How did my uncle did it?

This is an inspiring story of my uncle who managed to turn a messed up department in a hospital into a well organized and the best department.

My uncle was transferred to that hospital because they are lacking of oncologist there. And as the only specialist in his department, he became the head of the department.

Seeing that everyone in his department is messed up with all of the government bureaucracy and heavy workload, he knew that something need to be done. All of the nurses were in bad mood, the doctors were burden with endless patients and the patrons weren't happy. It is all a connected mess.

The first thing that my uncle did is limiting the appointments to only 60 per day instead of 100 and more before. Each new appointments will be brought forward if the quota is full. By doing these, doctors are able to finish their clinical time by noon and able to do other responsibilities and taking some break. Nurses are feeling the same.

Next, he create a pantry that provides food and drinks so the staff don't need to get out and waste their time outside finding parking and wasting time on the journey to find food elsewhere. This has decrease the staff break time and increase their performance in the department

Other than that, my uncle is the first to come to work and the last to go back home. As the head of the department, he is supposed to make the round at the ward and make sure everything is in their places. The rules of this round is nobody gets home until my uncle did it. What my uncle did is he did the round late in the evening, about 5 pm. The reason? To eliminate the the culture of Malaysian government servants who punch in late and punching out early. some time later, everybody is finishing all of their works at the office.

The most important thing that he did is keeping and letting go the right person. It is a well known fact that his department is lacking of staff. but this one particular person is not performing well in the department. She had her own problem, and she keep on skipping work and taking leave. She had ask to be transferred for so many times, yet never approved because of the lacking of staff reason. But when my uncle see this, he approved her transfer and let her go off the department. After, what can a staff on leave contribute to the department?

These are the few changes that he did that totally turn the hospital ambiance. The doctors are happy, the nurses are happy, and most importantly the patients are happy.

I hope we all can learn from him and become better and better everyday.