Patient Experience Week is an annual event that provides a focused time for organizations to celebrate accomplishments, re-energize efforts and honor the people who impact patient experience every day. The Beryl Institute started this celebration to celebrate and show appreciation to healthcare professionals who work hard day in and day out to make the patient experience extraordinary.
From nurses and physicians to support staff and executive professionals, patients, families, and communities served, this observance hopes to bring together healthcare organizations across the globe.
Patient experience encompasses the range of interactions that patients have with the health care system, including their care from health plans, and from doctors, nurses, and staff in hospitals, physician practices, and other healthcare facilities. As an integral component of health care quality, patient experience includes several aspects of health care delivery that patients value highly when they seek and receive care, such as getting timely appointments, easy access to information, and good communication with health care providers.
Understanding patient experience is a key step in moving toward patient-centered care. By looking at various aspects of patient experience, one can assess the extent to which patients are receiving care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values. Evaluating patient experience along with other components such as effectiveness and safety of care is essential to providing a complete picture of health care quality.
The terms patient satisfaction and patient experience are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. To assess patient experience, one must find out from patients whether something that should happen in a health care setting (such as clear communication with a provider) actually happened or how often it happened.
Satisfaction, on the other hand, is about whether a patient’s expectations about a health encounter were met. Two people who receive the exact same care, but who have different expectations for how that care is supposed to be delivered, can give different satisfaction ratings because of their different expectations.
While there are various ways to gather information on patient experience, CAHPS surveys have become critical tools for organizations interested in assessing the patient-centeredness of the care they deliver and identifying areas for improvement. CAHPS surveys do not ask patients how satisfied they were with their care; rather, they ask patients to report on the aspects of their experiences that are important to them and for which they are the best, and sometimes the only source of information. Because the surveys ask well-tested questions using a consistent methodology across a large sample of respondents, they generate standardized and validated measures of patient experience that providers, consumers, and others can rely on.
A positive patient experience is an important goal in its own right. Moreover, substantial evidence points to a positive association between various aspects of patient experiences, such as good communication between providers and patients, and several important health care processes and outcomes. These processes and outcomes include patient adherence to medical advice, better clinical outcomes, improved patient safety practices, and lower utilization of unnecessary health care services.
The possibilities are endless and there is no one way to celebrate. No matter how you choose to celebrate – whether it be week-long or just a day – it is a way to boost the morale of all our healthcare staff who work really hard and go the extra mile to make patients more comfortable, safer, and healthier.
Patient experience represents a critical component of the ability to attract and retain patients. When patients form positive relationships and begin to trust the provider or the medical facility, they become more engaged in their own care and develop a stronger sense of loyalty to the organization or private practice.
This week provides a chance to show appreciation to the many men and women making the institution’s patient experience outstanding. If your practice is known for providing a great patient experience, it definitely would not be possible without the staff at your practice.
Celebrating and fostering a great patient experience can have lasting effects on a healthcare facility. The three major benefits are as follows:
Better patient experiences, which involve seeing patients as unique individuals, increase the likelihood that they (and their families or caregivers) will become more engaged in their own health outcomes/
In an increasingly competitive market, healthcare facilities and private practices must focus on providing exceptional experiences for their patients. If healthcare providers fail to meet the needs of their patients, patients can choose to take their business elsewhere.
Creating a positive, safe environment can reduce a patient’s stress and, in turn, facilitate their healing process.
Provide recognition to your staff members to say thank you. In turn, this will encourage a positive, productive, and innovative organizational climate. It makes them feel good and feel appreciated which leads to better results for your practice or healthcare facility. People who feel appreciated end up experiencing more self-worth and improving their ability to provide exceptional care to patients. The result is a happier and better patient experience.
Encourage your staff to talk about a time when they created a positive patient experience at work. You can also consider creating a Patient Experience Week bulletin board, where nurses and other healthcare professionals can share their stories for everyone to see. This kind of activity is also a good way to boost morale.
Conduct a fundraiser where all the proceeds go toward improving the patient experience at your medical practice. You can do a “pocket change challenge” or simply hold a raffle. It doesn’t always have to be a big event. In fact, even a small one can help tremendously improve the patient experience.
A lunch and learn is an easy way to develop and motivate employees while creating a workplace of communication, collaboration, and learning. The lunch and learn program could cover important workplace or patient care issues and promote an open platform for information for employees. Since these Lunch and Learn programs would ideally not be mandatory to attend, these sessions can provide additional resources that make your employees happy to learn. Some of the typical Lunch and Learn programs include skills training, professional development, personal development, and life skills.
Website announcements, emails, and social media are excellent tools to get multiple messages across to various audiences. Show your gratitude by dedicating an announcement or post to your special team of patient experience all-stars. Most people appreciate being appreciated, and one of the best ways to show them they’re doing a great job is to recognize them on social media.
Your online presence is instrumental in how visitors view your organization, and some positive staff recognition just might be the first thing they see when learning about your practice.
Sources:
https://www.drcatalyst.com/celebrate-national-patient-experience-week
https://www.ahrq.gov/cahps/index.html
https://www.ahrq.gov/cahps/about-cahps/patient-experience/index.html