Yes, I just said forget HCAHPS. No, I’m not suggesting that caregivers ignore experience of care measures. But if you're looking for a truly educational feedback tool that you can use to gauge and improve the patient experience in real time, I've got a suggestion.
Before I tell you what it is, imagine for a moment that you and I are colleagues. We work closely together on complex projects that require clear and constant communication. A recent snafu leads me to launch a campaign to better understand and improve my communication with you. To accomplish this, I've designed a survey that I intend to give you upon completion of each and every project. Why are you looking at me funny? Probably because you're thinking what I'm thinking: "Why don't we just make the effort to ask each other how it's going?"
It’s great that we’re sending out surveys to patients. We do want their candid thoughts after a hospitalization and we do need aggregate performance data. And sure, you and I should probably fill out a survey about each other once a year, too. But here’s where post-discharge surveys are failing us in our patient experience mission:
• They are a one-way communication tool. Patients answer the questions that we feel are important and we can learn no more detail than what they share via the survey.
• They are too late. Anonymous post-discharge survey results may help future patients, but they do nothing for the individual sharing their opinion.
• Our learning curve rises… very… slowly. We don’t know exactly what needs fixing. And implementing a change will have to wait for the next patient (assuming we even remember it for the next time).
If you’re passionate about improving the patient experience and want useful, real-time feedback that can help you maximize it, take advantage of the most effective tool available:
A conversation with the patient.
ALWAYS ASK patients if they understand your explanations.
ALWAYS ASK patients if they are comfortable with the plan or intervention you’re recommending to them.
And finally, in the spirit of asking open-ended questions, ask patients if they have any feedback for you about the care you’re providing and preface the question by authentically vocalizing your commitment to their comfort and understanding.
Sure, some patients won’t be comfortable sharing feedback directly with caregivers, but they’ll surely give you credit for asking. And the likelihood of them sharing important, even life-saving information or questions during the remainder of the hospitalization will increase by orders of magnitude.
Let HCAHPS scores be your performance barometer. But don’t mistake them for an end-user educational tool. Use these tried-and-true best-practice communication techniques to convey your committment to great communication and to best learn exactly how to improve the patient experience.
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