Healthcare Doesn’t Have to Be “Black” Or “White” Anymore
How the Cooper Color Code Can Guide Hospitals Towards Informed Awareness
The United States Marine Corps teaches that the most important survival tools that each of us has are our own minds. This is especially true in the high-stakes arena of hospital operations. In order to grow and thrive, hospitals and health systems must improve their operational efficiency. The most impactful element is your decision-making process, which will determine the effectiveness of your actions. This is where many health systems struggle to find a balance between two extremes.
On one end of the spectrum, your system is unaware of its own issues and unprepared for the future, opening the door for inefficiencies. On the opposite extreme, your system is constantly panicked and stuck in crisis management mode, leaving you in a similarly inefficient state where you are unable to make holistic, future-oriented decisions. Once your system is in one of these scenarios, it can be difficult to identify your own status, and even more difficult to pull your health system out of an inefficient cycle.
These various levels of awareness and preparedness closely mirror the Cooper Color Code, formulated by Colonel Cooper, which is used to classify the mindset of troops heading into battle. This code remains relevant outside of its militaristic origins, and acts as an insightful framework for the way that hospitals and health systems make decisions.
The Cooper Color Code
The Cooper Color Code is comprised of 5 different colored levels, each relating to a state of awareness. The levels are as follows:
The two extremes previously discussed would fall into the white and black bookends of the code. This is where many hospitals unintentionally find themselves, but how can you identify if your system is stuck in black or white?
Understanding the State of Your System
When your system is operating in the unfavorable white or black states of awareness, it can be difficult to self-reflect accurately. To understand what level of awareness your system is operating in, consider some of the common indicators:
- Consistent surprises: If your system seems to be constantly surprised by unexpected scenarios, it could be a sign that you’re lacking the predictive insight you need to plan ahead.
- Hyper-focus on the present: Hospitals commonly find themselves constantly putting out fires, spending all their bandwidth on day-to-day operations. This demonstrates a lack of holistic strategy and leaves fewer resources for future improvements.
- Data fatigue: Data fatigue is an increasingly common challenge for health systems. While you might have access to piles of data from your EHR, interpreting and using that data effectively is awkward and inefficient.
- Lack of “Systemness”: A health system's level of "systemness" is indicated by its ability to function in a holistic and unified manner. Seamless coordination and cooperation across all areas is essential. If you see that one area is excelling while others struggle, it could hint at a lack of proper orchestration on a system-wide level.
These challenges are so common that many disregard them as inherent and unsolvable. While this might have been true historically, the healthcare industry has evolved beyond these extremes. Innovation has fostered a harmony that bypasses the categorizations of black and white and breaks into the more ideal middle ranges. The yellow, orange, and even sometimes red categories are typically much more productive states of awareness. These levels are a happy medium between obliviousness and chaos.
Breaking Into Full Color
The yellow, orange, and red categories of the Cooper Color Code can be applied to identify and prevent threats to achieving the goals and priorities of your unique health system. Yellow is the preferred place that a hospital or health system wants to find itself. At this level, they are alert, prepared and ready for anything that might happen. Not only is it optimal for strategic reasons, it’s also beneficial for staff, as this is the level where your team is the most relaxed and aware. The yellow level is also essential as this is where we see the first signs of informed awareness.
At its core, informed awareness simply implies a holistic understanding that guides your decision-making. In the context of your health system, achieving informed awareness requires a comprehensive understanding of the past, present, and future states of the system, as well as full visibility across all areas and levels of the organization. Informed awareness transcends the status quo situational awareness and goes a step further. While situational awareness might be useful in a real-time scenario, it does little to help you learn from the past or anticipate and plan for the future. Situational awareness enables you to be reactive to situations, but for true efficiency and effectiveness, the proactive approach of informed awareness is essential.
When a challenge has been identified, it is time to move past the yellow level to orange (preparing to take action) or red (taking action). To do this successfully, you must maintain and build upon the informed awareness you curated within the yellow level.
Informed awareness drives effective and productive decision-making, as it empowers leaders with all the knowledge they need to take the most successful actions possible. It will be your most powerful weapon for remedying issues and preventing future ones. This mindset will help you leave behind the unpreparedness of the white level by informing you and prevent the chaos of the black by helping you avoid crises.
Finding Harmony for Your Health System
Informed awareness offers hospitals the palette to paint a vivid landscape where shades of yellow and orange define the way forward. As hospitals navigate the intricacies of their operations, this approach could be the compass that guides them toward sustainable growth, adaptive strategies, and a harmonious blend of operational excellence. The goal is not perpetual panic nor total oblivion, but a dynamic equilibrium where every role is highly informed and prepared. This equilibrium is attainable by harnessing tools that facilitate efficiency and awareness. It involves embracing technology that not only resolves immediate issues but also empowers the organization with insights to maximize its future efficiency. It's the marriage of informed awareness with strategic thinking that creates the melody of success.
Our digital health platform, CareEdge™ has all the tools you need to move beyond the black and white. It delivers retrospective, real-time, and predictive intelligence to give your leaders a comprehensive, system-wide view. This platform not only aggregates data but also helps you use it more effectively by providing prescriptive insights. CareEdge™ fosters the agility, intelligence, and collaboration that your system needs. It’s time to leave the black and white behind and unlock a spectrum of color for operational excellence.