Patient Feedback for Quality Improvement
As stated in the Healthcare Quality Book, “Patient satisfaction or patient experience of care surveys are the most common method used to evaluate quality from the patient’s perspective” (Ransom 2008). I am a strong believer that you can receive a lot of valuable feedback from patients. Many times healthcare organizations feel that patients do not have as much medical knowledge to make judgments on whether the healthcare they received meet the patients “quality” standards.
Just like many other industries, having customer (patient, in our discussion) feedback can help the business progress. Many companies have customer feedback surveys, via internet, written or even phone. It is crucial that the feedback surveys ask questions that will allow the patient to answer questions that will help the company improve. Asking questions that will not be beneficial to the overall success of the company are a waste of time. I feel that the surveys should always have a section where the patient can write down their own suggestions for improvements and what they did like within their experience within the healthcare facility.
Patient feedback surveys are also ways for the healthcare facility to know what they are doing well. If the surveys are just set up to be negative, this can cause a negative effect within the facility. When people feel that all you see is negative, they have the tendency to become defensive and the quality of work they are currently producing can decrease. Another reason why it is important for employees to know they are doing well, can allow the facility to have employee appreciation, by acknowledging the employees who are exceeding expectations.
Patient feedback is an important tool to help with the quality of care. Allowing patients to know that their suggestions, concerns, and positive comments are being heard, allows the patient to feel important. Healthcare would not survive without patients. If there was no need for patients, there would be no need for healthcare, so it is important for patients to feel as though they are valuable. They can feel this way through patient feedback surveys.
Source:
The Healthcare Quality Book, 2nd. Edition (2008), Ransom, E., Joshi, M., Nash, D., & Ransom, S. Helath Adminstration Press.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Patient Perspective
In your own words, explain why or why not the perspective of the patient is the most important determinant as to whether an adverse event as occured.
Adverse events are unfortunate events that can happen within the healthcare system. Adverse describes a negative consequence of care that has resulted in unintended injury or illness, which may or may not have been preventable. (Kizer & Stegun, 2005)
When determining whether or not an adverse event as occurred, the perspective of the patient should not be the only determinant factor. Even though the perspective of the patient is critical in determining whether or not an adverse event has happen, the perspective of the healthcare clinician should be equally important. Even though the patient has been misfortunate to have this adverse event happen to them, a lot of times, the patient does not have expertise into what has actually happened. Due to the patient not being as knowledgeable as the healthcare clinician, it is important to have the medical background of the clinician to help with the determination.
I believe there should be a full investigation done by the facility and also the patient or the family of the patient. By having the perspective of both the patient and the clinician allows for a more detailed and in-depth look as to what really happened to cause this event. Patients have a tendency to over-react, and overreacting causes mislead judgment. When something as serious as an adverse event happens, a lot of times patients are looking to see how much money they can get out of a situation. As sad as that sounds, people will look to see how much they can sue for.
There are various monitoring and detecting systems within the healthcare systems that can help detect an adverse event. For example, there are trigger alerts, these alerts help provide providers with a detailed examination of patient records. Clinical triggers help clinicians identify for potential errors, and these clinical triggers can be incorporated within the computerized physician order and even electronic medical records. (Savitz)
Even though there are many systems in place to help avoid errors, nothing is completely error proof. Despite all the precautions and preventions methods in place, there are always some unforeseen things that can happen.
References:
1. Savitz, L. & Bernard, S. Measuring & Assessing Adverse Medical Events to Promote Patient Safety.
2. K. Kizer & Stegun, M. Serious Reporable Adverse Events In Health Care. Retrieved June 38, 2010 from National Medical Library http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=aps4&part=A7695
Adverse events are unfortunate events that can happen within the healthcare system. Adverse describes a negative consequence of care that has resulted in unintended injury or illness, which may or may not have been preventable. (Kizer & Stegun, 2005)
When determining whether or not an adverse event as occurred, the perspective of the patient should not be the only determinant factor. Even though the perspective of the patient is critical in determining whether or not an adverse event has happen, the perspective of the healthcare clinician should be equally important. Even though the patient has been misfortunate to have this adverse event happen to them, a lot of times, the patient does not have expertise into what has actually happened. Due to the patient not being as knowledgeable as the healthcare clinician, it is important to have the medical background of the clinician to help with the determination.
