Developing Leaders At Your ASC w/ Jessica Bush BSN RN CAPA CPC

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Erik Sunset: Hello and welcome back. I’m Erik Sunset, your host in the DocBuddy Journal. Here at DocBuddy, we deliver healthcare solutions that take the pain and costs out of broken workflows, like with our Op Note solution, which gives ASCs the power of instantly generated operative reports approved from the point of care.

Erik Sunset: You can learn more about Op Note and all of our products at DocBuddy. com. And today we’ve got a great guest. We’re joined by Jessica Bush. Jessica is the CEO of Real Change RN. She’s got over 20 years of leadership and nursing experience. She’s a certified Maxwell leadership facilitator, trainer, and professional coach.

Erik Sunset: She’s also a certified perianesthesia registered nurse and a certified patient experience improvement specialist. Jessica, thanks so much for joining us today.

Jessica Bush: Hey, thank you for having me. I’m excited.

Erik Sunset: I’m excited that you’re here too. And hopefully that was a fair shake on your intro. What uh, what else should listeners maybe know about you though?

Jessica Bush: Yeah, you know, I mean, I’m just here to see how I can help the world around me. You know, I’ve had an opportunity to be on both sides of, of the bed as a [00:01:00] patient and as the nurse and provider and as the healthcare leader and administrator. So kind of having that full circle of what it’s like all the way around, I think makes, makes me a little bit different from a lot of other healthcare leaders.

Jessica Bush: And so I like to bring that full, fresh perspective into my talks.

Erik Sunset: You get a 360 degree view of the uh, the situation. And speaking of talks, part of the reason we’re together today, um, is you’re actually the keynote speaker for this week’s Georgia and South Carolina Joint CINI Annual Conference. Uh, over there in Hilton head, South Carolina, and, uh, that’s pretty, pretty tall building.

Erik Sunset: Their keynote speaker, your talk is being the leader that people don’t want to leave without giving away too much. What can you tell us about your, uh, your speaking engagement?

Jessica Bush: Yeah, you know, that comes from experience again, you know, being on the receiving end of leaders who really didn’t know how to lead and then becoming a leader myself and trying to figure out how to [00:02:00] navigate, how to be, how to create teams, how to be a person that influences other people, you know, what is it like and what does it take?

Jessica Bush: And so this week we’re going to bring it to the teams and let them know, Hey, you have the opportunity to be the leader that nobody wants to leave and you can make a difference, not only for your teams, but for yourself as well. So it’s going to be inspiring. It’s going to be great. And they’re going to, they’re going to take away a lot of great tools.

Erik Sunset: That’s going to be a good speaking slide. I think it’s 8 30 AM on Friday. Uh, to kick off the main event for the show and you, you hit the nail on the head with, um, with being able to be a leader that people don’t want to leave. That’s such an important factor for the surgery center, uh, from the patient experience side to physician engagements.

Erik Sunset: Before we started to record, we were touching on the significance of that patient experience and maybe how culture at an ASC can impact that. Obviously, leaders need to drive that culture and define what it means to be an employee at the [00:03:00] surgery center. Now, I’m wondering some of your thoughts there.

Jessica Bush: You know, I think that there’s been a lot of attention on patient experience this year because you know, ASCs are required to implement the mandatory OAS caps beginning next year. And so this idea around patient experience surveys has become somewhat of a buzzword if you will, you know, but I, but I think the one thing that we’re really missing to communicate to our ASC leaders.

Jessica Bush: is why the patient experience is so important, and it’s not just about doing surveys, you know, but it, but it hits so many things like reimbursement, reviews, referrals, and your ASC’s reputation, you know, so I think about it like this, um, Erik, tell me if you were to go on a vacation, how would you go about selecting a hotel?

Erik Sunset: Oh, you got to look at the reviews first and foremost, right?

Jessica Bush: Yeah, you. Exactly. So, so the reviews or the star rating. So like, if you can afford a five [00:04:00] star hotel, you would, you would choose that. But after you, you picked your star rating, what do you do next?

Erik Sunset: Oh, well, we talked about this. I’ve got two young daughters. We got to know how the pool is. Is there a lazy river? Where can we feed them on property? I mean, you’re looking at all the different angles that make the stay memorable or enjoyable.

