Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Book Review: Questioning Protocol, Barbara Lewis Mba

Patient Experience Journal

In her review of Questioning Protocol by Randi Redmond Oster, Barbara Lewis shares how this new and award winning book takes the reader on Randi Oster's harrowing journey of navigating the healthcare system while helping her teenage son’s battle with Crohn’s disease. Seventeen chapters build a chronological story of success, frustration and failure in dealing with modern medicine and a healthcare industry that may appear foreign to the outsider.

Book Review: The Language Of Caring Guide For Physicians: Communication Essentials For Patient-Centered Care (2nd Edition), Chet Wyman Md

Patient Experience Journal

In thie book review for Wendy Leebov and Carla Rotering’s The Language of Caring Guide for Physicians: Communication Essentials for Patient-Centered Care (2nd edition), the author/reviewer conveys his perspective on the essential value of this publication. He offers his recommendation of this book for anyone who wants to improve their own communication skills and also for physician leaders responsible for initiatives to engage physicians and improve service quality, patient outcomes, and CAHPS scores for a department or organization, noting it is an essential read in today’s healthcare environment.

Learning What High Quality Compassionate Care Means For Cancer Patients And Translating That Into Practice, Fiona Mckenzie, Katherine Joel, Charlotte Williams, Kathy Pritchard-Jones Professor

Patient Experience Journal

In 2010, UCLPartners, a partnership of health care providers and universities in North Central London, began a collaboration with local commissioners that aimed to think about cancer care and diagnosis differently. Understanding that a good patient experience can only be delivered by putting patients first and working together along their journey from symptoms to recovery, we brought clinical leaders together with patients to think about how to improve outcomes for patients, outside institutional barriers. From the very beginning this new network, an integrated cancer system, focused on understanding what mattered most to patients and organising how it worked and how …

Hearing The Patient Voice: Using Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment To Understand Teens With Cystic Fibrosis, Susan Horky Lscw, Laura E. Sherman Msw, Julie Polvinen, Michael Rich Md

Patient Experience Journal

This qualitative study asked two questions: 1) How do teens with cystic fibrosis (CF) feel about their treatments; and 2) What factors lead teens to adhere, or not adhere, to treatments. To answer these questions we used an innovative approach (Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment or VIA), to learn about the experiences of teens with CF. We loaned video camcorders to teens with CF and asked them to create visual narratives of their lives. Researchers logged and coded videotapes, identifying themes that arose from the material. A primary theme was “Doctors don’t understand.” Participants also highlighted the value of routines and parental …

Using A Data-Driven Organizational Improvement Model To Engage An Interdisciplinary Team In Transforming A Public Women’S Health Clinic, Kenneth J. Feldman, Molly Lopez, Morris Gagliardi

Patient Experience Journal

Gouverneur Health is the largest diagnostic and treatment center in New York State, and part of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), a public benefit corporation with $6.7 billion in annual revenues. HHC is the largest municipal healthcare system in the United States serving 1.4 million patients, including more than 475,000 uninsured city residents.[1] Within Gouverneur, the Women’s Health department is committed to providing high quality services that improve patients' health and wellbeing, yet patient experience, flow, clinic access and education are in need of process improvements. To enhance patient experience and identify strategies replicable for other …

Evaluation Of An Advisory Committee As A Model For Patient Engagement, Cynthia Kendell, Robin Urquhart, Jill Petrella, Sarah Macdonald, Meg Mccallum

Patient Experience Journal

Patient engagement (PE) is not well defined and little guidance is available to those attempting to employ PE in decision-making relevant to health system improvement. After completing a 2-year PE project, overseen by an Advisory Committee, our objectives were: 1) to evaluate how effectively the project team engaged the Advisory Committee, 2) to examine how Advisory Committee members perceived PE and their role in PE, and 3) to identify barriers and facilitators to PE in order to improve future efforts. Five members of the Advisory Committee completed semi-structured interviews post-project about their experiences. Thematic analysis identified four themes: the approach, …

Enhancing Patient Experience By Training Local Trainers In Fundamental Communication Skills, Calvin L. Chou, Laura Cooley, Ellen Pearlman, Maysel Kemp White

Patient Experience Journal

Medical centers have a vested interest in improving patient experience through enhancing communication skills. The American Academy on Communication in Healthcare has helped institutions across the country establish internal expertise through delivering train-the-trainer programs. The phases of the program include preparing for implementation of the program, having program participants undergo a fundamental communication skills workshop and then understanding the theoretical and practical rationales underlying the workshop, setting up practice sessions for participants to achieve mastery, and ensuring long-term viability of a communication skills improvement initiative. Outcomes for participants include increased self-assessed personal communication skill, optimism about rolling out a communication …

Beyond Credentialing In Physician Selection: Application Of An Instrument That Measures Behavioral Aptitude, Edgar Staren Md, Phd, Mba, Susan Hirt Ph.D., Doug Rath M.A.

