Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1191144
19 PATIENT EXPERIENCE Recordings of mom's voice help NICU infants stay asleep By Anuja Vaidya I nfants who require specialized care sleep better in the neonatal intensive care unit when they are played recordings of their mothers' voices, accord- ing to a study published in Pediatrics. Researchers from Ann Arbor-based Michigan Med- icine studied 50 babies in the NICU. The infants lis- tened to a six-hour recording of their mothers reading. The researchers monitored the infants' sleep during the recordings and for six hours when the recordings weren't playing. They found that infants woke up less while listening to the recordings, even when noise levels in the environ- ment, such as alarms and ventilators, were high. Researchers noted that while infants born at 35 weeks gestation or older slept more soundly during the recordings, infants born prior to 35 weeks did not experience as big a difference in sleep patterns. "The NICU environment influences sleep," said lead study author Renée Shellhaas, MD, a pediatric neu- rologist at University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor. "If we can find simple tools to help babies in the unit get higher quality sleep, they could make a big difference to infants' health and de- velopment, especially for those who must stay in the hospital for an extended time." n Why UCSF Health's patient initiatives don't feel like the flavor of the month By Anuja Vaidya S usan Pappas, division director, UCSF Health Experience at University of California San Francisco Health, discusses the importance of being able to scale experience initiatives, the benefits of adopting Lean philosophy and why excellent patient expe- rience requires commitment from the entire organization. Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length. Question: What is the most important lesson you have learned about delivering excellent patient experience? Susan Pappas: e two most important lessons I have learned about delivering excellent patient experiences in my 35-year career is first, they must be deliberately designed into the cultural fabric of the organization and, secondly, it takes the entire village to create them. Excellent patient experiences do not happen by chance. It takes an organizational commitment from the top down to make this a priority for everyone. ere must be a commitment to high standards of behavior, patient-centered practices, recognition sys- tems and a culture of continuous improvement to ensure patients receive the excellent experiences they desire and deserve. Q: What are some common missteps hospitals make in their patient experience initiatives? SP: Some of the common missteps healthcare organizations mak are not aligning patient experience initiatives with the global organizational goals and not having the bandwidth, resources or budgetary means to scale them across the organization once they find success with them. Some efforts end up feeling like the flavor of the month or year and lose traction once the regular monitoring of that effort weakens. Organizations that do not consider the continuum of care fall vic- tim to creating inconsistency in the patient experience. Patients of- ten travel though many different areas within the healthcare system [where] they seek their care. When one area pays detailed attention to how they treat and care for their patients, yet another area pays little attention, patients, unfortunately, feel the difference. Q: What has been the most successful patient experi- ence initiative at your organization? SP: I would say the initiative having the highest degree of success and deep cultural change at UCSF Health is our Lean transforma- tion journey we began over five years ago. UCSF made a strong investment in adopting the Lean philosophy. We introduced True North boards, problem-solving thinking and active daily man- agement through regular huddles with staff that have positively catapulted our patient experience outcomes. Every day our staff are engaged in problem-solving discussions that are influencing and enhancing the experiences of their patients. Our CEO and entire executive leadership team regularly attend True North rounds across our entire organization to get a bird's-eye view of the strong work supporting improvement in the patient experience pillar. Consistency and reliability in practice is our ultimate goal. I am proud to say UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights and Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco scored 93rd and 98th, respectively, in the Press Ganey national database in per- centile ranking for the last three years in a row now. For an academic institution, that is an enormous achievement. Q: What excites you most about the future of your role? SP: e collaborative nature in which leaders throughout our organization are banding together to strengthen all of our efforts around quality, safety and patient experience. ere will always be a need for a patient experience strategic champion to amplify the voice of our patients' experiences within our organization. I see my role as the constant catalyst and change agent that holds the privilege and burden of bringing awareness, as well as conscience to humanizing the healthcare experience in positive ways. n