Jessica Bush: Exactly. And that is exactly what the OIS CAHPS survey does. Is it looks at all of the things that patients have an interest in, and it allows them to compare apples to apples. Because, let’s face it, there’s, there’s surgery centers and hospitals all over. You know, there’s 10 within a 10 mile radius of my house here.

Jessica Bush: And so if I needed to get a knee replacement, how do I choose which one to go to? It is not just about your physician, but it’s also about what kind of place is that? You know, what are the customer reviews saying? You know, um, is there, um, a high rate of infection? Do the, the, the staff care about me? You know, there’s a [00:05:00] lot of extra things that go into the patient experience that no, not only affects.

Jessica Bush: It affects your reimbursement in 2025, but it also affects what kind of place you are, what you’re known for and what you stand for. And so I’m excited because, you know, as a, as a patient myself, um, we had a lot of time, uh, in, in the hospital situation on the receiving end. And I’ll tell you if the staff is great, your experience is great.

Jessica Bush: You know, but if the staff isn’t, your experience isn’t either. And so there’s a lot of things that goes into creating that. And that’s what we’re going to talk about a little bit today.

Erik Sunset: Yeah, you’re hitting on a topic that’s been hot and it’s kind of cooled and maybe has re emerged around patient surveys as the header, but the consumerization of healthcare. Patients seem to have a lot more choice choosing their surgery center than they do maybe their primary care physician. Um, especially if you’ve been [00:06:00] seeing the same provider for a decade or longer, you know, you’re not really going to be out shopping around, likely.

Erik Sunset: Whereas compared to the surgery center, you’ve got a lot of choice there and it’s very competitive both for the facility and for the providers.

Jessica Bush: Yeah, absolutely. And that competition is what drives performance, right? And so that’s what the OAS CAHPS does. Is it creates those benchmarks so you know, you know how you’re measuring up in that competition and competition in the surgery center is, is fierce, you know, and, and you want to be on top. And as everyone is starting to come into the pool, you’re going to see really how, how well you’re performing.

Jessica Bush: And so will your patients. And so were your prospective surgeons. And so were your nurses who are looking for a new place to work. Nobody really wants to work at a mediocre place, right? Unless you’re a mediocre person, but that’s not who we want to draw. You know, we want to be excellent, and we want to have excellent [00:07:00] staff and excellent surgeons.

Jessica Bush: And to do that, you have to have an excellent culture.

Erik Sunset: And the outcome there at the end of this production line is a excellent patient experience, an excellent patient outcome. So what, what are some of the things that takes to ensure you achieve those benchmarks?

Jessica Bush: Well, it all starts with, with the staff, you know, an engaged staff is motivated by an effective leader. You know, at Real Change, we specialize in leadership development, workplace culture transformation, change management and quality improvement. All of those pillars really goes into creating and mastering a positive patient experience.

Jessica Bush: And so, so often. You know, we identify a nurse who serves as a great charge nurse and promote them to a manager, give them a budget and a roster, but never teach them how to lead. See, the reality is, is that people don’t leave their job, they leave their boss or their workplace culture, right? The job is the same no matter where you go with maybe a few different nuances, but if you [00:08:00] want to create a positive patient experience, you have to develop leaders who create and engage staff.

Jessica Bush: And as a Maxwell leadership trainer, facilitator, and coach, we have a curriculum that has been helping leaders grow and to develop the leader within. And so we’re seeing, um, this, this new onset of transformational leadership, really taking root in the healthcare industry. Because people don’t want to be controlled, you know, there is, there’s a new way of leading now, you know, with five different generations in the workforce, we have to change our approach.

Jessica Bush: So now what we’re realizing is that people want to be led and everyone deserves to be led well. So if you want to develop your business, you have to develop your leaders and creating a positive patient experience starts at the top. Not at the bedside.

Erik Sunset: Oh, there, I have a few different, uh, paths we can take here with that. That’s sort of classic ASC scenario. You’re taking somebody on the [00:09:00] clinical operation side a lot of times, and you need an administrator or business ops manager said they’re great at what they do. They’re going to be even better as an administrator or BOM.

