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Where the Mission Meets the Margin
A Field Study of Organizational Communication at Houston Methodist Hospital |
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Where the Mission Meets the Margin
A Field Study of Organizational Communication at Houston Methodist Hospital |
Like any organization, the Houston Methodist System uses certain terms that are familiar to those inside the organization that would not be familiar to outsiders. This includes shorthand terms and acronyms that make their internal communications more efficient. Throughout this document, we use the following terms that commonly appear in communications within the organization, and try to identify them when they come up, but we collect them here for clarity:
"6 Ps" = A shorthand to help caregivers focus on remembering the core aspects of patient care, including 6 terms: Pain, Potty, Possession, Position, Plan of Care, Pump
AIDET = A shorthand to help caregivers focus on establishing relational communications with patients, standing for: Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation, and Thank You
"Annex" = A separate office building adjacent to the HMWB hospital building, where HMWB Marketing and Brand management offices are housed
"Commercial patients" = commercially insured patients, or commercial-payer patients–patients with insurance coverage, the dominant source of revenue for a contemporary hospital (as opposed to patients with only Medicare and Medicaid), and thus the target of all marketing plans within HM
"Corporate" = for most people in HM, the term "Corporate" refers to the flagship Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, A.K.A. HMH and Downtown; within a centralized structure like HM, the local Marketing and Brand Management unit at HMWB calls the central Marketing and Brand Management team "Corporate" as well
"Cypress" = Houston Methodist Cypress, the new regional/community hospital located just Southwest of Houston Methodist Willowbrook, set to fully open in March 2025, which will segment the current HMWB market
"Downtown" = the flagship Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, A.K.A. HMH and Corporate
GHA = Greater Houston Area, the market within which HM operates as a system, where its main competitors are the Memorial Hermann Hospital System, M.D. Anderson Hospital System, Texas Children's Hospital System, and HCA
HCAHPS = Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems
HM = the Houston Methodist hospital system overall
HMH = the flagship Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, A.K.A. "Downtown" and "Corporate"
HMWB = Houston Methodist Willowbrook, the regional hospital where we were embedded for our fieldwork
"Huddle" = daily scheduled meetings for all personnel in a unit to coordinate actions or hand off projects to other members of the unit, often held at shift-change
ICARE Values = Integrity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence
MADI Board = Multichannel Audio Digital Interface, the digital screens distributed throughout the hospitals that serve as small billboards that rotate content produced by marketing & branding to communicate to employees, the public, or both
MLT = Marketing Leadership Team meeting, held weekly to coordinate marketing across the system
"Offstage" = operational locations within the hospital that are closed to the public, such as Facilities, Supply Chain, and Environmental Services
"Onstage" = locations within the hospital that are patient-facing and public
PO = Physician Organization, the dominant way that physicians are organized in relation to each other in their contracts with HM, as opposed to "Privates," Physicians with a direct relationship with HM
"Privates" = Physicians with a direct relationship with HM, not within a Physician Organization
"Stand-up" = 8:40 am daily meeting of managers of all the different units within the hospital, where key metrics about processing patients are outlined and where any interdepartmental issues or issues that need to be escalated to higher levels within the structure are discussed. Usually held in-person with a few managers tuning in virtually on TEAMS, but sometimes held fully virtually
"Sunset" = Central corporate offices for Marketing and Brand Management, located on Sunset Boulevard about a mile from the Texas Medical Center
"Teams" = Microsoft Teams, the main collaboration platform used within the HM System, but also used as a shorthand referring to a virtual or hybrid meeting on the platform, as in "Let's do a Teams next Tuesday at 3:00 to discuss that."
"Willowbrook" = Houston Methodist Willowbrook, or HMWB, named for the neighborhood in Northwest Houston where the hospital is located
      
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