Q&A with the CEO — Ed Jimenez
We caught up with Ed Jimenez and asked him several questions for this edition of News+Notes. See how to submit your question at the bottom of the page!
The UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital had several medical specialties ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report again this year. What makes our pediatric services exceptional?
It always goes back to teamwork. Great doctors, great nurses, great techs and great support staff come together to share expertise and deliver amazing care. The formula isn’t that complicated, but executing it is. The U.S. News Best Children’s Hospital rankings look at several domains, but at its core it’s evaluating how we take care of patients. This list represents the who’s who in health care, and I am very proud of our faculty and staff for achieving this recognition.
Is our Hospitality & Service initiative working?
Yes it is. In the past, it might be random if an employee saw a visitor looking lost and asked them, “Can I help you?” Now it’s routine. It’s almost as night follows day that if someone looks misplaced in our buildings, somebody with a badge will stop to assist them. We receive patient and family letters and visitor feedback that note the warmth and friendliness of our staff. This is just one small example, but I think we’ve turned the corner on how we make patients and visitors feel, how we treat our teammates and how we respond to our employees’ concerns. I encourage all our hospital and core departments to host and attend Hospitality Huddles, where we’re reinforcing the standards of behavior and customer-focused service. This is how we make it work.
Was this year’s Employee Engagement Survey a success?
Yes! We were looking for two things. First was participation — we wanted the highest number of employees possible to tell us what’s on their mind. We also wanted to see that we were making progress with issues identified in last year’s survey. We saw both. We had the most surveys taken to date and we saw fewer issues that were repetitive. Employees won’t take the time to complete a survey if they don’t think we’re going to look at it and make changes. That’s what’s most rewarding — our employees know their feedback matters. Now, we’re working with managers to review results and address areas for improvement. It’s a continuous feedback and improvement cycle to create an even more supportive and rewarding work environment.
Why are our health colleges’ anniversary milestones important?
This year we’re celebrating the UF colleges of Medicine and Nursing’s 60th anniversaries and the UF College of Veterinary Medicine’s 40th anniversary. There are roughly 130 university hospitals, give or take, out of about 6,000 hospitals nationwide. We wouldn’t be who we are without the colleges that are part of UF Health, and we wouldn’t have the same broad mission to care, teach, discover and serve. For 60 years we’ve been committed to taking care of patients, training the next generation and advancing science. That’s pretty cool.
WANT TO SUBMIT A QUESTION?
Email taylt@shands.ufl.edu and we’ll consider it for an upcoming edition.