I was recently doing a full-day patient experience workshop with staff nurses from several organizations and was stunned to learn that very few had ever seen the HCAHPS survey questions. Once exposed to the eight dimensions of the survey, they unanimously agreed that nurses could impact scores in all eight dimensions and were eager to explore solutions in greater depth.
What surprises me most is that when reimbursement is on the line, I would expect healthcare leaders to do more to engage nurses in making improvements. Improving patient satisfaction takes more than just telling staff to be nice. They have to first understand the patient perspective and then become involved in finding what works. Read more...
I was recently dining with friends at a restaurant after having just completed a workshop on service recovery. During my workshop, I had talked about the typical restaurant experience where the wait staff asks how everything is, and, regardless of what you really think about the food, you say, “fine.” I find that about 98 percent of my workshop participants report that they say “fine” in many less-than-satisfactory situations just to avoid confrontation. Read more...
I really love this time of year. The lull that we have around the holidays gives me the chance to reflect on the previous year and set my sights on the great opportunities that lie in the year ahead. Plus, there’s something so refreshing about having a whole year spread out before me with nothing but possibilities! January is a time for setting goals for myself and for my business. It gives me direction and helps me stay aligned with my mission and vision (I have a personal mission and vision as well as for my business.). Read more...
One thing I love about my work (and there are many things to love) is the opportunity to meet and mingle with others who are as passionate about improving the patient experience as I am. When I look at my travel schedule this week, it might appear draining, but, in reality, it has been a rejuvenating experience. That’s because I’ve been able to meet and mingle with people who are in the trenches, doing great things for patients and their communities. That always helps me re-connect to purpose at the same time. Read more...
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing the movie The Mighty Macs. It’s a story of a fledgling women’s college basketball team that rose to the national championship in the early 70’s at a time when the words “women” and “athletics” were rarely spoken in the same sentence. Read more...
What goes up must come down, right? This indisputable law has been regarded as a hard, fast fact for hundreds of years, but it doesn’t have to apply to your patient satisfaction scores. Just because your scores go up, doesn’t mean they have to fall again. And on the flip side, just because they go up, doesn’t mean they’ll stay up.
I was recently chatting with a client about what it takes to sustain positive change and I was shocked to realize how many leaders assume that positive changes aren’t sustainable. Read more...
None of us wants to believe that we are the roadblocks to innovation and change, yet there are so many times when I hear leaders shoot down opportunities for growth and innovation with one simple sentence. Take your pick of these most common squelchers, including: Read more...
- It won’t work!
- We tried that once back in…
- They won’t approve. (The we/they thing is always a clue to filter.)
- That will never fly here!
- You don’t understand. We’re different. (Healthcare suffers from terminal uniqueness, including one doctor’s patients being sicker than all others, one hospital having unique issues with running 24/7, and—my personal favorite—only angry patients fill out satisfaction surveys.)
This is the fifth entry in my in-depth interview with a patient undergoing cancer treatment.
Health care workers know the value of solid teamwork. We rely on it to create efficiencies and to balance talents, skills and workload. But from the patient experience, teamwork takes on a whole new meaning. Patients know when a team is on the same page. They also know when there’s discontentment. Elizabeth’s examples here shed light on just how important it is to have a positive work environment.
Elizabeth: Read more...
Every day, I have the honor of working with some of the most compassionate, hardworking patient advocates I’ve ever met. A day in the life of a nurse, tech, aid, phlebotomist, therapist, or physician can be draining and demanding both physically and emotionally. That’s why it’s so important to create an environment of support–a culture that nurtures and encourages one another.
Think back to a time when you had a rough day, and someone offered an encouraging word, a pat on the arm, or even a hug because they could sense that you were down, frustrated, or overwhelmed. Sometimes, that little boost is all you need to keep on going. Long days, demanding workloads, and difficult patients can sap your energy. Isn’t it great when someone shows even a small gesture of appreciation? Read more...
I love doing employee engagement workshops with leaders because it helps them to take an honest look at the organizational culture and the vital role that they play in fostering engagement as well as the bottom line impact. But one of the most telling parts of the workshop is when I ask the leaders to provide estimates of the engagement in their own organization. After defining fully engaged, engaged, somewhat engaged and disengaged characteristics, I ask them to determine what percent of the organization falls into each of the four categories. In most cases, their estimates will show some percentage of disengaged associates. I have had organizations as low as 5% and others as high as 35%. Inevitably, the conversation starts to drift toward how the disengaged people poison the environment, that they don’t pull their weight, that they create disruption. My next question is always the zinger. “e;Who do they (these disengaged employees) work for?”e; This question is typically met by an embarrassed silence before some brave soul speaks up and says, “e;Us. They work for us.”e; Read more...
