Contents

Soapbox

Quoteworthy

Stress-Buster

Cage-Rattling Q’s

August Webinar

Patient Experience Champions Speak

Wendy Leebov’s

August 2013 Volume 5, Issue 7

On The Quality Patient Experience

www.quality-patient-experience.com

HeartBeat

©2013; Leebov Golde Group. www.quality-patient-experience.com

Wendy’s Soapbox From CAHPS to Caring While I know many people hate HCAHPS, CG-CAHPS and every other CAHPS, I’m not among them. CAHPS instru-ments standardize measurement, allow consumers to com-pare healthcare organizations using an apples-to-apples measure, focus attention on performance from the patient’s perspective, address elements with a demon-strated impact on health outcomes, and provide tangible measures that can be used as one element in the Value-Based Purchasing formula. Could it be better? YES, but it’s MUCH better than what we had before---which was nothing.

But CAHPS is not the be-all and end-all. I was reminded of this recently when my friend Susan Mazer shared with me the details of her recent and very traumatic per-sonal healthcare experience. Susan is President of Healing HealthCare Systems which offers the wonderful C.A.R.E. Channel, 24-hour relaxation programming for patient television that reduces patient and family stress and anxiety and helps to provide an environment conducive to personal peace and healing.

Susan describes her firsthand experience as a critically ill patient in her blog entry “I-Witness: My Under-the-Cover Patient Experience”.

After we talked about the heart-wrenching details of Susan’s experience of her care, Susan and I found ourselves discussing CAHPS and agreeing on what we both think is a very important point:

You can score VERY high on CAHPS without acknowledging and addressing pa-tients who are suffering and feeling helpless, powerless and frightened. Yes, the nurses and doctors explained well. Yes, they helped with pain. Yes, they were responsive to complaints. Yes, they kept the noise down, and on and on. You can do all of these key CAHPS actions frequently and still not tune into the person in a personal, touching, healing way. Everyone impacting the patient can do nothing wrong and still provide care-less care.

I know I’m preaching to the choir! Still, my discussion with Susan made me remind myself that we are not in this for scores. We have the privilege of helping people who are suffering, who feel a loss of identity, who are worried about their futures, who are feeling less control than ever before. If we go about our tasks competently and efficiently, that’s great. And it’s not enough. It just isn’t. There IS time to

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©2013; Leebov Golde Group; www.quality-patient-experience.com

From CAHPS to Caring (continued)

connect personally, to show “I see you” and “I care.” There is no one way to show that. This calls for “being here now” and opening to our own creativity and above all, our lovingkindness. This cannot be scripted.

Nurse theorist, Dr. Jean Watson has done wonderful work in defining the practice of Human Caring in her “Caritas” model for nursing which begins with treating patients and each other with loving kindness. Also, see Jack Kornfield’s “Meditation on Lovingkindness” which includes useful tools.

We have so much to give to patients and families, if we decide to do so. It requires intention on our parts. We can give our total presence. We can bear witness to pain and fear. We can show empathy, under-standing and kindness. We can provide encouragement, hope, acceptance, warmth, and even some lighthearted moments and laughter. We can bring our whole selves to the other person and make a real difference. All it requires is, according to Buddha, “liberation of the heart.”

(To learn about the C.A.R.E. Channel, go to http://healinghealth.wistia.com/medias/jsvjsyikdv

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Quoteworthy “Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.”

“A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face.”

—Maya Angelou

Stress-Buster Get Grateful

Drown out negativity by focusing your mind on the positives. Grab a sheet of paper and jot down a long list of ”Gratitudes.” As fast as you can, list things, people, situations you are grateful for. Don’t stop before you’ve written at least twenty. Keep this sheet of Gratitudes and read it when you feel stressed.

Ask Your Team These Cage-Rattling Questions (Fits easily into a staff meeting)

Explain to your team that you want people to savor times when they make a difference at work. Instructions: “There are many expressions used to acknowledge people who make a difference. Take a look at these (post them). Choose one and prepare to share a time when YOU were the person making the difference.”

At work, what is one time when you were:

A breath of fresh air?

A rainbow in someone else’s cloud?

A light at the end of a tunnel?

Calm before the storm?

After people share in pairs, invite people to share with the whole group how they can make more moments like these happen at work.

