Medical Center leadership answers the tough questions about what the elevate program is and what it means for the people who work at VUMC.
Question: There are still areas in the hospital where it appears that elevate is not happening. Who is responsible for getting these areas on board with the program?
Answer: While we're all responsible for elevate, ultimate responsibility for directing this change rests with the Medical Center's senior leadership team, who together form the elevate steering committee.
The adoption of goals and management practices by our senior leaders was the crucial first step in elevate.
Our strategy ever since has hinged on education and discussion in large seminars and other management forums.
Elevate is a set of measures and goals entailing a shift in organizational culture at VUMC.
Some areas of the Medical Center are out ahead of this shift, some may be lagging behind and most are somewhere in between.
It's to be expected that some areas would manage to change more quickly than others.
The day is fast approaching when any areas of VUMC that aren't committed to elevate will stick out like a sore thumb.
I have every confidence that as we continue to promote our work standards and goals, as we give staff and faculty more information about performance and outcomes, and as more of our managers and faculty leaders adopt the management practices that we've been promoting, people in all areas of VUMC will find themselves participating fully in elevate.
— Harry Jacobson, M.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs