Lessons from Volleyball
I know many of you are school sport/club sport parents as I am, so while May brings blooms and holidays ranging from Cinco de Mayo to Memorial Day, I spend many of my weekends traveling to support my daughter in volleyball. Studies have shown that people who play team sports (or who participate in team activities) have greater career success, building skills like confidence, collaboration and resilience. Fun fact, she is a libero… a position that didn’t even exist when I played volleyball in my prime. It's no surprise that the sport has evolved since its invention in 1895, even in the short time since I played and the libero was added as a position in 1998 along with rally scoring to 25. Same sport, with different rules.
Similarly, healthcare and the practice of medicine continue to evolve rapidly. In addition, the rules keep changing despite the core – caring for the patient – staying the same. Thanks for enduring all the changes while continuing to adapt and provide high quality care to our patients.
1) Nationwide IV Contrast Shortage – I sent an email about this to all Med Staff earlier this week. Please implement conservation strategies now and consider alternative imaging options to preserve our limited on-hand supply. More updates to follow in the coming days and weeks.
2) May is National Stroke Awareness Month, and May 15th is World Thrombectomy Day
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The 2026 campaign highlights the B.E. F.A.S.T. acronym to help the public recognize warning signs quickly (Balance (loss of), Eyes (vision changes), Face (drooping), Arm (weakness), Speech (slurred), Time (call a Code Stroke, Time is Brain!))
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Our Quality and Stroke Teams are working together to address recent Root Cause Analyses (RCAs) where opportunities to call a Code Stroke were missed. Look for additional communication in the coming weeks. Links to our Providence St. Peter and Providence Centralia Code Stroke Policies can be found here and here.
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3) Levels of Care – We recently went live with centralized bed placement which is helping patients get admitted more quickly whether transferring in or coming through our ED. A few asks to help standardize our processes:
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- Stick to standard levels of care nomenclature (i.e. avoid extra free texted info), and pay attention to observation vs. inpatient when entering the bed request (e.g. Observation, Med-Surg, Adult Intermediate, Telemetry, Adult Intensive Care)
- Be clear about the requested consultative service on your calls with the STOC
- Contact the STOC for escalations (i.e. patients requiring sooner transportation or consideration for transportation “direct to OR” or “ED to ED”)
4) On the radar: 2026 FIFA World Cup (apparently there’s some big soccer thing next month?) – Just kidding, of course we knew! Our teams are routinely meeting with Thurston County EMS, Emergency Preparedness, Olympia Police Department and our South Puget Sound Security teams. We don’t currently anticipate a ton of impact for us but suspect there may be local traffic concerns for folks heading North to Seattle… we will be prepared either way and will keep you posted!
