Every hospital we’ve ever worked with has a series of expectations for their staff members related to the patient experience. Things like addressing patients by their preferred name or taking responsibility for trash or spills are usually on the list. Your ...
Employee and patient engagement are inextricably linked. If employees are engaged, they will be motivated and driven to fulfill the mission of the organization for which they work. In healthcare, that mission is all about providing exceptional patient experiences. But the ...
Is your healthcare organization setting expectations for standards of care or giving suggestions? Last week I was speaking to a large group of healthcare leaders about culture and the leader’s role in creating it. At one point, I stopped to ask ...
Are your phone skills making or breaking relationships before they even start? It takes about 8 seconds to make a first impression when talking with someone face-to-face, but statistics show that it only takes 4 to 5 seconds when on ...
Every organization needs policies and procedures to ensure high-quality, safe care. Yet, policies can get in the way of being reasonable if we aren’t careful. When to follow, and when not to follow, policies can be difficult, especially when trying ...
Many healthcare positions require a high degree of technical skill, but balancing skill with patient experience is a skill unto itself. This is especially true in direct patient care. After all, if you mess up an important technical task, you could hurt ...
A few days ago, I was talking to a friend about her recent, emergent, hospital stay. She described it as, “A nightmare.” Always the researcher, I had to dig a bit to learn more. What contributed to “Lauren’s” nightmare boiled ...
It’s no secret that small things add up quickly when it comes to the patient experience. Because high-quality and safe care is assumed by the patients and residents, it is often the small acts of kindness that stand out the most. Throughout ...
It can be tough to measure emotion. We send out patient surveys and comb the data for clues as to what we can do to improve our care, but at the end of the day, it’s not just the logistics ...
During a recent coach training, the participants and I had a lively discussion about how blind spots can fuel bias in healthcare. As part of their training, participants shadow hospitalists on inpatient units to assess interactions. They also give feedback ...