I believe there should be a full investigation done by the facility and also the patient or the family of the patient. By having the perspective of both the patient and the clinician allows for a more detailed and in-depth look as to what really happened to cause this event. Patients have a tendency to over-react, and overreacting causes mislead judgment. When something as serious as an adverse event happens, a lot of times patients are looking to see how much money they can get out of a situation. As sad as that sounds, people will look to see how much they can sue for.
There are various monitoring and detecting systems within the healthcare systems that can help detect an adverse event. For example, there are trigger alerts, these alerts help provide providers with a detailed examination of patient records. Clinical triggers help clinicians identify for potential errors, and these clinical triggers can be incorporated within the computerized physician order and even electronic medical records. (Savitz)
Even though there are many systems in place to help avoid errors, nothing is completely error proof. Despite all the precautions and preventions methods in place, there are always some unforeseen things that can happen.
References:
1. Savitz, L. & Bernard, S. Measuring & Assessing Adverse Medical Events to Promote Patient Safety.
2. K. Kizer & Stegun, M. Serious Reporable Adverse Events In Health Care. Retrieved June 38, 2010 from National Medical Library http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=aps4&part=A7695
Blog #1: What Does Quality Mean to Me??
What Does Quality Mean to Me?
Quality can be defined differently, depending on a person’s preferences, experiences, feelings and desires. I believe that quality can be measured in how much we will invest time, energy and money into. In everyday life, individuals want to know the quality of something, not just in terms of healthcare, but a television show, food we consume, clothes we buy, relationships we invest our time in and the list continues.
When it comes to the quality of healthcare, before I even walk into a physician’s office, I think about the quality of the phone call in which my appointment was made. Was the receptionist friendly, professional, and knowledgeable? When it is time for me to receive care at a particular healthcare facility, I assess the cleanliness of the facility and the staff. Who wants to receive healthcare from a facility that does not take time to maintain themselves nor the facility? Quality of care can then be measured by how long you stayed in a facility, when the physician came in to access the problem, was the problem handled or did you have to go back for more visits, because the issue still persist?
I remember taking my grandmother to the Optometrist one day because her eyes had been bothering her. When I called to make an appointment, the receptionist asked, what day and time did I want to come in? I told her the date and time, and she told me that the date and time I wanted to bring my grandmother was available. I thought that it was strange how my grandmother would be able to be seen in two days, at the time and date I wanted, but nevertheless, I was grateful, because she was going to be seen a lot sooner than I expected. The day we opened the door to the Optometrist office, I understood why I was able to be seen so quick, the optometrist overbooks and the lobby was FULL of people. There was no place for my grandmother and I to even sit, I was extremely upset. It took the nurse an hour and a half to call us back into the back, and then when we got to the back, we waited another hour for the optometrist to come in. When the optometrist came into the room, she had us to go back into the lobby because she wanted to take more test for my grandmother. We spent five hours in the Optometrist office that day, and at the end of our appointment, the nurse said for us to come back next week for more test. Needless to say, my grandmother was not taking back to that optometrist, especially after all the time that was spent that day, and nothing, and I do mean nothing was resolved.
The quality of care giving at this facility was very insufficient, but I believe that quality can always be improved. If an organization is getting responses from patients which are not pleasing, it is possible to reevaluate the situation and make changes for improvement.
Quality can be defined differently, depending on a person’s preferences, experiences, feelings and desires. I believe that quality can be measured in how much we will invest time, energy and money into. In everyday life, individuals want to know the quality of something, not just in terms of healthcare, but a television show, food we consume, clothes we buy, relationships we invest our time in and the list continues.
When it comes to the quality of healthcare, before I even walk into a physician’s office, I think about the quality of the phone call in which my appointment was made. Was the receptionist friendly, professional, and knowledgeable? When it is time for me to receive care at a particular healthcare facility, I assess the cleanliness of the facility and the staff. Who wants to receive healthcare from a facility that does not take time to maintain themselves nor the facility? Quality of care can then be measured by how long you stayed in a facility, when the physician came in to access the problem, was the problem handled or did you have to go back for more visits, because the issue still persist?
