Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Walmart Solution to Patient Communication

Since when has a solution to one of our most difficult challenges been as simple as a trip to Wal-Mart? Ask and I will tell you a fascinating story about the Patient Communication Board and how it improved the customer service comments and made the concept of informing patients a teamwork process.

The problem we were facing was not new to ED or the culture of medicine. Our patient satisfaction was great except our survey tool highlighted that our patients felt uninformed and that the physicians and nurse didn’t spend enough time in the room. We decided to put a dry erase board and a marker in each of our patient rooms and call the process a “Patient Communication Board”. Each shift the nurse who has been assigned that room writes his or her name and the physicians name on the board. Throughout the course of the visit, the patient is updated by writing information about pending lab studies, test results, expected time of admission or disposition. This process takes about an extra 3-5 minutes of nursing, doctor or ED tech time. The cost of a board and markers is about eleven dollars per room.

The initial ED physician and nurse complaint phase about the new process lasted several months. We continued to stress a culture change around the importance of patient communication. After the process became second nature, we found that our patients were writing in the survey comment section that they felt they understood their diagnosis and the physicians and nurses were working together to keep them in the loop. Our surveys were being returned with compliments that identified the physician and nurse. This allowed us to reward specific individuals for their exceptional patient care.

Another unexpected benefit was a decrease in communication stress between the physicians and nurses. The updated Patient Communication board allows our doctor to walk into the room get information without having to locate the chart or the nurse. This increased foot traffic into the patient’s room improved the patient’s sense of well being. Overall this program was a success for our staff and the patients.
Low cost problem solving, culture change, and better patient care can start during a simple trip to Wal-Mart!

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