Propel to Quality Healthcare: Six Steps to Improve Patient Care, Staff Engagement, and the Bottom Line

You got into healthcare because you wanted to help people, but quickly discovered providing high-quality care is challenging. Seemingly impossible demands are placed on you and your team. Some coworkers are constantly complaining; others are in their silos doing only what they must to get through the long days. Collaboration is often lacking, and patients suffer the painful consequences. It’s easy to become overloaded with work and overwhelmed with negativity.

This is not how the healthcare profession has to be. There is a new science - Positive Psychology - that studies how people are able to perform extraordinarily well in challenging situations. After a dozen years of research in prestigious medical centers, an evidence-based method for applying this science has been developed. That six step program is PROPEL.

You will read stories illustrating the experiences of doctors, nurses and administrators who learned to use PROPEL to transform their professional life (and, for many, their personal life as well). You will learn how they were able to attain remarkable results with their teams, units and clinics:

- Staff callout and FMLA decreased 75%

- Wait times for chemotherapy infusion reduced 6 hours

- Staff turnover dropped 80%

- Pediatric MRI scheduling driven down from 14 weeks to 10 days

- Bone marrow transplant procedures increased by 50%

- ED diversion due to psychiatric patient boarding virtually eliminated

- Patient fall rate cut by 70%

- Use of agency and travelers nurses abolished

- Patient satisfaction scores up 50%

The cumulative impact to the bottom line has been calculated to be millions of dollars. The most meaningful measure of PROPEL’s success, however, comes from the thousands of dedicated professionals who have expressed heartfelt gratitude for having learned how to recapture their joy for working in healthcare.

Dr. Tom Muha is Director of The PROPEL Institute. As the science of optimal human functioning has emerged, he has become a leading practitioner of Positive Psychology. His mission is to be at the forefront in the study of how people involved in healthcare systems can achieve the highest levels of success and satisfaction.

Over 15 years of research has enabled Dr. Muha to demonstrate the efficacy of the PROPEL program. PROPEL to Quality Healthcare provides the six step formula that over 100 units, clinics, and leadership teams have used to improve patient care, staff engagement, and the bottom line.

Teaching leaders and staff to use the PROPEL positive psychology principles has also been shown to significantly counter the effects of stress and burnout. Medical professionals report enhanced life satisfaction, loving relationships, job enjoyment, and work-life balance.

Dr. Muha has been a keynote speaker and workshop presenter at some of the world’s top healthcare organizations, including the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Sigma Theta Tau, American Organization of Nurse Executives, Magnet Recognition Pathways to Excellence, and HeathStream’s Healthcare Summit.

Dr. Muha earned his doctoral degree in psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. He is the founder of The PROPEL Institute, LLC. He has written a weekly newspaper column focusing on Positive Psychology for the Capital Gazette newspaper chain for over 25 years.