Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

11 PATIENT EXPERIENCE Patient relationships in the age of tech and 8-second attention spans: 5 Qs with Dignity Health's SVP of quality, patient experience By Mackenzie Bean M eaningful patient encounters are the building blocks of high-quali- ty healthcare and positive patient experiences. Health systems cannot achieve the latter two without first engraining this founda- tional practice into clinicians' daily routines. Actively listening to patients and address- ing their concerns helps physicians build stronger, more trusting patient-provider relationships. e practice also paves the way for patients and physicians to collab- oratively create individualized care plans, which patients are more likely to understand and follow. However, some physicians find it difficult to hold genuine conversations with patients while also balancing a heavy work- load and other administrative duties. "Many individuals who choose healthcare as a profession do so in part of their inherent desire to help others," said Tracy Sklar, senior vice president of quality and patient experience at San Francisco-based Dignity Health. "But even with the best intentions, there are challenges." Ms. Sklar said the secret to meaningful patient interactions does not lie in making more time for physicians, but in helping them make the most of the time they al- ready have with patients. Technology plays a big part in this at Dignity Health, where "humankindness" is seen as a key compo- nent of healthcare. e 41-hospital system is implementing its own mobile apps and joining Apple's health records project to promote more effective, caring interactions between physicians and patients. Ms. Sklar discussed the importance of meaning- ful patient interactions and elaborated on Dig- nity Health's initiatives to achieve them during a conversation with Becker's Hospital Review. Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for style and clarity. Question: What are the challenges to fostering caring human interactions and beneficial patient relationships? Tracy Sklar: In my discussions with our care teams, they mention that a lack of time can be a barrier to connecting with others, including patients and fam- ilies. However, studies have shown that some simple actions really do not take more time. At Dignity Health, we use the acronym "HEL- LO" (say hello, make eye contact, listen, learn and offer assistance) to remind each of us to take the necessary steps to establish a con- nection during each patient interaction. Eye contact, smiling and offering a warm greeting can help physicians build a connection. Sim- ilarly, the process of clinicians narrating the care — such as while taking blood pressure or reviewing a medical record — can increase connection without need for additional time. Q: How can technology help facili- tate these interactions in hospitals? TS: ere are many ways technology can inspire better interactions — not only between clinicians and patients, but among members of a clinical team. Teamwork is important to patients. If they see all members of their team communicating well and on the same page with respect to their care plan, it helps them feel safer. e proper implementation of new tech- nology for clinician-to-clinician interactions can help facilitate better care for our patients. Technology can also inspire patients to take control of their health, most commonly through apps that provide feedback on personal health conditions or that serve as a resource for information. Hospitals and technology companies alike are helping healthcare become more con- sumer-friendly, which encourages better interactions in a care setting. For example, Dignity Health has partnered with Apple so patients can carry their personal medical records on their phones, which helps them take charge of their health and have better conversations with their physicians. Q: We live in an age of digital distrac- tion, where technology is often seen as a barrier to authentic human interac- tions. How can hospitals ensure tech- nology is adding to — and not detracting from — meaningful patient-physician reactions? TS: People don't respond to technology for the sake of technology. ey respond to technology that helps anticipate and meet their needs. Any new technologies introduced into a care setting need to consider the principles of human-cen- tered design. Building new technology into an Accessible care more important to patients than care quality, survey says By Megan Knowles O ver half of patients (51.3 percent) say convenient, easily accessible care is the most important factor in their healthcare decision-making — ranking more important than care quality (34.6 percent), according to NRC Health's 2019 Healthcare Consumer Report. NRC Health, which provides in-depth customer intelligence in healthcare, based its report on insights from more than a million U.S. healthcare consum- ers and insights from healthcare leaders. Convenience also mattered more to patients than brand reputation (39.8 percent); interpersonal conduct of physicians and nurses (44.2 percent); and insurance coverage (46.4 percent), the report found. The majority — 80 percent — of patients said they select providers based on convenience factors alone. "If hospitals want to improve patient relationships and keep patients within their facilities, they will need to build sustainable models to support frontline staff and free up their time," said Joe Ness, COO at Portland, Ore.-based OHSU Health- care. "Because healthcare's a people business. There's no substitute for that." n

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