Meet the hierarchy of patient needs to improve experience

by Doug Della Pietra
Patient experience isn't only about attempting to wow and delight patients and their families.
In a recent phone conversation, a long-distance friend of mine--I'll call her "Debbie"--described her father's hospitalization. She explained that when her father was there, the hospital was overcrowded and had more admitted patients than beds. The result: Her father received his care in the hallway of one of the hospital's inpatient units.
Debbie noticed several aspects of the basic care experience missing in the hallway when compared to a patient room.

No television, phone or call button (although there was a bell)
Standard privacy screens too short to prevent an average-sized person from seeing over as they walked by
No chairs for the patient or family within the screened-off area
Delayed meals because Debbie's father's "space" didn't have a room number or similar designation

Of course, not all on the list are created equally; some constitute safety and quality issues.
Debbie's and her father's experience with "hallway medicine" raises important questions about patient experience strategies and priorities. For instance, are we going for the “wow” before meeting the basic needs of patients?
Like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, patients have a hierarchy of needs, too. In Colleen Sweeney's keynote presentation at The Beryl Institute's 2012 Patient Experience Conference, she outlined a few of the most basic and funda...

Source: hospital impact - December 5, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs