UF Health staff participate in a Hospitality Huddle. Photo by Mindy C. Miller

Over the past 18 months, approximately 11,500 faculty, staff, housestaff and volunteers who support patient care in several areas of the organization completed UF Health Hospitality and Service training and Standards of Behavior. Now it’s time to make sure our Hospitality and Service approach becomes part of our everyday culture.

Starting in February, Hospitality Huddles will be introduced as a regular practice for everyone working at UF Health Shands, UF Health Physicians, the UF College of Medicine and UF Health core services.

Hospitality Huddles ensure that learning and discussion continues beyond Hospitality and Service training. With discussion topics picked by expert UF Health Shands Human Resources trainers, our managers and staff will explore what the behaviors mean to our teams, how they apply personally and how we can use them to support patients, visitors and each other.

Managers have been asked to host a five-minute, stand-up meeting, or “Huddle,” two times a month for staff on their work unit or team. Anyone can attend any Huddle. In the first Huddle of each month, the manager will introduce the selected behavior, or “Highlight,” and start a conversation about how it impacts patient and staff experience when it’s modeled well and what happens when it fails. Staff will have a couple of weeks to then observe and practice the behavior until the next Huddle. When the group next meets, they can share observations and discuss how to use the behavior to improve our patient and staff experience.

For more information, visit Hospitality and Service on the UF Health Bridge at bridge.UFHealth.org/hospitality.