In a post last week, I discussed the findings of J.D. Power and Associates 2012 National Patient Experience Study. I summarized the take-home messages from that study as follows (from the perspective of hospitals and healthcare systems): efforts to improve the patient experience should evaluate and support the quality of all staff members' communication skills via three channels:
- Hiring right
- Investing in our staff
- Focusing on transitions
With those objectives in mind, I’d like to suggest three interventions, one addressing each of the realms above, that you can implement tomorrow. Okay, perhaps it will take you a meeting or two to get the ball rolling, but it shouldn’t take an act of Congress. And keep in mind that these aren’t necessarily magic bullets - they’re examples of straightforward and earnest efforts that can help you improve not just the patient experience, but that of your employees as well.
1) Hiring Right:
Create a brief, but unique “Patient Experience Mission Statement” that new caregivers must hand-write and sign at the time of hire. Notify them of this practice when they interview - their reaction to the process will prove valuable, and if hired, will lay the foundation for this priority during their employment. Wouldn’t it be nice to also include a brief statement about the organization’s commitment to the employees' success in providing an excellent patient experience and have it signed by leadership?
(For inspiration, take a look at what Central Texas Medical Center in San Marcos, TX asks you to do before they’ll even let you view their career listings!)
2) Investing in Your Staff:
Bring on the mystery shoppers. But don’t call them that. In fact, they need not be a mystery. And they need not be the shoppers themselves. Professional baseball players have coaches watching every pitch and swing of the bat. Not only that – they’ll even pause the game to give these professionals feedback! Observers who can give focused feedback to all members of the care team are critical to the ongoing education and expertise of caregiver communication. They should be a routine presence to the point of invisibility. In this way, they ultimately become a service that we offer our staff to help them advance and not an intrusive form of monitoring. Retool the service excellence or patient advocacy department to do some proactive work observing the action and giving focused feedback.
(For inspiration, consult the Studer Group’s free tools or their HCAHPS Handbook to create materials that can be used both for teaching and for auditing of behaviors by observers)
3) Focusing on Transitions:
“Please call me if you have questions when you get home,” offered the doctor. Even if your Lean Six Sigma black belts and process improvement team have shredded and rebuilt the discharge process, there’s one thing you should demand of the doctors at the time of discharge. They should be giving out their business cards – again – and urging patients to call them if they have a question when they get home. 99% of patients will not need to call, especially if the discharge process is effective. However, 100% of patients will be relieved to know that it’s okay for them to contact the doctor if something comes up immediately afterwards. And I’m almost always relieved when patients do contact me because it’s usually important.
(This does require that there is a failsafe mechanism – answering service, etc. – for patients to reach the doctor or covering provider.)
The patient experience is most influenced by human factors, especially superior communication skills between hospital staff and patients. We must continually ask ourselves whether we’re doing enough to promote and foster the skills we know to be pivotal to the patient experience. What are you doing?
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