Call it what you want; it was known as customer service and prior to that, it was hospitality service and patient satisfaction.
Today, it’s called the patient experience, Teresa Sumner, RN and director of value-based purchasing at Lenoir Memorial Hospital, said.
“I think when you say patient experience,” she said, “it just means a whole lot more. It includes quality and safety and the service because all three are important — that we want our patients to get the quality of care. We want them to be safe and we want them to be happy with the care they got.”
The patient experience, a program developed by the nonprofit organization, The Beryl Institute, is defined as the sum of all interactions, shaped by an organization's culture, that influence patient perceptions across the continuum of care, according to theberylinstitute.org.
The program cost the hospital less than $5,000, Barbara LaRoque, marketing coordinator, said. A stay in the hospital is a different relationship than in other businesses, she added.
“When patients come here,” Sumner said, “you know, patients don’t want to have to be in a hospital. … But we want to do what we can to make it a better experience for them.”
The hospital is looking at a variety of ways to make the patient experience a better one. This includes aesthetics, changing processes, building staff morale and creating a patient-focused atmosphere.
“What we’re looking at are different systems,” Sumner said. “What can we do that adds value to the patient? You know, what do patients see that’s important to them?”
For example, in-patients have expressed concerns about noise during the night, LaRoque said.
“So Teresa was trying to figure out what can we do,” LaRoque said, “so our patients have a better night’s sleep because not getting a good night’s sleep impacts their stay. It impacts, perhaps, therapies the next day, the kind of frame of mind they’re in. I mean, everything is impacted by lack of sleep.”
Sumner discovered the noise problems came from delivering ice and emptying trash at night between 2-4 a.m. So the hospital implemented a quiet zone from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Sumner said a noise reduction team was put together to analyze the problem and come up with a solution so staff could get their work accomplished — including patient tests and other routine tasks — yet allowing patients to have a quiet time.
Sumner said the noise reduction team will be assessing the wheels on the carts, such as for blood pressure machines and drawing blood.
“We’ve looked at several different wheel types,” she said, “so that when they roll down the hall, you don’t hear anything.”
Jane Hanrahan, a systems analyst at LMH and former percussion professor at Mount Olive College, has selected a “quiet time” early 1900’s tune to play at about 9:15 p.m. and about 15 minutes later. It will be a time to let patients, staff and visitors know quiet time will be starting.
The hospital’s coordination effort is hoped to improve communication between staff members for the betterment of the patients.
“That’s what this focus is,” Sumner said, “is putting the patient first, it’s working around the patient. … A lot of studies have come out and shown that just how much people feel better with just these little touches, and trying to individualize care.”
Additionally, the patient experience involves making visiting families more comfortable. A whiteboard has been placed in each in-patient room with information about the patient’s diet, pain medicine, therapy and activity levels, and is even used as a tool for communication between families and staff.
“It’s really great,” Sumner said, “because their family members have been using the boards.”
It can save time when a patient asks a staff member for a drink, for example. The employee can scan the board for dietary requirements without having to go to the desk to find out if it’s something the patient can have, she said.
The patient experience is a complementary fit with the Lean program, which the hospital is currently using to eliminate waste and improve value.
“We have a lot of things to do,” Sumner said, “and it’s easy to get task-oriented, and we just want to bring it back to the point of these are our patients and we have relations with them.”
The hospital has a three-and-a-half-minute video designed by The Beryl Institute and produced by Clark Tutt’s TACC-9 to use in orientations for new employees and volunteers and help current staff understand the concept.
Each employee was given a name tag saying “I am the patient experience,” and a kick-off party was held to boost morale and instill the idea that each employee plays an important part — directly or indirectly — in that experience.
Employees throughout the hospital and volunteers participated in the video, smiling and displaying their name tags.
“It’s a proven idea of how it inspires people to want to do better,” Sumner said, “to take that extra time to do what they can for patients.”
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.