I remember taking my grandmother to the Optometrist one day because her eyes had been bothering her. When I called to make an appointment, the receptionist asked, what day and time did I want to come in? I told her the date and time, and she told me that the date and time I wanted to bring my grandmother was available. I thought that it was strange how my grandmother would be able to be seen in two days, at the time and date I wanted, but nevertheless, I was grateful, because she was going to be seen a lot sooner than I expected. The day we opened the door to the Optometrist office, I understood why I was able to be seen so quick, the optometrist overbooks and the lobby was FULL of people. There was no place for my grandmother and I to even sit, I was extremely upset. It took the nurse an hour and a half to call us back into the back, and then when we got to the back, we waited another hour for the optometrist to come in. When the optometrist came into the room, she had us to go back into the lobby because she wanted to take more test for my grandmother. We spent five hours in the Optometrist office that day, and at the end of our appointment, the nurse said for us to come back next week for more test. Needless to say, my grandmother was not taking back to that optometrist, especially after all the time that was spent that day, and nothing, and I do mean nothing was resolved.
The quality of care giving at this facility was very insufficient, but I believe that quality can always be improved. If an organization is getting responses from patients which are not pleasing, it is possible to reevaluate the situation and make changes for improvement.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Blog #2- Wild Card
The past couple of years, I have come to the realization that customer service within many of the place I visit has become terrible. When I first came to noticed how customer service had declined, I was hoping that it was a bad day with some of the employees that I was dealing with, but I realized this trend is spreading and something needs to be done. Bad customer service will make a business go down. Customers are not going to want to give a business their hard earned money when they feel the business customer service is not where it should be.
For example, when I go to a restaurant and the waiter/waitress is being rude I do not give them a generous tip in comparison to a waiter/waitress who is being friendly. Waiters/waitress are the "first impressions" customers get from the restaurant. Before the food is even served, there is in interaction between the waiter/waitress and customer. I am the type of person who hates terrible customer service and I will not continue to return to a restaurant when the customer service is bad.
I believe that customer service within any field has a large input on patient satisfaction, which also has an impact on the quality of service. The ability of the healthcare facility to provide "high quality, patient- centered care to their members and patients depends in part of their understanding of basic customer service principles, and their ability to integrate these principles into clinical settings." (Ransom)
The following principles should be adopted to help provide superior customer services: (Ransom)
1. Hire service-savvy people. Aptitude is everything; people can be taught technical
skills.
2. Establish high standards of customer service.
3. Help staff hear the voice the customer.
4. Remove barriers so staff can serve customers.
5. Design processes of care to reduce patient and family anxiety and thus increase satisfaction.
6. Help staff cope better in a stressful atmosphere.
7. Maintain a focus on service.
It is important for customer service within a healthcare organization to be superb. When customers feel like they were treated in a great way, they will return and this also allows for customers to refer others to the facility.
Sources:
Ransom, E. R., Joshi, M. S., Nash, D. B., & Ransom, S. B. (2008). The Healthcare Quality Book (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Health Administration Press.
For example, when I go to a restaurant and the waiter/waitress is being rude I do not give them a generous tip in comparison to a waiter/waitress who is being friendly. Waiters/waitress are the "first impressions" customers get from the restaurant. Before the food is even served, there is in interaction between the waiter/waitress and customer. I am the type of person who hates terrible customer service and I will not continue to return to a restaurant when the customer service is bad.
I believe that customer service within any field has a large input on patient satisfaction, which also has an impact on the quality of service. The ability of the healthcare facility to provide "high quality, patient- centered care to their members and patients depends in part of their understanding of basic customer service principles, and their ability to integrate these principles into clinical settings." (Ransom)
The following principles should be adopted to help provide superior customer services: (Ransom)
1. Hire service-savvy people. Aptitude is everything; people can be taught technical
skills.
2. Establish high standards of customer service.
3. Help staff hear the voice the customer.
4. Remove barriers so staff can serve customers.
5. Design processes of care to reduce patient and family anxiety and thus increase satisfaction.
6. Help staff cope better in a stressful atmosphere.
7. Maintain a focus on service.
It is important for customer service within a healthcare organization to be superb. When customers feel like they were treated in a great way, they will return and this also allows for customers to refer others to the facility.
Sources:
Ransom, E. R., Joshi, M. S., Nash, D. B., & Ransom, S. B. (2008). The Healthcare Quality Book (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Health Administration Press.
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