What's a bronze application workshop like? Just ask Julie Wilson!

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What’s a bronze application workshop like? Just ask Julie Wilson!

By Lisa Foss Olson | January 18, 2019 | All members

We started this feedback process last year—asking an attendee to answer a few questions about their experience. It’s turned out to be a great way to spread the news about our in-person education programs. Which means, we are continuing this in 2019—starting with Julie Wilson from Home Care Senior Services/Integrity Senior Housing Management. Julie attended our January 9, 2019, Bronze Quality Award Application Workshop. Here’s what Julie thought about the day:

Tell us a little about yourself
I am the general manager of two small companies (based out of Maplewood) serving two assisted living communities, and two independent living senior housing communities in the Twin Cities and surrounding area. I am a licensed graduate social worker (LGSW) by trade and began working in this industry as a social worker in a nursing home many years ago. I have a varied background, which included being a continuous quality improvement (CQI) facilitator for a number of years, including lean office. I love this stuff!

Why did you decide to attend the Bronze Quality Workshop?
I wanted our leadership team that is onsite to participate in the process so they not only would own the projects but feel comfortable with using the PDCA process more regularly in our site management quality improvement. We saw it as the first step in building a more intentional quality program and have better tools and education on how to use them moving forward.

Have you attended a CPM workshop or education session before?
No, this was my first CPM workshop.

What did you like about the workshop experience?
The workshop was very engaging. Paul did a great job of keeping the process moving. Two things struck me as the greatest strength: 1) The structure of a 5–10-minute video, then 10-15 minutes of writing that step. Kept you focused and moving forward because you didn’t want to get behind. 2) The evaluators/mentors that were present and provided great insight and feedback into the quality award process—they did an excellent job with hands on assistance! A special shout out to Shauna, our evaluation/mentor for the day!

Anything surprising about the day?
We came prepared to outline our next QA project with SMART goals and all and realized at the end that the Bronze looks at past projects. We were not prepared for that…other than having a list of them.

If someone was thinking of attending next year, what would you tell them/any words of advice?
This is an excellent investment in money and time. Engage your site leadership in this process—it helps build ownership of the project and the process. If you feel like you are not ready or have not been following your quality process as much as you would like, don’t let that deter you—this workshop fuels your team with tools and a strong strategic approach to quality improvement.

Lisa Foss Olson | Director of Public Relations & Communications | lolson@careproviders.org | 952-851-2483

About Care Providers of Minnesota

Care Providers of Minnesota is a non-profit membership association with the mission to Empower Members to Performance Excellence. Our 900+ members across Minnesota represent non-profit and for-profit organizations providing services along the full spectrum of post-acute care and long-term services and support. We are the state affiliate for the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, and with our national partners we provide solutions for quality care.

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