August 6th, 2024
I was recently looking for a new doctor and went to a health system’s website to find one I might want to connect with. I found one, and reached out through the site’s online scheduling option to set up an ...
May 20th, 2024
Wait time has been a measure in patient experience for years. And, for decades, we measured the number of minutes spent in the waiting room beyond the scheduled appointment time. What we learned is that it isn’t always about the number of minutes, but about the ...
April 29th, 2024
I recently heard a fascinating statistic. According to research from NRC Health, when people feel they are treated as unique, they are 312% more likely to rate your organization as excellent. The question then is, how do we make every patient feel ...
April 22nd, 2024
I heard an incredible story last week about a father’s journey through his daughter’s childhood cancer. One thing the father said struck me to the core. He said, “Technology didn’t save my child’s life, communication did.” He went on to share his personal patient experience. His concerns were diminished and his inquiries were delayed until he ...
April 5th, 2024
A few years ago, I started working with two hospitals to train and embed nurse coaches in inpatient units. Their goal was to provide staff with ongoing feedback on behaviors tied to quality, safety, and service. Their results have been ...
March 8th, 2024
Yesterday, I was doing physician communication training with a large group of doctors. To give context, I showed them their current patient experience scores focused on physician communication. One of the attendees raised his hand and said, “There has never been any ...
February 20th, 2024
Healthcare is confusing, and it's often needed when we are at our most vulnerable. Despite major improvements in the patient experience over the years, deep chasms remain. And, in my experience, the gaps are often due to faulty healthcare systems ...
January 5th, 2024
As long as healthcare leaders have measured patient experience, they’ve seen a strong correlation between nurse communication and the overall experience. After 25 years of conducting communication skill training for nurses, I have made a few important observations about the subject, ...
December 4th, 2023
Accepting excuses as a way of life is often a subtle, yet insidious culture killer. When we do culture assessments, we frequently unearth patterns that point to an excuse mentality that keeps an organization stuck. The insights shed light on ...
November 27th, 2023
I recently visited Costa Rica where the native language is Spanish. Despite my high school Spanish classes and a few lessons in Babbel, I was rusty, to say the least. I got by on simple interactions like ordering food or ...