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3 Tips to Improve Patient Experience Today

Lauren Walling : Mar 20, 2019

Healthcare Patient Experience

Has your team struggled with improving the patient experience at your hospital? Are you overwhelmed by the possible strategies to employ in order to improve your quality and HCAHPS scores? Many organizations labor over which strategies or data is the most important to analyze. Don’t get caught up in analysis paralysis! With so many options available, here are 3 things that you can do to continue improving your patient experience.

patient experience

Start Small

We all have to start somewhere. Are all of your Nurse Leaders rounding on each patient every day? What about the weekends? If you answered no to either of these questions, here’s a good starting point.

Next, look at your completion rate. Let’s say your current completion rate is 50%, and your long term goal is closer to the industry standards of 80% or higher. A good strategy is to pull reports from your patient rounding tool to trend outlier units, days, or staff. The data you obtain from this analysis will focus your attention where it’s needed most. Using the data to set incremental & attainable goals will also promote staff engagement.

Celebrate Wins

Speaking of engagement … You know how we all get to hear about the two things we didn’t get done, but nobody mentions the 243 things we did? Sure, that may be a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. Make it a point to share the rounding data that demonstrates unit wins, such as improved completion and patient kudos. Don’t underestimate the value of positive reinforcement. Make it a big deal, because it is a big deal.

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All Hands on Deck

Do you know the old saying, “There’s no I in team”? It’s said with good reason. Patient Experience is a 24/7, 365 day, all hands on deck effort. Work together to determine your team approach. Your executive team should be a big part of this effort. A strategy that can be used here is for the executive team to occasionally conduct rounding on patients and their nurse leaders. The feedback obtained from Executive and Nurse Leader Rounding is invaluable. Better yet, this one-two punch can help improve the patient’s perception of care and overall experience.

PAPER Isn't Going to Cut it Anymore

Still holding on to the paper? Despite the last several years of innovation, healthcare has a long way to go to catch up with other industries. In some cases, previous bad experiences with EMR implementations or functionality can cause hesitation. In others, the fear of the unknown can keep organizations stuck in a HCAHPS Patient Experience rut.

Trying to save costs? With value-based care and shrinking margins, we get it. When considering costs, ask yourself this: What is the cost to continue down your current path with stagnant scores? How much would your reimbursements increase with improved quality scores?

CLARIFIRE HEALTH® has an easy-to-use patient rounding solution built by nurses…for nurses.

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CLARIFIRE HEALTH Rounding Solution!

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Lauren Walling

Lauren Walling is a graduate of Emory University with a degree in Industrial Psychology, as well as an MBA from the John Sykes School of Business from The University of Tampa. She currently sits on the Board of Fellows at the University of Tampa, and is a member of the Healthcare Business Women's Association, National Association of Professional Women, and the Morton Plant Skip Cline Society. Lauren works with large Healthcare Systems implementing Patient Experience Solutions that streamline processes, increase patient experience and improve quality and safety.

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