At Deaconess, a collaborative spirit and quality patient care reign

Chris Gibbar says his role as a nurse manager at MultiCare Health System is the best job he’s ever had — and it’s because of the people he works with.

When a former co-worker from Kootenai Health invited him to apply for his current job with the MultiCare Deaconess Emergency Department, Gibbar took his time applying (and later accepting) the role.

First, he wanted to research MultiCare and ask his professional network about the culture. He heard that everyone collaborates to provide the best possible care to patients, and that’s what drew him to Deaconess.

Gibbar’s experience has shown that to be true.

Working together to care for patients

The Deaconess emergency department has 24 patient beds. At busy times, such as the week between Christmas and New Year’s, it can fill up completely. Gibbar recalls seeing the teams collaborate to address this challenge last year.

“The staff in the ER are incredible,” he says. “The nurses, ER techs, mental health associates and providers all pulled together. They worked so hard through stress and fatigue to care for every patient, even though they wound up having to treat people in the hallways and even the waiting room.”

The collaborative spirit extends across departments at Deaconess and even to external partners. To manage the number of patients they’re treating, Gibbar’s team coordinates with the Deaconess transfer center and emergency medical services to spread patient load across local emergency departments.

He works closely with other departments in the hospital and — since Deaconess does not offer inpatient behavioral health services — his team coordinates with the Deaconess social work team and facilities in the community that are equipped to care for patients suffering from behavioral health conditions.

The goal is always to get each patient the care they need, whether that’s receiving care and going home, being admitted to the hospital or being admitted to a facility in the community equipped to care for them.

Accomplishing this goal often requires balancing competing priorities between the different patient care areas. But Gibbar finds them consistently fruitful.

“All these conversations are productive,” he says. “If you go into a situation of competing priorities being willing to compromise, you can usually come up with a plan that works for everyone. One thing I really appreciate about MultiCare is that every person, staff or leader, wants to find a solution and work together to solve it. Usually the other person will even give you the advantage if it means a patient will be cared for more appropriately.”

A team that feels like family

It’s hard for Gibbar to stop talking about his team.

“They are committed to taking care of our community to the best of their abilities and are consistently working through any barriers that might keep them from meeting that goal,” he says. “There is little to no drama. There is no one who is not pulling their weight.”

Apart from providing excellent care to patients, their hard work and camaraderie are also drawing others into the fold.

Gibbar says, “Our team works every day to demonstrate our values of kindness, collaboration and respect to not only our patients, but to each other, too.”

In reflecting on his time at MultiCare, he identifies what sets it apart.

“[When I started] I wish I knew how collaborative and supportive this hospital was, and how driven they were to provide the safest and most effective care to the patients that come through their doors,” Gibbar says. “Had I known that, I would have applied here years ago.”