Erik Sunset: What do you do, uh, to kind of help soothe nerves that, okay, now I’m in charge of money to an extent I haven’t been before. So the budget and my finances, I need to have all of that in order. And that’s math. I’m pretty good at math. I can. You know, do most of this off the top of my head. But now I have to lead people, and now I’m expected to change who I am, maybe, maybe not, to be an effective leader.

Erik Sunset: Where do you start there? Because that’s got to be nerve wracking for some.

Jessica Bush: It is nerve wracking, and if it’s not, then I’m concerned, right? And so you have to treat everyone as an individual. You know, what is it that that moves them the most? You know, what is it that they worry about the most? What keeps them up at night? Where do they see their biggest gaps at? You know, and really starting at the basics, because you have to lay a foundation for really what you want your [00:10:00] leadership style to be.

Jessica Bush: And the reality is, is that people don’t care how much, you know, until they know how much you care, you know, people want to be seen valued and affirmed. And so if you’re only leading, if people are following you, so what is it going to take? For people to want to follow you. And so what we’ve learned is that influence is the, the differentiation differentiating factor where people, when they’re connected to you, you have influence over their behavior.

Jessica Bush: And once you have influence, then you can get the right to lead. And so. Going back to, to basics about what it takes, you know, just to be a good human, connecting with other good humans. Don’t worry about carrying this new leadership title because it’s just a title. You know, it doesn’t get you anything other than the right to lead.

Jessica Bush: But you’re only leading if you’re influencing, right? [00:11:00] And so some of the things that, um, we, we help teach leaders about influences that you have to be real. And, uh, we’ve created a little mnemonic that helps kind of bring this home and I’ll share it with you guys if you’d like.

Erik Sunset: Please, yeah, I’ve got to hear it now.

Jessica Bush: so when you think about being real, it’s not just about being authentic, but the R stands for being relational.

Jessica Bush: You know, people want to connect with you on a human level. And, you know, when, when you care about them and you care about their family and the things that are important to them, then you begin to matter to them back. Right. And so, so R is relational. E is empathetic. You know, empathetic means not just, you know, trying to, to feel sorry for someone or help them in their situation, but really taking the approach to where you care about them.

Jessica Bush: You care about their outcome. You care about what they care about. And that gives them meaning, you know, when, when you have a leader that cares about you, it, it makes [00:12:00] all of the difference. So being relational, being empathetic, A is authentic. People just want you to be yourself and, and you have to kind of learn, you know, what yourself looks like, you know, one of the sayings that John Max was, you have to know yourself to grow yourself.

Jessica Bush: And so beginning that self awareness journey to what your leadership style looks like, it’s going to help you as you begin to build your foundation, to be a new leader. And then the last one is, um, active listening. And that’s something that, that we all have. room to grow in from my experience, especially I’m the worst of them all, is in, in health care, we get so used to solving problems, right?

Jessica Bush: We go right into solutioning and moving to the next thing. And so how often do we overlook things that really could have made a difference in our outcomes? And so when you can be real, with your teams and be real with your patients that creates connections that build [00:13:00] bridges. And those bridges are what not only connect you to your teams and to your patients, but to your surgeons, to your community.

Jessica Bush: It’s all about showing up and deciding how do you want to show up today? You know, what does that look like? What does that feel like? And as you learn and grow in who you are as a leader, this foundation here will set the course to actually have followers, if that makes any sense.

Erik Sunset: Yeah, it makes a ton of sense, and it, I can’t help but quip, it sounds like Machiavelli’s The Prince is not a part of this curriculum.

Jessica Bush: You know, there’s, there’s so much to learn and there’s so much that, that, that we don’t know. But one thing that we do know is that when you care about people, that it makes a big difference. And if you want to be a leader that people want to follow, it starts, it starts with caring about them. People want to know, can you help me?

Jessica Bush: Can I trust you and do you care about me? And if you can answer yes to [00:14:00] those three questions, then you can ask their permission to be their leader. But until then you’re just managing and managing the people aspects of delivering a service can really get excessively challenging. Right. You want to get to the point to where you’re leading people who are doing that.

Jessica Bush: That’s what leadership is. It’s not about just managing all these little things, but it’s more about a bigger picture about how do you partner with people to get them where they want to be. Right.

