is a benefit to both the hospital and the employee because it gives legitimacy and it visually pulls together the look of the team as a team.  This assumes, of course, that the hospital has a reputable brand and the logo is done tastefully.

Picture in your mind the hallways, rooms, and gathering areas of a hospital and how they look.  There are lots of people moving around performing what appears to be important tasks.  They are doing things that we don't understand necessarily but it's clear that they know what they are doing.  People writing are things down, interacting with computers, gathering and organizing instruments, pushing buttons on strange machines, etc.

What are most of the people we see moving around with purpose are wearing in your imagined hospital scene?  Scrubs?  Lab coats?  Do the people in your imagination have a logo on their left chest?  Probably not.  Try to imagine what it would look like if they all did have the same logo on their left chest.  Well, the top hospitals in the US have started imagining the same thing and they're making it a standard.

Another huge upside to the hospitals as well as the patients is security.  When everyone has the logo on their scrubs there is an element of security that is brought into play.  Sure, it's a perceived security, but perception is everything.  When the patients can easily recognize that the people that have the hospital logo on their uniform are supposed to be there, they feel more secure.

So, what are the downsides?

The main downside to having a logo on your hospital uniform is that you can't wear that uniform anywhere but at that hospital.  Yes, that's right, many people working at a hospital often work at multiple hospitals, and, yes, they are wearing the same scrubs from one hospital to another.

So while the limitation caused by having the hospital logo on your scrubs is a downer for the entry-level nurse or technician, it's a good thing for a hospital that is paying for some or all of their employees' uniforms.

Our conclusion...

You can expect that all hospitals giving a uniform allowance to their employees will require a logo in the near future.  It has too many benefits and, in the end, the hospitals will force it for financial reasons.

How can we increase Employee and Patient Satisfaction through branding?

Healthcare networks are faced with an increasing number of competitors. Nationwide pharmacy chains, localized care centers and other local networks provide the consumer a broad assortment of choices. The importance for healthcare providers to create loyal customers cannot be overstated. Creating brand loyalty starts with brand recognition. allcustomwear.com has created a platform designed to highlight your brand while engaging in programs that increase employee and patient satisfaction.

Color – Coded Uniforms

Color Coded or Color by Discipline uniform programs are designed to allow employees and patients the ability to identify various members of the healthcare team.  Successful programs inherently improve patient safety and care, increase patient satisfaction, and contribute to a culture of professionalism and higher expectations from your staff.

Employee Recognition

Sybil Stershic said, “The way your employees feel, is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don’t feel valued, neither will your customers.” Recognizing outstanding service is a way to lead, motivate and retain quality employees.

Personalized Service Recovery

Implementing, a service recovery program requires time and training. However, in the end, these programs develop customer retention, improve processes, and have proven to be cost-effective. Adding a layer of personalization to such programs only enhances the customer experience and builds deeper customer devotion.

Consistent Branding and Messaging

Healthcare networks have multiple locations and numerous departments within those facilities. Controlling the brand standards is virtually impossible without a single point solution to manage brand guidelines and cultivate a consistent message to the consumer.

allcustomwear.com’s proprietary platform allows healthcare networks the opportunity to achieve measureable results in employee and patient satisfaction, while building brand loyalty. Our solutions manage the programs and provide important data and reporting at both the individual and department level.

Why will all good hospitals eventually have color coded uniform programs for their nurses?

Answer: Color Coded Uniform Programs have a direct impact on HCAHP scores.

Could this actually be true?  Is it possible that how we dress at work effects how we perform?  How could having each functional unit of patient facing employees wear coordinating uniforms actually result in a lower HCAHP score?  How do we get real answers to this question?

Up to this point, all that had ever been done was a simple study where patients were shown a series of photos to which they reported their first impressions.  They were shown images of nurses wearing non-matching uniforms vs. nurses wearing coordinated uniforms.  The balance of those tests revealed exactly what you would expect.  A coordinated looking group of employees looks more professional.

Recently, a few very smart people at the University of Northern Colorado set out to find some real answers to these questions that were based in statistically significant data.  Catherine Dingley, PhD, RN, FNP, University of Northern Colorado; Kathy Boyle, PhD, RN and Denise Johnson, BS; Denver Health Medical Center, set out to do just that.

The study was performed at the Denver Health Medical Center, a 477 bed urban public safety net hospital in the Denver metro area.  At DHMC they had the opportunity to study and compare the before and after of a full-blown color coded uniform program.

The last 2 sentences in their published study sum up their results nicely:

Nurses’ dress and appearance significantly affected patient and family perceptions and could potentially affect their response and satisfaction with care as well. In addition, staff engagement and participation in decision-making are vital to successful implementation of organizational change such as color-coded uniforms.

So a few Ph.D's did a study and got some results that line up with the common sense idea that teams that look more professional give a better impression to their patients and their patients' families.  Ok, that make sense.  But how does this improve an HCAHP score?

HCAHP scores are all about patient impressions.  Service is in the eye of the beholder.  Quality is in the eye of the beholder.  Are HCAHP scores really that important if they are just tied to perception?  Ask anyone in the administration of a hospital network and they'll tell you that HCAHP scores are everything.  They are tied to funding and funding is tied to providing good quality care.

