Staffing the OBL

In this episode, host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews vascular surgeon Dr. Krishna Mannava and Kristin Longwell, vascular technologist and VP of operations and from Vive Vascular. They discuss staffing in the office based lab, cultivating company culture, and how to recruit and retain good employees.

We begin by discussing where to start with staffing when building your office based lab (OBL). First, you must determine what needs to be in house and what will be outsourced. They had help from a consulting firm that helped with hiring, the interview process, and establishing human resources policies. They began with two registered nurses (RNs), two radiologic technologists (RTs), one ultrasound technologist and one front desk operator. Dr. Mannava says he needs one RN to run a room and one for pre and post op. Similarly, he needs one RT to run the C-arm, and one helping tableside. Out of house needs are extensive and include billing, legal, IT, housekeeping, web development, and purchasing.

Next, they discuss some challenges of running an OBL. They approached growth by maintaining open communication with their employees. All employees are hourly and have concrete schedules. Many are willing to work outside of their job definition to help out wherever needed during a day. Every afternoon, they have one RN and one RT work late, and they rotate through this schedule so everyone can maintain work life balance.

Finally, they discuss company culture. Dr. Mannava explains that one year into their venture, they had a company retreat to revamp their mission which helped personalize it and was empowering for the employees. He believes that employees are customers, and he wants his employees to feel valued and excited about work. This helps with retention and ultimately saves money by avoiding high turnover. Kristen implemented a daily huddle, weekly updates, monthly operational meetings and annual retreats to keep employees engaged and ensure staff are all on the same page. Dr. Mannava ends by saying that he tries to instill a sense of gratitude at his workplace and he believes that it is his job to promote the work culture he wants in a top down fashion.