Erik Sunset: Well, there’s a big difference, at least in my mind, and you’re, you’re the expert here. So, so jump in if I go astray, but obviously businesses have metrics that they need to meet. If you’re simply managing saying, Hey, this, this one wasn’t good enough. What’s the problem? Why can’t you do better? That’s very different than, Hey, you know, we’re looking at the numbers and we’re not trending exactly how we want to, what do I need to do for you so that we as a group hit this number?

Jessica Bush: Yeah. And that goes kind of back to one of our other philosophies is that people [00:15:00] don’t want to be controlled. They want to be led. And how do you lead people? Well, you lead them by coaching. And so I would approach that situation with curiosity. You know, what was it that got in the way? You know, what, what were the barriers here that.

Jessica Bush: Inhibited us from reaching our KPIs, you know, what are the things that we’re doing? Well, what are the things that we can do better? See so often we forget to go to where the work is being rendered, you know, kind of that that lean management mindset, you know, go to the go to the work that’s that that’s being delivered and branded.

Jessica Bush: You know, all of, all of these things happen at the bedside. And so if you don’t know what’s going on at the bedside, you don’t know what you need to affect change in, but the people that are delivering your brand, Hey, they know what’s working. They know what’s not working and they know what needs to be changed.

Jessica Bush: And so ask them, bring them into the conversation because I’ll tell you one thing, when it’s your idea and your solution, you’re going to be [00:16:00] the only one doing it. But, if it’s their ideas, their solutions Then they will be the ones doing it. And again, that’s leadership

Erik Sunset: If we, if we can go back just a little bit to the conversation, I referenced this, uh, this new administrator, new business office manager. This may be great, uh, at their current role, whether that was being the charge nurse or whatever it was in the surgery center. They need some leadership help. That’s probably the more common, uh, role.

Erik Sunset: Uh, type of group that you work with. But what about the other side where you’ve got a really strong, uh, charismatic individual, uh, great at connecting with their coworkers, their superiors, their subordinates. And that’s not the right way to say that. I am aware that’s just what came to mind first. And they say, okay, great.

Erik Sunset: You’re the leader, but you know, you got to be a little more, uh, analytical. We need some more metric driven decision making to happen because everything’s fine. But you need to be paying attention to these numbers at your computer screen. Do you ever see any of [00:17:00] that?

Jessica Bush: all the time. It, the thing is, is that we have to kind of shift from trying to find people who are good at everything, because guess what? Who is actually good at everything? You know, one of the, one of the AFCs that I’m doing some awesome consulting work at, um, they have switched over to a strengths based leadership system.

Jessica Bush: And what they’re doing is, um, we spent like a day, you know, basically in kind of a retreat mode where, where we. Uncovered what every, every leader in the team was really good at. And then we had some charge nurses, um, who, who also were kind of part of this, this team conversation. And what we, what we did is we began to divvy up the work so that all of the leaders were able to serve.

Jessica Bush: In their strength zone, and so what happened was a bunch of exhausted leaders who really weren’t engaged in the process anymore because leadership is hard. They [00:18:00] began to shift into their strength zones. They began to communicate more, collaborate more and do what they loved. And what we found is it’s it’s all nearly all of our problems.

Jessica Bush: You know, our charge nurses rose up, they took a portion, you know, our coordinators rose up, they took a portion of our managers. You know, rose up and they still oversee, but, but being able to identify what your strength zone is, and then resource the things that you’re not good at, you’re not going to be good at everything.

Jessica Bush: And that’s normal, you know, but, but who do you know? That’s good at that thing. You know, or, or who do you know that can help solve this problem? You know, there’s, there’s a lot of ways to get to where you’re going. You only know a way, right? But there’s many ways. And so, as we have these conversations and begin to open up your mind to possibilities, you’re The sky is the limit.

Jessica Bush: You can do all things. You just need to have, you know, the resources, the team, the mindset, and the motivation,[00:19:00]

Erik Sunset: Well, I want to hear more about the strength zones, too. I would imagine there’s quite a few of them. But what are some of the major, the most prominent strength zones that you look at?

Jessica Bush: you know, you, you, you hit the nail on the head and healthcare is analytics, you know, we are so good at analytics, analytics, everyone kind of knows like the process, you know, way of it, but not everyone is actually good at the people side. You know, and and so when you can bring in someone who is really good at the people side, that’s your cheerleader.

