Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/501108
Save the date! CEO Roundtable + CFO/CIO Roundtable — November 18-19, 2015 — Chicago. Please call 800-417-2035 to register. 16 16 attention. The second is through daily rounding by leaders. This offers real-time intelligence on what is going on. Leaders are empowered to fix the issues identified and will seek assistance for major roadblocks. The third is through our patient and fam- ily advisory councils. These are made up of our most loyal yet most critical patients. We formally meet with them monthly and discuss ideas for improvement. They offer advice and counsel on how initiatives can help our patients and their families. The last is through the eyes of our employees. While we all own the patient experience, they offer very sound advice and input on ways to improve it. TM: Our Office of Patient Experience is available to be a patient advocate as well as provide complaint and grievance resolution for any of our customers. This availability provides our office, in- cluding me, the opportunity for daily contact with our patients and their families. We are also developing patient and family advisory councils that will provide a regular forum to remain connected. Fi- nally, our organization is adopting human-centered design think- ing in conjunction with Stanford University. Design thinking devel- ops solutions that align what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. TS: As a full-time clinician in addition to being CXO, my patients constantly tell me what is and isn't working. The most important thing I do is listen and try to see things through their perspective. Q: What is something you've learned from patients that you didn't expect to? LA: Some of the most profound letters and comments I've re- ceived are from when someone has lost a loved one in the hos- pital. I am really touched by how we have the capability to con- tribute to a good death and help families through that process. Another thing I didn't expect is patients' willingness to give back with volunteerism and participation on patient and family commit- tees — to see the deep connection one can have with a health- care organization. AB: I've learned a lot of humility. Although we may have become experts in disease, the patient is the expert in their own narrative. Just because I go on rounds and sit at someone's bedside for 10 minutes doesn't give me the privilege of knowing his or her story. I'm lucky if they will share it with me. Having humility requires you to have an ability to lay down your own medical agenda and listen — to take off your doctor hat and put on your human hat. Another thing I've learned is to always stay curious. Recently, I helped treat a patient a colleague of mine had called 'noncom- pliant.' When I went to his bedside, I asked him to tell me what was going on when he decided to go off his treatment. He said his mom had been telling him that the treatment was poison, and he asked why he couldn't be like his cousins who had the same disease but weren't medicated. This is an example of how it is important to stay curious and find out what a patient's home envi- ronment is like to understand his perspective. BC: Patients want us to succeed not only for them personally but for all we serve. I learned that patients want to help us do the right thing. I feel there are many more opportunities to more consis- tently embrace them and their families as part of the care team. Their insight is a gift that helps either their care or how we deliver on their experience. TM: I've learned how deeply our patients appreciate us listening to them and their situation. Consistent with my experience as a CEO and COO, most patients and families who share feedback or con- cerns are truly motivated to ensure a better experience for the next person. The genuine and sincere desire shown by our patients and families to improve our system of health is ever-inspiring. TS: Our patients hear everything. They see everything. We need to be aware of how we look, sound and behave in front of patients and their families anytime we are 'on stage.' Q: What has been your own "best" and "worst" experience as a customer? How does this influence your work? LA: My best experience was when I had a difficult diagnosis. I really appreciated the compassion of my surgeon and my co- workers in healthcare who rallied to help support me and my family. My worst experience was being stuck on a plane that was fogged in when my son was just six weeks old. The airline really lacked com- munication with the passengers and we didn't know whether or not the plane would even take off. This experience showed me the in- fluence and importance of honest communication in my own work. AB: You don't often remember your best. One of my worst ex- periences was that I had planned a family trip to Maine for Christmas with my husband, 2-year-old child and 4-year-old child, and when we landed we learned the place we were going to stay had lost power because of an ice storm. I called a bed and breakfast and asked for somewhere to stay. They said they had a house we could rent, and we were so grateful. But when we arrived, a woman said she didn't know what I was talking about and that they had given the house away. We ended up having to stay all together in one room. I was very upset that the woman said I was saying something that wasn't true. We traveled all the way from Ohio. It was Christmas and I had a vision of what I wanted the holiday to be like for my family and it just fell apart before my eyes. With respect to healthcare, situations like that don't necessarily influence my approach. I don't really view patients as customers. None of my patients want to see me. This is an emotional busi- ness, so it feels different for me. One of the biggest lessons is to translate peoples' expectations to the services we provide them. The hardest thing on Christmas was having the vision fall apart and not having someone appreciate that or try to help. We cannot understand peoples' visions if we don't explore them. BC: My best experience was when employees anticipated my needs before I needed them, and then not only met those needs but exceeded them. They took the time to get to know me and listen to what I was saying and then were able to predict my needs. They were consistently one step ahead of me. My worst experience was just the opposite, and unfortunately, is a more frequent occurrence. These are instances in which I have to continually ask for even the most basic things and then am treated like I am an annoyance.