Celebrate the mission. A one-day workshop helps employees recommit to their facility's mission.

To ensure that the mission of their sponsoring religious institute--the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady--remains central to the facility' services, employees of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge, LA, commissioned the Mission Effectiveness Education Task Force to initiate a meaningful hospital-wide program that would bring Christian values into focus and put the spirit of the mission into daily practice. The goals of the one-day workshop---"Celebrate the Mission"--are: To articulate the central values of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center to all employees To promote the Franciscan Missionary of Our Lady's mission of a healthcare ministry To acknowledge and celebrate the creation of a vision by the sisters and the staff To allow a deep integration of the mission into daily work decisions To ensure that all of Our Lady of the Lake's 2,900 employees experience Celebrate the Mission, the program is offered twice a month but limited to groups no larger than 35 persons. Many employees, board members, and administrators facilitate Celebrate the Mission sessions.

Changing trends in treatment of substance abuse: a look at some of the factors involved in third-party providers and treatment planning.

In order to better focus our care in providing patients with treatment that matched their needs, an inpatient study was done on patient discharges for 1990 involving 267 patients. Our study points out the influence of the changing drug scene in this country. In approximately 40% of the patients admitted, the drug of choice is other than alcohol. The importance of family and employer involvement in effective treatment stands out. Fewer patients are being admitted but those admitted are sicker and require more treatment. Chemical dependency programs in Louisiana and the United States are experiencing significant declines in the utilization of their service and many are closing. The patient census has been impaired primarily by the expense of or lack of insurance coverage by third-party payors. For patients with insurance coverage the criteria for inpatient treatment by third-party reviewers are so stringent that staff assessment recommendations are frequently over-ruled. Substance abuse is a chronic relapsing illness, yet many insurance companies limit coverage both in time and money. In no other field of medicine do patients leave treatment prematurely as they do in substance abuse.