Jessica Bush: That’s the one that motivates your team. You know, the one that’s able to keep things going. The fun person that has all of the, the, the unit parties, right? You know, everyone’s having a potluck when this person is working, you know, and then you have the people who, who are good at teamwork. You know, they, they know how to bring the teams together so that everyone is helping each other.

Jessica Bush: And then you have, you know, the people who they just like to lead. And, but we still need those people, the people who have the broad shoulders, [00:20:00] who can, who can step forward and give us, you know, some vision, you know, to the day. And, um, everyone kind of has, you know, their own thing that they’re good at, you know, but when you have someone who’s good with people, someone who’s good with process, someone who is good with systems, someone who’s good, you know, in all of these different areas that, that we bring into healthcare, you know, those are the people that you all want at your table.

Jessica Bush: And if you don’t want people who just think like you, because you’re only going to get what you’ve already gotten, you want, you want things to be different. You want to be able to expand your mind and expand your approach because people are different. And so when you begin to diversify, not only your friend group, your colleague group, but you’re thinking, you know, wow, you unlock a whole new area of possibilities and strengths that you didn’t even know that you had.

Jessica Bush: And, and, you know, there’s always going to be weaknesses in us. And what I have learned in patient experiences, not to focus on the patients who give you a one or a two, there’s no way you’re really going to be able to get them up to a five. [00:21:00] But if you focus on the patients who give you a three or four.

Jessica Bush: You know, what would it take to get you to a five? Those are the things that has a little bit, um, more opportunity to, to reach that low hanging fruit.

Erik Sunset: Yes, the old, uh, the old NPS score conundrum for those on the vendor side. What I’m curious about, Jessica, is we’ve invoked analytics, we’ve invoked systems a couple of times. Do you see any differences in the successful operation of ASCs? And you can certainly do it both ways, but the successful operation of ASCs, of those with an electronic health record versus those without, and just for clear definitions for our audience.

Erik Sunset: Every ASC has at least a practice management software. So patient accounts, your billing, your scheduling, call that the PM. But on the clinical record side, the EHR side, is there any difference that you see or any meaningful difference?

Jessica Bush: Well, there’s a lot of difference from a nursing standpoint. I can’t really speak [00:22:00] to the, the operation standpoint, but, but as an, as a nurse, you know, when, when you don’t have all of those buttons to click in the EHR, you have to think critically. And it’s really challenging to. To help people remember how to think critically if they haven’t practiced it recently.

Jessica Bush: And so what I love about EHR systems and even your product there at DocBuddy is the opportunity for things to be clear, concise, and it prompts you, you know, reminds you where to fill in the gaps. You know, oftentimes, you know, when you’re going from patient to patient of room to room, you know, you, you, you forget things that’s normal, right?

Jessica Bush: You know, but when you have systems that are in place that could remind you and prompt you, you know, then you can deliver a more comprehensive patient experience. And, and I think that’s the, the real deal, you know, to focus on.

Erik Sunset: Yeah, obviously you’ve been [00:23:00] biased, but think you’re absolutely right. It’s such an interesting spot that the ASC is in, you know, withheld for meaningful use. So nobody’s making you buy an EHR like hospital and the practice side. I wonder if there’s not a future where that doesn’t change though, and this is just conjecture.

Erik Sunset: As more and more of these procedures come off the IPO, that would be like a Medicare type procedure. I just wonder if there isn’t a future where Medicare says, We’re not getting let’s fix that

Jessica Bush: Yeah, you know it’s coming. It just takes a little while for them to get caught up.

Erik Sunset: too funny. And I think you’re probably right about that too. Um, so coming back to sort of the central theme around culture and the ASC, you know, great leaders as a rule are able to make great hires and retain great staff. Um, this is a tough job market though, to be on the facility side. And it seems to me from the folks that I talked to and our clients [00:24:00] and the folks that we see at shows like Georgia and South Carolina, uh, which will be both be at this week.

Erik Sunset: The ability to make a hire is harder than it’s ever been. Any idea why?

Jessica Bush: Well, there’s a lot of reasons why. One of the reasons why is after COVID, 40 percent of nurses left the profession. You know, hello. There has been a big shift in so many ways in healthcare. And from a nursing approach, there is everything that is different. Nothing is the same. Patients aren’t the same. Um, practice isn’t the same, you used to be able to, even your own coping mechanisms are not the same.

