A Quest for Customer Sevice Satisfaction

[Angie Rallos]

After the leadership meeting today, a tormenting question came into my mind; "what else could I do to help the hospital recover from its reputation from bad to great?" The Director of Patient Relation's voice still is echoing in my brain; "the physicians will not admit patients to this hospital because the 'care' is not up to par, the nursing staff are not skillful enough to carry on with their responsibilities, therefore, they feel it is unsafe to bring patients here."

As I ponder, I was re-evaluating the kind of healthcare delivery we do have. Being the Chief Clinical Officer for just about four months I have so much things to catch up as I inherited a hospital with a tarnished reputation. So, I started meeting each of the department managers/directors, who are novice leaders, but have been in healthcare for years, and each are resistant to change!

I hope I will be able to conquer the monster in my quest for success in this hospital. Any comment, suggestions, from any member in this organization will be highly appreciated as I am very depressed at this point.

[Cynthia Newton]

Angie,

Your concerns are very real and unfortunately very prevelant across the country. I recommend that you visit www.baird-consulting.com a visit. Kris Baird is what I would consider the industry expert in "customer satisfaction" in the healthcare setting. She is a tremendous talent and I have heard her present a number of times. You can also reach her at [e-mail].

Cynthia

[Tony]

thanks for sharing your story with us. If you haven't already checked it out, one resource I'd recommend is Quint Studer's book "hardwiring excellence." He did exactly that - take a hospital from 5% patient satisfaction to 95% within a year or two.

[Deb Andelt]

Hi Angie,
I'm here to provide hope, and concrete suggestions.

The hope: Rather than people being resistant to change, would you like staff at all levels to be saying things like this: “In the first five minutes I was amazed at how the material spoke to me. I didn't want the facilitator to stop talking about how to create a healing environment. I felt empowered, encouraged and supported. I am more than just my nursing skills. I am a caregiver connecting with my patients. That is why I became a nurse! I can hardly wait to start implementing the tools. They are so easy but powerful. One attendee said it completely changed her attitude about going to work the next day. She felt refreshed and invigorated to see more patients."

That enthusiasm is a typical response to our workshops. We took a lot of science and evidence based research into the context of successful customer experience consulting methodology to create the healthcare equivalent of a Franklin Covey type of workshop. Robust, actionable information – that hospital staff love. We make it easy, fast and very budget friendly to create the type of cultural change you are seeking – creating a culture of healing by equipping each person to be an agent of healing.

The concrete suggestions: Please email me for our white paper. Key points are on slide share here: http://tinyurl.com/c8fgk3

It’s filled with science about why and how this works, and insights from our tools you can put into action immediately. Most suggestions can be implemented for free, just share and discuss with a department to get started. Get some quick wins and some motivation going, and then we can support you with more tools and education. The paper includes a story of how a hospital facilities manager completely changed his view of his role in healing in less than two hours. He became totally engaged in his job in new ways.

It’s our experience, our stories, that create reputations. Change the experience, and the stories change, and so will your reputation. (More on this and measurements in the white paper too.)
Deb
[e-mail]