Houston Methodist Willowbrook News
Sheila Fata
Vice President & Chief Nursing Officer
Focusing on Patient Satisfaction
HCAHPS is an acronym used daily in meetings, newsletters, emails and in conversations among staff at Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital (HMWB). HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is the survey tool developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to measure patients’ perspectives on hospital care, including several domains directly related to nursing, from communication with nurses and responsiveness of staff to communication about medications and discharge needs. A key word is “perspective” or rather “perceptions” of care. While patient satisfaction is an important measure of our work as nurses, managing a patient’s perception of care can be a challenge. To patients, anyone in scrubs can be perceived as a nurse. To patients, anything that happens from the time they enter the building to the time they receive a bill can impact their perception of care. First and last impressions matter, and for that reason patient satisfaction is not solely the job of nurses but of every Houston Methodist employee. Why are we so focused on HCAHPS? First and most importantly, providing care that anticipates and meets patient needs, involves the patient and family in care decisions and ensures the patient is well-informed are core elements of our culture, particularly as a Magnet® hospital! Patient satisfaction scores are a reflection of how well we are meeting the high standards of a Magnet institution and how well we are living our ICARE values. Second, there is a very real financial cost for underperforming on HCAHPS in the form of reduced Medicare reimbursements. This reduced payment has a domino effect that can impact our day-to-day resources, such as the ability to finance new equipment or add additional staff. In 2013, we rolled out the Methodist Experience across the hospital — remember attending the
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special class? We all learned about initiatives that were aimed at providing a “WOW” experience for every patient, every time — AIDET, Managing Up, and Key Words at Key Times. We also implemented several evidence-based initiatives in our nursing organization over the past 18 months, such as hourly rounding, My Daily Care Plan, Commit to Sit and the No Pass Zone as part of the Methodist Experience to improve our HCAHPS scores. Because we have found that the use of these important initiatives vary greatly among staff and among nursing units, we have set an important goal for 2014: to achieve consistency in the execution of tools and tactics that we have discussed, educated and committed to as an organization. To achieve the hospitalwide “hardwiring” that we desire, you will see a lot more of your leaders and colleagues visiting patients, observing staff and auditing results. Structured leader rounding is already in full force and is providing nurse leaders the opportunity to speak directly with patients about their care and to address any concerns immediately. Staff will be receiving real-time feedback on patient interactions. More frequent audits of patient satisfaction initiatives will help ensure consistent compliance by staff. Finally, we will be rolling out some helpful tools, such as PAUSE to ROUND, to make it easier for staff to remember processes like hourly rounding as well as what to look for during rounds beyond the usual “potty, position, pain.” Houston Methodist Willowbrook has earned the reputation as a leader in patient care, and we want our patient satisfaction scores to reflect this! By delivering exceptional patient experiences and by holding each other accountable for best practices, we will truly provide the Methodist Experience and continue to earn the confidence of our patients and community.