Jessica Bush: What used to work for you, it doesn’t work anymore. And so what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to do what we’ve always done and expecting a different response. You know, people want to have something different from, from their workplace, you know, and what they’re looking [00:25:00] for is, is a place of belonging.

Jessica Bush: A place that values them, a place that hears them, a place where they matter. You know, I was looking at some research around this, you know, what, what does it take, you know, to, to increase employee engagement or make employees happy, you know, and they did this study where, you know, if we give them a pizza party, you know, how long does that If we, um, and give them a raise, how long does that increase engagement?

Jessica Bush: Um, if we have their leader, um, give them a handwritten note once a week, how long does that increase their engagement? And so Erik, which one do you think lasted the longest to increase engagement?

Erik Sunset: Pizza parties are great, a little more money in the bank account is always great, but, you know, I’m, I’m at a point I, uh, I’m gonna guess number three, the appreciation.

Jessica Bush: Well, let me ask you. So when you get a handwritten card, you know, from one of your clients, doesn’t that mean something to you? Um,[00:26:00]

Erik Sunset: Oh, totally, it’s such an oddity now, nobody writes notes for anything, it’s all email or text, and it’s not the same.

Jessica Bush: And do you keep it?

Erik Sunset: Um, I actually do, uh, believe it or not, I file them all away. I have so few of them that it’s not a hard record to keep.

Jessica Bush: You know what? And it’s because, you know, everyone needs encouragement. Right. We all need to know that what we’re doing is, is valued that it’s making a difference that we’re reaching someone. And that goes back to leadership. You know, um, we want, we want our, our teams to know that you see them. Um, that you hear them and that you want them, and I’ll tell you there, once you can create the culture, you know, that is likened to that of a family, it makes all the difference.

Jessica Bush: You know, I remember, um, back in my early days in nursing, I was [00:27:00] working on, um, a really challenging step down unit with vented patients and IV drips. It was the hardest unit in the entire facility, you know, and it was midnight shift at that, but I, but I worked there on that shift with those, with, with those peers for more than five years.

Jessica Bush: And the reason that, um, I stayed was because of the team, you know, we took care of each other. We helped each other. You know, one of the mottos was, you know, um, no one sits unless we all sit. you know, and, and so when, when you’re having, you know, these acute patient situations and this heavy load, you have to have a team approach.

Jessica Bush: It’s the same as when you’re trying to run an operating room, everyone has to be doing their part in order for that surgery to go well. And so each of those pieces is dynamic. And [00:28:00] required and one cannot be good enough without the other. And so when you can communicate that value to your team members and they sense how they fit in to the overall mission and vision of the organization, that that does something, you know, to where, when you go to work, you know, that what you do today, it matters.

Jessica Bush: And. Not only does it matter to your team, but it matters to your patients. It matters to your community, it matters to the surgeon. You know, that’s meaningful work and we all wanna be a part of meaningful work, you know, so that when we go home, we are happy with how we did us today, how we showed up, what we delivered, and what the outcomes were.

Jessica Bush: That’s when you can lay your head down at night and rest in peace, you know, knowing that you did your best and that all comes from leaders, you know, setting the bar, communicating the way, modeling the way, showing the way, going the way [00:29:00] and leading first, you know, and, and that creates, um, a culture where people won’t leave.

Erik Sunset: Well, I got to ask you this too. There’s, there’s a lot of leaders that do listen to this podcast. Um, but what about for those that aren’t in a leadership position and what, what you just walked through would be the utopian job environment, meaningful work, alignment with the organization, a leader that you can trust and that trusts you back.

Erik Sunset: That’s the exact opposite of all the physician and nurse burnout studies that have been released, you know, since time immemorial. It’s out of alignment with the organization. My work doesn’t feel meaningful. I’m doing too many bureaucratic tasks. The bottom line is it’s just not meaningful work. It doesn’t feel like meaningful work.

Erik Sunset: So what do you say to that person?

