I’ve said this a thousand times: trust is a fragile thing when it comes to the patient experience. I recently had some minor surgery that I’d been planning for some time. Because of my rigorous travel schedule, taking the time out for surgery is no small feat. So I had gone through all the pre-operative steps, including teaching, history, and physical, and was all set except for knowing the time of surgery. I was told that I would be contacted the day before my surgery and given the schedule. Of course, I had to have someone drive me to and from the hospital, so that meant that neither of us knew how much of our day would be required. 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...
This is the tenth entry in my in-depth interview with a patient undergoing cancer treatment.
“Is she a patient or a client?” Many of us have debated the semantics used when describing one of the most vital stakeholders of your organization.
Elizabeth:
Read more...
It’s not unusual for me to talk with healthcare leaders who openly share their troubling patient satisfaction scores. The leaders may not be proud of the scores, but they will openly discuss them. That’s the easy part because the evidence is right there. It’s when we start talking about the leadership role in the patient experience that things get a little hairy. No one wants to admit to turning a blind eye to problems. I’ve yet to meet a leadership team who will admit that its strategy has been to ignore poor patient satisfaction, hoping it will just go away. Yet that is really what happens—month after month and quarter after quarter, the evidence piles up against patient happiness, that the experience is inconsistent at best and that nothing is changing. Read more...
I’ve always known that if you want to be creative and energetic, you’ll do best by surrounding yourself with like-minded people. That philosophy was reaffirmed within minutes of arriving at the Beryl Institute’s Patient Experience Conference this week. It was so energizing to be surrounded by amazing patient experience champions who, like me, are passionate about creating a better healthcare world for our patients, families, and all those who serve them. 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...
In the last few days, I’ve had two great experiences with my own healthcare that I just had to pass along. One was with my own medical care, the other with my mother. Mine was routine, but my mother’s was emergent. The common denominators were that in both situations the caregivers demonstrated behaviors that helped to increase trust and confidence. As I reflected on both of the situations, I started with the end. I walked away from both feeling confident, reassured, and informed. Healthcare is the business of trust. Everything that patients experience should build trust in the providers and the organization. Here is how I would dissect the experiences into trust-building behaviors: Read more...
So much of the patient experience rests in the hands of nurses. But so does quality, safety, and a myriad of other metrics. Nurses have a lot on their plates, so it’s no wonder many of them want to run screaming when leaders start “preaching” about the patient experience and improving HCAHPS scores. Although there are countless moments of truth during any healthcare encounter, many of the most important ones happen at the hands of the nursing staff. Read more...
In the era of transparency, when HCAHPS scores are publicly reported, healthcare leaders have a vested interest in improving patient satisfaction. But I think there is some confusion out there about what the ultimate goal is. Is it to create a more positive patient experience or to just get better scores? At face value, you might think that the two are one and the same. Not so. I find that when the pressure is on to improve the scores, people start to strategize more about how to influence the patient rather than focusing on a better experience that will earn them the top scores. Somehow, people have managed to separate the patient’s experience from the scores. Read more...
Everywhere I go, people are talking about improving the patient experience. But in order to make that a reality, we need to have a clear definition of what constitutes the experience. I recently read a press release from the Beryl Institute that shares an excellent definition of the patient experience. They define it as,
Patient Experience: The sum of all interactions, shaped by an organization’s culture, that influence patient perceptions across a continuum of care. Read more...
