Post 4: Empathy

This week in class we had a guest speaker named Joni Spring. She showed us a YouTube video titled "Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care". The idea behind the video is to show how in a hospital, you have to remember that most of the patients and family members there are going through a really difficult time. It is important to have empathy, especially when working in a hospital, because you never know what the person you are passing in the hallway is going through. A hospital is a very sensitive environment and people that are there most likely do not want to be there and are not having the best day, which is very important to remember.

I think that this video should be shown to all hospital administrators before they begin working. Even though they are not directly involved with taking care of patients everyday, they still are in the environment and can see them walking around the building. It is also important to be empathetic with employees as well. Doctors, nurses, and other staff are all human and have good and bad days. Remembering that and making an effort to remain understanding in some scenarios and offering any kind of support when possible could make a big difference in the culture at your organization.

Link to video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDDWvj_q-o8

Post 3: Important Non-Medical Skills for Providers

An article posted on Managed Healthcare Executive titled "Poll: Most important non-medical skills for healthcare providers" reveals what patients really want out of their providers. The poll was conducted of more than 2,200 US adults by Morning Consult for the University of Phoenix and revealed what patients prefer out of their healthcare experience. The results were as follows: 

• 84% reported it was very important for medical professionals to have listening skills 
• 83% reported verbal/communication skills 
• 71% reported bedside care/empathy skills 
• 64% reported time management skills 
• 61% reported written communication skills 

As a hospital manager, results from surveys like this could be used to improve the overall patient satisfaction of the hospital. Even though outcomes and the quality of care are very important, we also need to be sure we are taking into account what patients are really wanting from their providers. The healthcare field is very competitive and one way to make your hospital stand out from others is if there is a plan implemented to ensure that providers understand these non-medical skills that patients want and make them more aware of them. I know that this is probably easier said than done, but as a manager, just being kept up to date on different polls like this and keeping track of patient satisfaction survey results could give you an idea on what areas you need to focus on in order to continue to improve your organization. 

Source: 

Walker, T. (2017, September 19). Poll: Most important non-medical skills for healthcare             providers. Managed Healthcare Executive, Retrieved from http://managedhealthcareexecutive.modernmedicine.com/node/440914

Post 2: "Atul Gawande: How do we heal medicine?"

This week in our health policy class we watched a Ted Talk given by Atul Gawande titled "How do we heal medicine?" One of the most interesting things he talked about was this idea of designing a checklist for surgeons to complete before and after surgery. He created a 19 item checklist to give to not only new surgeons, but older, experienced ones as well. I found this interesting because it can be easy to assume that a very experienced surgeon wouldn't need any help or guidance when it comes to performing the surgery.
Gawande implemented his checklist in eight different hospitals around the world, from Tanzania to Seattle, Washington. The results he found were astonishing. The complication rates in these hospitals dropped 35 percent, and the death rates dropped 47 percent. There was an improvement in every single hospital. I found it crazy how something so simple could have such a dramatic effect on something as serious as the death rate.
As a manager, it is important to always be open to ways to improve your organization. A hospital administrator may have looked at something as simple as a checklist and not think the surgeons needed it. There are constantly new studies coming out in health care about what does and does not work and as an administrator it is important to keep updated on those things, because they could help you improve the way you care for patients.

Source:

Gawande, A. (2012, February). Atul Gawande: How do we heal medicine? [Video file]. Retrieved

             from https://www.ted.com/talks/atul_gawande_how_do_we_heal_medicine

Post 1: Patient Experience

Hello, and welcome to my blog! For my first post, I decided to take some time to reflect on the experience that I had the past couple of months at an inpatient rehabilitation hospital and what it taught me about healthcare management.

This summer, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend time at Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital in Worcester, MA as an intern. One of the many things that I was able to do while I was there was meet with each member of the senior leadership team and speak to him or her about what their job entails. When planning what to write for this blog post, I started trying to think of one thing that every administrator I spoke with had in common. I remembered one phrase that was said to me multiple times throughout the summer: “without the patients, we have nothing else.” This phrase quickly made me realize just how important patient experience is to every aspect of a hospital.

As I have been planning a career in healthcare administration, I didn’t think I would have a lot to do with the patients. I’m not going to be a nurse or a doctor, so how was I going to affect the patient? After this summer, I learned that everybody who is working in a hospital has an impact on the patient experience, whether they realize it or not. In order to be a healthcare manager, I think that it is important to always remind staff what they working for. In a healthcare organization, we are not dealing with widgets or gadgets; we are dealing with people’s lives. 

My main project this summer was to interact directly with the patients and talk to them about their experience at the hospital. I analyzed the results from their patient satisfaction survey and came up with topics to speak to patients about based on that. I would then report any issues or complaints that came up back to the Director of Human Resources, who would help me come up with a solution. By doing this, I learned why patient satisfaction was so important to every administrator in the organization. In order to stay in business, they need patients. In order to keep having patients, the hospital needs to make sure that they continue to provide excellent care and keep them satisfied throughout their stay. But it was also more than that, the administrators I spoke to had a genuine passion in making sure the patients were being taken care of the best as they could be, and that is the kind of administrator I hope to be one day. 

I was able to witness patients walking around the hallways who had been confined to their beds just two weeks before. It was amazing to see the work that hospitals do to help people and it motivated me even more to get involved in the healthcare field.  

Overall, the number one lesson I am taking away with me from my experience this summer is that without the patients, the money, staff, and fancy equipment mean nothing. I learned that as an administrator, it is important to always make patient experience a top priority.