Coaching is a strategy that is essential for those of us who

want leaders and staff to operate at peak performance. In

this webinar, expert coach and transformation consultant

Janice Ganann describes the elements of effective coach-

ing and how you can engage leaders and frontline employ-

ees in serving as powerful coaches of others to achieve

your organization’s goals.

Highlights include:

The power of coaching as a developmental process

The elements of respectful and helpful coaching con-versations

A tried-and-true coaching model step-by-step

Case examples

How to develop peer coaches and a peer coaching system within your organization

Who   S h o u l d  A t t e n d  

Pa ent experience leaders, physician cham-pions and medical staff leaders

Residency program directors and physician coaches

Human resource leaders, training and organ-iza on development professionals

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

1-2 pm (EDT)

Webinar Faculty 

Janice Ganann, M.Ed., ACC, is an expert coach and transforma on consultant for over 20 years. Un-der her leadership, the Banner Health internal execu ve coach-ing program was awarded the Interna onal Prism Award - the highest standard of excellence for companies that have implement-ed coaching programs for culture

change, leadership development, organiza onal produc-vity and performance improvement. Janice’s broad-

based knowledge and experience includes execu ve and leadership coaching for senior leaders and teams who are commi ed to reaching the highest levels of business results and personal sa sfac on. Janice has successfully coached senior leaders including region vice presidents, CMOs, CEOs, CFOs and other C-Suite execu ves.

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Improving HCAHPS Through Employee Engagement 

Dorothy Sisneros, MS, MBA

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Hard Conversa ons: Key Skills to Win the Coopera-on of Pa ents, Families and Coworkers  

Carla Rotering, MD, MA

Register Now

Individual = $49 

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Leebov Golde Group Webinar Series Presents...

Effective Coaching Every Which Way

Page 4 ©2013; Leebov Golde Group; www.quality-patient-experience.com

Wendy Leebov’s HeartBeat on the Quality Patient Experience www.quality-patient-experience.com

Patient Experience Champions Speak

Last month, my “Soapbox” article talked about actively soliciting family feedback, since family members are eyes and ears during their loved ones’ hospital experiences. In re-sponse to my article, I received from likeminded souls a flood of mail and social media comments. I want to share with you a select few:

“Your call to invite and be truly interested in the family members perspective is spot on. In addition to being a health care provider, I have been the family member "on the other side of the door" many times. I have been both stunned and gratified by what I observe and have been a little reticent in sharing it. There have been times when I have been embraced by the care team and actively included in the care of my family member. And, there have been times when I have been actively ignored and even seen as a threat rather than ally. Times when I watched in amaze-ment as a clinician seemed to work hard at not acknowledging my presence, not in-troducing themselves, not seemingly even slightly interested in my relationship with the patient. I know my experience is not unique and I am happy that these old dy-namics are beginning to crumble and that a light is being shined upon the patient as a whole person -- including one who belongs to a family, to a community and will need their support and understanding to heal. We, as care providers, cannot afford to ignore or be inconvenienced by the family any longer. Thank you, Wendy, for shining this light.” —Mary Koloroutis, VP, Creative Health Care Management

“Visiting my wife in the hospital last night I was reminded of how much anxiety and fear is involved for the patient and family Yet this is rarely mentioned, even in our hospital's Patient and Family Advisory Council and in its Patient Satisfaction Team. I suspect because it doesn't jump out of the Press Ganey survey it doesn't get much priority. Such a shame because it is so critical to the patient experience. This reinforces the importance of going beyond surveys to understand our customers at deeper level.” —Andrew Arken, Member of Family Advisory Council at The Christ Hospital; Cincinnati

“Your urging of nursing staff to not only welcome but SOLICIT input from families about their loved ones is SPOT ON! I just returned from visiting a dear friend and colleague who has spent the past week in ICU and step-down unit. After her 9th day, she was able to be moved to general population wing which, unfortunately, re-sulted in diminished attention and care. During my hours with her, I was witness to her pain and distress, but moreover, suffering from lack of compassion and empa-thy from Nursing. Having worked in healthcare for many years, I'm aware of the challenges and occasional hiccups with having an overworked staff but what I wit-nessed, and my friend endured, were intolerable and inexcusable. I worry about those who have no Advocate to give voice to their suffering or intervene on their behalf.” —Kelly Hunt, The C.A.R.E. Channel

Wendy Leebov’s HeartBeat on the Quality Patient Experience www.quality-patient-experience.com

Page 5

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©2013; Leebov Golde Group; www.quality-patient-experience.com

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