Jessica Bush: I say, you know what? Why don’t you spend some time and look and see what matters to you? You know, what are your core values? You know, what are the things that are most important to you? Like two of my core values is kindness and [00:30:00] respect. So whenever I’m in a situation, whether it’s a leadership position where I’m doing performance, um, behavior reviews, or if I’m in the boardroom or wherever I am, you know, kindness and respect are there with me and people know that that’s what I expect and that’s what I deliver.

Jessica Bush: And so going back to the things that matter to you, yeah, you’re right that that may not matter to somebody else. But what does matter to you? How do you want to show up every day? Because you’re responsible for your own fulfillment. You can’t look to, you know, a job or provider, a spouse even to give you fulfillment, right?

Jessica Bush: That fulfillment needs to come from within. So who are you at your core? What do you believe at your core? What kind of person do you want to be? How do you want people to describe you? You know, because you are branding yourself every day with your behavior, right? So, so what do you want that brand to look like?

Jessica Bush: What do you want it to represent? How do you want people to remember [00:31:00] you? And so rather than placing all of that weight on what others are going to do for you, just look inward. You know, you have to know yourself to grow yourself. And, and when you can know yourself in a way that you, you know, what’s fulfilling to you, you know, what your purpose is and you know how to fuel that passion.

Jessica Bush: It’s a passion that doesn’t run out. You know, for me in, in nursing, if I would go too long without really connecting with one of my patients, I would shrivel up to like a dried up raisin, like my spirit would just be like dry and I would be sad and depressed and a little crabby. You know, but when I would take the time to connect with my patients and get to know them and just be able to make a difference for them, to see them and hear them, that gave something to me.

Jessica Bush: And we know from research that there, whenever you can give something to someone [00:32:00] that actually deposits into your emotional bank account. You, you know, I was just looking at another research study, uh, around wellbeing and, um, they were saying that whenever you, um, give gratitude that the deliverer and the receiver both have an immediate 10 percent increase in happiness, but how is that?

Jessica Bush: Well, because you, you both get a little shot of dopamine, you know, you, you both get a little happiness. chemically out of out of that action. And so delivering gratitude, being thankful for what you have, those are the things that that help you be fulfilled and happy. You’re always going to have things to do.

Jessica Bush: And the work is tough, but if you don’t Fill yourself with what you need to be your best self. You always run dry.

Erik Sunset: I’m going to try to paraphrase you here and, uh, let me know, let me know how I do. So I know you’ll know this phrase or this term, Jessica, but we’re talking about the, the [00:33:00] locus of control and it’s a psychological spectrum. And this is for our listeners. Either you have a high internal locus of control or high external, these are you do things.

Erik Sunset: Where things happen to you based on what you just described. It sounds like a shift to the higher or a higher shift of, uh, perception of the internal locus of control and maybe more agency and how you choose to go through your day is a lot of the key to this. Is that fair?

Jessica Bush: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It is, you know, because at the end of the day, you’re responsible for yourself and you’re the only one that you actually have control over. Right. So, so why not just do a good job and be happy. Right?

Erik Sunset: Yeah. And you. Easier said than done. You know, there are some tough situations to be in and it isn’t always easy to skew to that internal, uh, locus of control side of the spectrum. So certainly sympathetic to those in extraordinary circumstances or extraordinarily difficult spots. So don’t want to [00:34:00] take anything away from that, but at some level, there’s still a choice to be made.

Jessica Bush: Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks for, for clarifying that and bringing that up because, you know, we’ve gone through our, our fair of hardships as well, but I think it’s really through those hardships that I’ve learned to exercise those muscles and, um, you know, life is hard and, and leadership is challenging, healthcare is challenging, um, but I hope that you take the time.

Jessica Bush: To find out what really matters to you, each of our listeners, and to give yourself those things to schedule those times where you can honor yourself to really begin to look at what means something to you, what your values are, and then make sure that lines up with your calendar, you know, that you can just be happy and it is with whatever it is that you’re doing, because it’s Whenever you’re happy, you create happiness with [00:35:00] other people and going back to leadership and creating a place that influences people to stay.

Jessica Bush: You know, we have to partner with each other. You know, this life is not meant to be done alone. And creating the community around you where you could lock arms and walk and grow together. Um, that helps so much, especially in those difficult times, you know, because we often feel we’re alone. Um, but you’re not, you’re not alone and somebody probably has gone before you.

Jessica Bush: And, um, they need to help you as much as you need them. But thanks for, thanks for clarifying that.