Patient Experience Journal

This article explores the idea that the assessment of candidates for the role of physician caregiver can be enhanced by evaluating their inter-personal and behavioral aptitude as well as their clinical skills. The objective of this work was to determine whether results of a structured interview correlate to performance ratings for physicians. Two data sets were collected: a structured aptitude assessment for physicians (the Physician Interview) and job performance data for physicians. Analysis of performance data allowed categorization of the physicians into three groups: top performers, contrast performers, and neither. The two data sets were then analyzed to assess the …

Hindsight Is 20/20: Lessons Learned After Implementing Experience Based Design, Kate Bak, Laura Macdougall, Esther Green, Lesley Moody, Genevieve Obarski, Lori Hale, Susan Boyko, Deborah Devitt

Patient Experience Journal

Experience Based Design (EBD) uses patient and staff experiences to identify quality improvement opportunities in healthcare settings. An EBD Collaborative was established to share successes and challenges related to the EBD projects. This paper summarizes the various lessons learned. A document analysis was conducted that examined meeting minutes and audio recordings, email communications, newsletters, project updates, project spotlights and evaluation surveys and interviews. A total of ten key themes were identified. While EBD teams encountered challenges, overall the experience led to successful quality improvement initiatives. In particular, staff gained new insights from the patients’ perspective, which enhanced their understanding of …

The Patient Experience Movement Moment, William Lehrman Phd, Geoffrey Silvera Mha, Jason A. Wolf Phd

Patient Experience Journal

For years, the patient experience movement has continued to gain momentum. From a novel concept, there is an emerging consensus that the patient experience is a fundamental aspect of provider quality; one that complements established clinical process and outcome measures but is neither subsumed nor secondary to them. An increasing volume of research as encouraged by publications such as Patient Experience Journal show this to be true. As the expectation of a high-quality patient experience becomes the norm, these developments have brought us to what we call the patient experience movement moment and there is little doubt that the patient …

Customer Service Vs. Patient Care, Kathy Torpie

Patient Experience Journal

In a competitive market where financial resources are limited, many of the popular approaches to improving the patient experience involve large capital investments in such things as hotel style amenities and expensive technology. The author argues that marketing based on a model of the patient as a traditional ‘customer’ is ill conceived and contributes unnecessarily to the high cost of healthcare while lacking a true understanding of, or an appropriate response to, the most basic needs of hospitalized patients that lead to patient satisfaction.

Experience Framework

This article is associated with the Patient, Family & Community Engagement lens of The …

To Serve Patients Is Our Greatest Privilege, David T. Feinberg Md, Mba

Patient Experience Journal

In his guest editorial, Dr. David Feinberg of UCLA Health System reminds us of the power of patient voice and the lessons we should be open to learning from those we serve every day. He offers, "It is a blessing for us to work in an environment where we have the opportunity every day to touch someone’s life so deeply. We must never lose sight of that. It is our responsibility to not just treat our patients, but also to embrace them."

A Gathering Place For Patient Experience Research: The Power Of Community, Jason A. Wolf Phd

Patient Experience Journal

In introducing Issue 2, we explore the power of community and its implications in shaping not only the purpose and intent of Patient Experience Journal, but of the patient experience movement itself. Community defined in this moment is simple, yet significant, the key being unity around common interest and its focus on ownership and participation. The idea of community bears great weight and has provided strong guidance and purpose for the work of experience excellence. It supports the goal of elevating the conversation, helps align the voices engaged and provides the space for listening, learning and impact.

Experience Framework …

Defining Patient Experience, Jason A. Wolf Phd, Cpxp, Victoria Niederhauser Drph, Rn, Dianne Marshburn Phd, Rn, Ne-Bc, Sherri L. Lavela Phd, Mph, Mba

Patient Experience Journal

In recent years, perceptions of performance and quality of healthcare organizations have begun to move beyond examining the provision of excellent clinical care, alone, and to consider and embrace the patient experience as an important indicator. There is a need to determine the extent to which clear and formal definitions exist, have common overarching themes, and/or have unique, but important constructs that should be considered more widely. In this article, we provide a 14-year synthesis of existing literature and other sources (2000-2014) that have been used to define patient experience. A total of 18 sources (articles or organizational websites) were …