Our new conference room!

As I write this on Patriots' Day, our state holiday, the 116th Boston Marathon has just finished. It reminds me of the entrepreneur who said that running a marathon is very similar to running a small business. To succeed, one needs to set a long-term goal and then set benchmarks (shorter-term goals) along the way. Day-to-day tasks might seem like distractions, but setting those short-term goals and then scheduling activities needed to reach them is what makes the long-term goal attainable. Finally, one reaches the end goal -- marathon day -- and is able to cross the finish line. Running a marathon or a business requires persistence, a competitive edge, and a mental toughness.

Marathoners crave cool temperatures, but today's unseasonable high of 89 degrees made it one of the 10 hottest days in the history of the race, resulting in some of the slowest finish times in years. Marathons don't get canceled because it's a lot hotter than ideal, and a business cannot sit out during tough economic times. In both endeavors, one must find a way to push oneself to stay in the race, even when ascending Heartbreak Hill at the 20-mile mark.

As part of our own "marathon," GRG moved its office last month just two buildings down the street from our old digs. With our 7-year lease ending, we knew it was time to make a change to more affordable quarters. The silver lining is that even though our new office has less square footage than the old one, there is actually more usable space.

As I packed, I took a trip down memory lane, finding many artifacts that made me chuckle, such as a "data file" from 1990 that consisted of several 8½ x 11 sheets of paper with rows and columns of raw data written in pencil, a box of floppy disks, a 1998 office manual in which the instructions for overnight delivery were "Go to front porch and flag down Keith, the FedEx guy," a 2002 internal document describing factors to consider if we were to start using online surveys, and all the clever holiday cards we've sent since 1995.

The saying, "This isn't a sprint; it's a marathon," will always be true for GRG. Now in our 23rd year of business, we have no intention of ending anytime soon. The race keeps going on, and we're sticking to our route, our short-term goals, and our long-term plan, performing with our stellar staff and partnering with our diverse constellation of interesting clients. I hope that if you're in the area, you'll come visit us at 929 Mass Ave, Suite 2A - still 02139.

Cheers,

GRG evaluated Schwartz Center Connections, a pilot program designed to enhance communication and relationships between healthcare providers from Primary Care and a subspecialty (in the pilot, Gastroenterology) and between providers and patients. The goal was to improve patient safety and thereby reduce malpractice claims. The Connections program involved facilitated group discussion of cases based on closed malpractice claims, reflection on the impact of these cases, and discussion of effective communication strategies. The program was funded by the patient safety and medical malpractice company for Harvard-affiliated hospitals, CRICO/RMF.

GRG's evaluation was a pre-post study of clinical staff at two hospitals who attended at least two Connections sessions with a comparison group of providers who did not attend any sessions.  Both groups completed pre- and post-surveys; pilot program participants were also invited to a focus group or phone interview.

The Schwartz Center Connections pilot program was effective. Attendees showed statistically significant gains in knowledge about communication strategies and reported communication behaviors, whereas the comparison group showed no such gains. The majority of Connections participants reported communicating more often with other members of the hospital staff and with patients. Participants also reported being more likely to notice and to intervene to avoid potential communication lapses. Finally, institutional policy changes were initiated or energized as a result of the Connections program.