OESO Employee of the Quarter
January - March 2009
Marissa Pentico
Ergonomics

Between January and March, Marissa worked tirelessly and patiently to implement a pilot of the Minimal Manual Lift Environment (MMLE) program on the 4th floor at Duke Raleigh Hospital (DRalH). The hospital has a couple of patient lifts but they were rarely used by the staff due to the lack of coordination. With the high rate of patient handling injuries at DRalH, an injury prevention program was needed. The road to implementation was a bumpy ride with many roadblocks, including the resignation of two key contacts for the program during the planning and coordination period, no-shows at scheduled meetings/training sessions, and many meeting cancellations due to competing initiatives or scheduling conflicts.

Despite the roadblocks, Marissa continued to work diligently and persistently with the key contact and the administrative leaders to push on with the implementation within a designated time frame. She developed a time lime and check list for everyone involved so that each person knew their role and responsibilities. She scheduled regular conference calls with all involved parties to follow up on the status of the completion of the assigned tasks. She pulled in available resources to assist with actual hands-on competency training. She successfully coordinated and taught the "coaches' training" session with minimal assistance from her colleagues

The pilot program has been going on for about a month and Marissa continues to regularly follow up with DRalH to provide support and consultation.