The Howard County
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VOL.3, NO.8
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Outspoken hospital CEO to retire
5 0 AUGUST 2013
I N S I D E …
PHOTO BY CHRIS HARTLOVE
By Stuart Rosenthal Only days after Howard County General Hospital (HCGH) honored its president and CEO at its 40th anniversary gala in June, Victor “Vic” A. Broccolino announced his intention to retire this coming January, after 24 years at the helm of the institution. Broccolino, 70, whose early career was in banking and finance, brought his financial acumen and administrative skills to HCGH in 1990, and has widely been credited with the hospital’s growth in both size and reputation since. He is quick to play down his role, however. “What makes me most effective is the staff that I have, my co-workers,” Broccolino said during an interview in the private lunch room next to his office. “Anyone who thinks they’re doing it on their own is a fool.” He even gives his staff credit for the quality of his hires. He asks his existing staff as a group to interview candidates who make it to the final cut, and in all but one instance says he accepted their recommendation. And the one time he didn’t do so, “They were right,” he said.
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Outgoing and forthright Born to Italian immigrant parents, Broccolino spoke only Italian until the age of 4 or 5, and remembers himself as an exceedingly shy child. When guests would come to the home, he said he would hide under tables and ignore his parents’ calls. There’s no trace of that childhood shyness today. Gregarious and talkative, he also has a well-deserved reputation for plain-spokenness. At a speech before the Coalition for Geriatric Services last year, Broccolino gave an overview of the hospital’s impressive workforce: its staff of 1,800, plus 900 physicians and nearly 600 volunteers. He spoke of the 186,000 patients served by the hospital the year before, and the “320 interactions, direct and indirect” that hospital staffers have with each and every patient every day, including all the behind-the-scenes work involved in tests, meal preparation, laundry, etc. Then he very forthrightly added, “Not all of [the staff] are doing their jobs well or have a good attitude. Maybe 10 percent shouldn’t be there.”
Victor “Vic” Broccolino has served as president and CEO of Howard County General Hospital for 23 of its 40 years, overseeing much of its growth, including its affiliation with the Johns Hopkins Health System. He will retire from the community institution in January.
When asked in the interview if he still believes that, he said, “I told [our new hires] as much in an orientation this morning!” One out of 10 “know how to do the job technically, but don’t have the right attitude.” Furthermore, he went on, when staff members aren’t on their game in the hospital, patients will suffer. “Hospitals are dangerous places,” he said. “There’s no such thing as a ‘minor operation.’ People can die from getting an infection or even the wrong food.”
Focus on patient safety Broccolino added that HCGH and the entire Johns Hopkins Medical System to which it belongs are making patient safety a priority. “I’ve seen massive change in the
hospital’s focus on safety just in the past five years,” he said. Among the safety initiatives he mentioned are requiring barcode scanning to be sure patients are getting the right medicines, working to eliminate wrong-site operations, and expanding the number of private rooms. When asked how private rooms are a safety matter, he pointed out that when there’s only one patient to a room, there’s a lower risk of infection and of getting the wrong meds, and a better, quieter environment in which to heal. “But even with that, mistakes will and do happen,” he said. When originally hired in 1992, Broccolino See BROCCOLINO, page 28
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