Prioritize operational standards for patient experience success

by Doug Della Pietra Does your organization have a prioritized operational framework for the patient experience that would effectively guide the beliefs, behavior and ultimate decision of the emergency department doctor in the following example and true story? An elderly woman presents with stroke-like symptoms. After negative test results and failing to satisfy the criteria for admission, an ED doctor in Columbia, S.C. planned to send her home but admits her when the woman's family insists. Why? As the Forbes article "Why Rating Your Doctor Is Bad For Your Health" from earlier this year explains: "'Her family refused, and they told me so ... Do I call security and escort them out? I was more concerned with them giving me a bad patient-satisfaction survey score than her going home and having a stroke,' which he considered highly unlikely." The author underscores the physician's primary dilemma: "Between 5 percent and 7 percent of his compensation--some $10,000--ss dependent on high Press Ganey scores." Why Patient Experience Operating Standards Are Important Dr. James Merlino, head of the Office of Patient Experience at the Cleveland Clinic, explains prioritizing patient experience operating standards is important "because you don't want to get into a situation where you are pushing people to improve the patient experience and they push back saying, 'So you want me to pay more attention to making patients happy than my quality (of care).'" He also emphasizes that pa...
Source: hospital impact - Category: Health Managers Authors: Source Type: blogs