Academy Conducts Evaluations for Health Center Staff
Independent consultants conducted the first review of Exeter’s Health Services in 31 years last week. The reviewers, all medical professionals from schools such as Deerfield Academy, Lawrenceville Academy and Dartmouth University, examined the inner workings of Exeter’s Health Services in an effort to help them improve as much as possible.
“I think [this process] was a long time needed.”
According to Director of Nursing Nancy Thompson, the review process for Health Services is similar to that of the other academic departments. During the review period, external visitors closely examine documents detailing the policies and practices of Health Services and conduct extensive interviews with staff, faculty and students. They then consolidate their research and prepare a report detailing the ways in which the department can improve.
“There was no incident that triggered this review, as most all departments at the Academy have some sort of review for quality assurance purpose,” Administrative Director of Health Services Margaret O’Day said.
Though the Health Center has frequently been examined by the administration, according to Thompson, Health Services specifically wanted to “have a committee come in from the outside, and not have anyone who actually works here.”
The Academy’s administration, staff and faculty all pushed for the review to happen, and many of them formed an internal committee to generate questions for the reviewers. They brainstormed with the theme of communication in mind, asking: are there barriers to care that exist in the community? Is the quality and care of services provided at the highest and best level? Are our staffing structures appropriate to meet the demands of the area as well as the student body and the school?
The committee encountered some difficulties in finding suitable consultants, since few medical professionals were willing to make time to travel to Exeter. However, after an elaborate process, Dean of Students Melissa Mischke chose four reviewers, including an athletic trainer, a nurse and two counselors from boarding schools around the area.
The group reviewed each sub-department in Exeter’s Health Services meticulously. According to Director of Athletic Training Adam Hernandez, the reviewers spent one to two hours with each sub-department, including Athletic Training, Nursing, Psychological Services, Health Education, Counseling and other medical providers. The discussions usually took place around a table, and individual employees could also have private conversations with the reviewers. “Dean Mischke did a good job with letting people email and get confidential feedback,” Hernandez said.
According to Hernandez, most of the staff in the health center has known about and been preparing for the review for over a year. Prior to the meetings, each Health department created a Dropbox to share important documents with the consultants. Christopher Thurber of Psychological Services said that his department submitted written “policies, operations and statistics on the number of students who use the service every year.” Similarly, Hernandez’s department, Athletic Training, compiled a folder of five large documents for the consultants.
Health Services also invited students to participate in the review. Groups such as the Student Health Advisory Board (SHAB) and H4 engaged in conversation with the health professionals at a luncheon. There, they enjoyed pizza, snacks and conversation while sitting around two large tables. Upper Margaret Kraus attended the event after hearing about it from a friend. “It was like a Harkness style discussion,” Kraus said. “The people from Deerfield asked us questions about things we liked about the Health Center and things we maybe wanted to improve.” For Kraus, the subject most important to her was bridging the gap between the Health Center and the Athletic center to understand their relationship.
Those in attendance also discussed “fatiguing,” when students sleep at the Health Center for a period instead of going to class, and why more and more students are resorting to the option at this time of year. “We noticed that there was quite a rather large influx of students fatiguing around this time, and so we talked to each other about that,” lower and SHAB member Calvin Henaku said. “We said maybe it was because of things such as the 333’s or maybe it’s because this is such a tiring period for Exeter.”
Although the consultants completed a report at the end of the four days, no one has read it but the Dean of Students and some members of the administration. “The administration would look at the recommendations and decide which ones they’re going to adopt,” Thompson said. Members of the Health Center are eager to see the full report and learn what they can improve. “We have a meeting [between Health Services and the administration] every halfway mark in the year,” Hernandez said. “So I think we’re going to hear about it at some point near the end of this month.”
Most Health Services staffs believe that the reviewing process has been well-conducted. For Thompson, reviews are imperative for the wellbeing of the school, since each and every department could always benefit from constructive criticism. “I think [this process] was a long time needed,” she said. “Some good recommendations will come out of it, and I hope it is in the best interest of the health center, students, and the school.”
Similarly, Hernandez felt that it would have been difficult to identify points for improvement without the help of an unbiased reviewer, saying, “You hope that you do a good job with your students but sometimes you lose track of it in the day to day routine.”