Lighten up April inservice with a 'Jeopardy!' game
Lighten up April inservice with a 'Jeopardy!' game
Make Joint Commission survey preparation fun
The staff's mood usually is anxious as a home care agency prepares for a Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations survey.
Education managers in a Missouri health system decided that home care staff might learn and remember more if they attended inservices where they would play a Joint Commission "Jeopardy!" game, complete with prizes.
"It made it more of a personal challenge for each employee, and it helped with team building," says Karla Hall, RN, patient care manager for Deaconess Health System, Home Health Department of St. Louis. Deaconess Health Systems includes three hospitals and two home health agencies.
Setting the mood
Play money and "Jeopardy" theme music were used with the game to set the mood. Although the inservice lasted four hours and covered 25 different categories, the staff stayed interested, says Bettye Hill, RN, MSED, education coordinator for Deaconess Health System's Lafayette-Grand Hospital Home Care Services in St. Louis. The Lafayette-Grand branch serves five counties in eastern Missouri and the metropolitan St. Louis area. (See categories and sample Joint Commission game questions, pp. 63-64.)
"I was really surprised with their recall of the material," Hill says. "We chose the questions that would be the most important, and people just picked right up on it."
And best of all, both branches of the agency did very well on its surveys by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations of Oakbrook Terrace, IL, Hill says, adding that she might hold a shorter version of the game again to help staff brush up on policies and procedures.
Hill, who acted as moderator, held four games from February to May. In all, 25 people, including nurses, home health aides, and therapists, attended each one. Any participant could answer any question and win a set dollar amount of $100 to $500 in fake money.
Although the staff were not divided into teams, the game promoted team spirit, Hill says. "Not only was it a fun sort of inservice program where you could possibly leave with a prize, but it increased the team unity."
Real prizes for fake money
At the end of the game, the prizes, such as fanny packs, cologne, household trinkets, and children's toys, were auctioned off for the fake money.
"Everybody was trying to get as much money on an individual basis as they could," Hill recalled. "But if somebody really wanted a prize, and they didn't have enough money, then somebody else would give them the money to buy that prize."
[Editor's note: To share an innovative teaching method, game, or new idea with Tips From the Field, call HEM editor Melinda Young at (704) 859-2066, or e-mail the idea to [email protected], or fax it to her at (704) 859-5954.]
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