by Isaiah Silva
Two urgent requests come in at the same time. If the louder caller gets help first just because they raised their voice, then the hospital is not running a priority system. It is leaving the decision to whoever answers the phone.
That person must decide what "urgent" actually means, usually between calls and with both callers making a fair case.
That is not a frontline problem. It is a design problem and design belongs to leadership.
Try this with your Support Services leadership team. Take two competing requests, remove the unit names and the callers' titles, and ask everyone which should go first and why. If the answers differ, your dispatcher is filling that gap alone every shift.
Environmental Services, Transport, and Equipment Services should help set those priorities since they are the ones who have to make them work.
A good priority system lets staff make a sound decision and stand behind it, even when the person on the phone disagrees.
How does your hospital decide which "urgent" goes first?
About the Author
Isaiah Silva is the founder and president of HealthOps, where he draws on more than two decades of healthcare operations experience to help hospitals streamline support services and improve patient care.