Erik Sunset: Yeah, you bet. I’m not sure I have a great segue there and we’re, we’re getting kind of close to time. So one of the things I love to ask the guests of the show to kind of wrap up our episode is around AI and healthcare, artificial intelligence and healthcare, and there’s all kinds of applications being discussed.

Erik Sunset: Some are a lot more real than others. You know, some of the [00:36:00] classics are around diagnostics and imaging, being able to detect, uh, things that maybe the human eye can’t, because the human eye hasn’t seen a trillion versions of an image to show you what might be wrong in a tissue sampler. But one of the ways AI is being discussed around impacting, uh, the patient experience is, uh, fairly straightforward compared to the rest of the AI examples, and that’s around, like, responses out of a patient portal.

Erik Sunset: So that the physician isn’t burdened by a huge inbox of a hundred messages a night that need to be replied to. But if an AI, something like a large language model, an LLM, so chat GPT is like a commercial version of an LLM, you can make your own LLMs as well. Um, one of the things that patients are excited about, and I think health systems are more excited about than anybody, is the removal of that burden of a physician or a clinician to reply where an AI tool would be able to supply an appropriate response.

Erik Sunset: I think there’s a little bit of a double edged sword [00:37:00] here that somebody at some point needs to review these replies for accuracy, which takes time, but the patient would get a speedier response that may be waiting a couple of days to hear back from the provider. So do you have any thoughts on how AI might impact patient care, patient experience?

Jessica Bush: Absolutely, because communication is, is a foundation of the patient experience. The leadership experience, the team experience, everything. Everything revolves around communication and what you deliver. you know, is a communication tool that not only is able to communicate, you know, to, to the team, but to the patients, because, you know, when you’re on the receiving end, you know, of a diagnosis of, um, uh, a surgery, You know, you want to know what happened, you know, what’s my next step?

Jessica Bush: You know, what do I need to do? What are my complications? What should I be watching out for all of these things? What did you find? You know, they don’t remember talking to you after they had surgery. Patients, you know, have [00:38:00] first said, you know, a bunch of anesthesia, they don’t feel good, they just want to go home.

Jessica Bush: Right. So their ability to listen, you know, really ends. After the pre op experience, what, what, what you’re talking about is being able to provide that communication that helps them to get answers to their questions once they’re at home. And that’s when all of the questions really start to flood the patient.

Jessica Bush: And so being able to have this tool that could answer those things, you know, and, and really take the burden off the, off the position, the staff, um, that’s huge. That not only does that. Um, help, um, with, with getting the patients to where they need to be, but that, that enables your patients to have that connection with, with their surgeon that makes them happy, that helps them to ask the right questions.

Jessica Bush: And when they trust their, their provider, there’s, there’s even less lawsuits. So that communication can really begin to, um, eliminate the need for service recovery. Right. So [00:39:00] there’s a lot of things that I see about AI and um, the patient experience and I think that’s more for another conversation. Erik

Erik Sunset: Yeah, exactly. And so much is still being defined, even to this very minute. It’s all, it’s all a big experiment for now. And I think a lot of it will end up being useful. And though maybe 60, 40 useful, 40%, you’ll look back and go, nobody ever asked for that. Certainly nobody’s going to pay for it either.

Jessica Bush: now, you know, they will.

Erik Sunset: Well, Jessica, I want to thank you so much for your time to join us on the show today. I know for all of our Georgia and South Carolina listeners, They are in for a treat Friday morning, 8 30. You’re giving the keynote at the Georgia, South Carolina joints, uh, fall show and Hilton had to wish you all the best for your speaking slot there.

Jessica Bush: Yeah. Thank you. I’m looking forward to, it’s gonna be awesome.

Erik Sunset: And before you go, where can our listeners connect with you, your [00:40:00] websites, your socials, where, where can people find you?

Jessica Bush: Yeah, I’m on LinkedIn and um, and my website address is real easy. www.realchangern.com.

Erik Sunset: And we’ll of course have links to those, uh, sites in the show notes. And on behalf of the entire DocBuddy team, thank you for listening. Be sure you’re subscribed on Apple YouTube. So you always get the newest episodes of the show. I’ll talk to you again soon. I’m your host, Erik.