Let's abandon the academic approach for just a minute and get down into some micro-views of this topic.  In a recent interview we conducted with Kati Kleber, author of the awesome book Becoming Nursey, we got some first-hand insight into how a color coded uniform program helps in a practical way. (BTW - Becoming Nursey is available on Amazon here!)

Kati said that there were way too many times when one of her patients had coded and she needed to pull a team together almost instantly.  She quite literally didn't have time to run out into a hallway and start checking people's badges.  It would be nice if the teams everyone worked on were always totally consistent, but that's just not the world we live in.  

Having people in uniforms according to their job function could not be more important than during these moments of incredible lifesaving action.

Ok, now let's back off of the micro-view and pan out to take a look at a broad, indirect effect of color coded uniforms.  Take a look at these two photos and think for a second what effects a coordinated uniform program has on its employees and how they think of themselves and their team.

Both sets of employees are qualified, brilliant, life-saving machines.  There's no question, right?  Now think about what Kati Kleber said about having to pull together a team in an instant.  Does having our clothing, which is actually a tactical garment this case by the way, help fill a function of our job make us feel more professional about ourselves and our team?  

We have started asking all of our clients this question and we're getting the same response every time.  Nurses fight it at first because they don't want to be told what to wear but very quickly they appreciate the functionality of having coordinated uniforms.  

Coordinated uniforms are something that the administration, the nurses, and most importantly the patients can all appreciate.  

And, it's not just conjecture, there's actual data to back it up.  I always say, "In God we trust, all others bring data".  So, the next time someone brings up the issue of color coded uniforms, be sure to tell them that they work to everyone's benefit and you can prove it!

What does OSHA say about Safety Incentives Programs?

OSHA has had quite a bit to say about Safety Incentive Programs over the last few years.  And, although many people act as if it's a murky area for OSHA, what they are saying is really quite clear:

A Safety Incentive Program must incentivize safety!

That's seems pretty straightforward, right?  It's as if they shouldn't even have to say anything at all.  I mean, of course a Safety Incentive Program needs to incentivize safety.  What else would it do?

Herein lies the difficulties with such a program.  Many well-intentioned safety programs can actually do just the opposite of incentivizing safety.  They can actually dis-incentivize safety.  Let's look at the ways this can happen:

1. An employer punishes an employee, or a group of employees, that has reported an injury.  If you're like me you're thinking, "who would do that?"  Like me you're picturing someone being put into timeout or something.  In reality a punishment can be something as simple as withholding an achievement related bonus or reward.  This would actually be considered a punishment and I think we can all imagine this actually happening on a job-site.
2. An employee gets injured and is punished for not following the rules of the Safety Program.  This could theoretically be acceptable if the employer punished the employee(s) every single time the safety rules were not followed, but if the employer is only enforcing the punishments when someone gets hurt, which is much more likely, then it goes against the OSHA regulations.
3. An employer establishes a program that rewards employees that have not experienced any injuries. This is the one that trips everyone up because this is the one where everyone's intentions were good.  Unfortunately, however, by rewarding only the people that have not had any problems you're actually incentivizing everyone to keep quiet about the things that need to be improved.  

OSHA has also observed that the potential for unlawful discrimination under all of these policies may increase when management or supervisory bonuses are linked to lower reported injury rates. While OSHA appreciates employers using safety as a key management metric, they will bring down the hammer on a program that encourages discrimination against workers who report injuries.

The Bottom Line is that OSHA wants to see Safety Incentive Programs that promote everyone to be vigilantly looking for ways to improve safety and to speak up when they see opportunities to make their work environment safer.

For direct look at what OSHA has to say, read this memo on OSHA.gov https://www.osha.gov/as/opa/whistleblowermemo.html

For some help with your Safety Incentive Program, or to simply have us take a look at your program to get an opinion from us, please contact us at allcustomwear.com.

What is an OSHA VPP Certification and how do I get one for my job site?

VPP is an OSHA Program that stands for Voluntary Protection Program.  In the most basic sense, it's a way to recognize employers and workers who have implemented an effective safety and health management system that is actually producing measurably better results.

When a site is VPP certified, you know that OSHA, the management and the workers involved are all working together to make sure that the site is a safe place.  And, the site is re-evaluated every 3-5 years to ensure that it stays safe.  Really everybody wins.

The upside:  VPP certified sites are proven to be safer and more productive.  Everyone is approaching the safety of the workplace from the same unified direction.  The company, the workers, OSHA, and the union when applicable.  When these groups are working together things get done correctly.

And, a site that has achieved VPP certification is exempt from OSHA programmed inspections while the VPP status is maintained.  This is GOOD.

The downside:  There's some paperwork, for sure.  Just the application is a 30 page PDF (download it here) and there's a lot that goes into completing the application.  

And it's way more than just paperwork.  Your organization has to be totally committed to the VPP guidelines and you have to be the type of organization that is used to tracking data and providing transparency to that data for both the employees and OSHA.  But this is just good business so there's nothing to be afraid of, right?!

We can help you through the process.  Our clients typically find that they've been doing what's required all along, they just needed someone that had been through it before to get it all organized and implemented efficiently.

Contact us for more info at www.allcustomwear.com.