The “Grow Your Own” approach means Mercy Medical Center
didn’t have to look far to find PET scanner technologists
As vice president for operations and nuclear medicine
supervisor respectively, Bryan Fick and Pat Novak knew they were faced with two
big workforce challenges last year as Mercy Medical Center acquired PET scanner
technology to enhance its diagnostic capabilities. The first was finding scarce
PET-trained technologists to perform and analyze the scans. The second was
keeping current staff from leaving during the stressful period when, beyond
building a suite for the scanner, the entire department was renovated.
The Fick-Novak team succeeded on both counts, through
creative approaches to recruitment and retention. Mercy Medical Center
now has three PET-trained technologists in place, with a fourth in training.
And no one left during the several-months’ construction process, which put
increased demands on staff as they worked to maintain a consistent level of
patient care among shifting office locations and other disruptions.
Fick explains that he and Novak, with strong support from J.
T. Salkeld, M.D., the department’s medical director, employed a wide range
of techniques to achieve their staffing goals. First, they didn’t have to
recruit for PET scanner technologists at all, at least not externally. Instead,
after a market assessment, the medical center offered a 5 percent differential
for the position—which motivated several current staff members to become
PET proficient. (The same market review resulted in a salary adjustment for a
number of the center’s current nuclear medicine technologists as well.)
In addition, the center relieved its nuclear medicine
technologists of a number of routine tasks by creating a new nuclear medicine
assistant position. Now two people hired from the outside do recordkeeping,
develop film, and provide support for patients during the scanning process.
And in his role as medical director, Dr. Salkeld made full
use of the range of employee recognition tools available at Mercy. These
included small monetary rewards for a job particularly well done; a number of
surprise breakfasts and lunches; and almost daily verbal acknowledgement of
some aspect of staff’s flexibility and dedication to patient care during
the construction process. That level of attention to employee morale isn’t
surprising, explains Fick, because the medical center is under the sponsorship
of the Sisters of Mercy. “A hallmark of the Sisters of Mercy management
approach is to recognize an institution’s responsibility to care for its
employees,” he explains.
Now things are running smoothly in Mercy’s Nuclear
Medicine Department, with patients and their physicians taking advantage of the
benefits of PET technology. These include the reduced need for invasive
diagnostic surgery and more accurate staging of cancers. That has been the goal
of the entire process—although it’s a little easier to see, now that
the dust has settled.
Contacts:
Bryan Fick
Vice President for
Operations
Mercy Medical Center
Phone: 410/332-9648
E-mail:
bfick@mercymed.com
Pat Novak
Nuclear Medicine Supervisor
Mercy
Medical Center
Phone: 410/332-9177
E-mail: pnovak@mercymed.com
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