Page 271 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

252 The Disney Way

have happened. About a year ago, I had a patient come in, having passed
out. He was a little out of it for the first day he was here. He was a very
intelligent guy, a local retired minister. A couple of days later, I came in and
made rounds on him, and he said, ‘I want to thank you for allowing me to
look at my chart.’ He said, ‘I really wanted to talk to you about this. I think
the history recorded is a little inaccurate because I was a little woosy when I
first came in.’ Then he clarified the details, which was actually very helpful.
That’s a typical positive response that you get out of the system.” 100
Patrick Charmel and his team created a new approach to patient care
that shattered the myths and beliefs that have long been hospital tradition
in America.

Do

Many hospitals have brought in consulting teams who share the “secrets” of
Disney’s on-stage and back-stage areas. But, most of them are not practicing
the Planetree model: the philosophy based on the belief that if patients have
access to information and education regarding their illness and hospitaliza-
tion, they can become active participants in getting well. But it is much more
than just information sharing. The hospital provides a healing and nurturing
environment with warm and supportive caregivers. “Lots of hospitals try to
sort of steal the Planetree concept,” Dr. Schwartz explained. “They might
have sculpture, water, a piano playing in the lobby. You can pretty-up any
hospital. But, the philosophy is the tough part of it, because that’s the part
that requires support. That’s where the competitive advantage is.”
As we previously described, that doctor-driven hierarchy is still very
much alive in some of the most prominent and powerful medical centers in
the country. The good news, however, is that due to its widely publicized
success, Griffin Hospital is now under the microscope. Over 500 U.S. hospi-
tals have paid $3,000 for the privilege of touring and learning from this once
modest and obscure facility in a small Connecticut community. They will
meet a team of people who are clearly a “family” who strive together, in good
times and bad, to achieve their mission of excellence. Peering behind the
picture-perfect Griffin “stage” that has become legendary, there are count-
less untold stories of the Griffin family taking care of one another as they do
their patients. As Barbara Stumpo, VP of patient care services, related, “We
had a guy who worked in critical care, and he was only here a short period
of time. He was diagnosed with metastatic cancer, and he was a young guy