Treat Everyone with Importance

Part 7 of 7: Treat everyone with importance

7 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction

Patient interaction with staff members has the largest impact on customer satisfaction. Wait...did you catch that? The thing that influences customer satisfaction the most is your employees. When treated with importance, clients are more likely to forgive shortcomings. This rule is integral to all seven tips.

How do you do it, though, when you have many patients and are pressed for time? Here are four key behaviors to incorporate into your routine:

Love is spelled T-I-M-E. 

I have five siblings. One day, we were talking together about our mom and who she liked best. We were all convinced that we were her favorite. After squabbling about it for several minutes, we went and asked my mom who of us was her favorite. She said she didn't have favorites so we pressed to know the truth. "C'mon, Mom. Who's your favorite?" She smiled and responded, "Dad's my favorite." We all rolled our eyes and laughed.

The thing I learned that day was that my mom, although she was busy, took time to listen to our stories and find out what was important to us. She made sure that even if we didn't get a lot of one-on-one time with her that the time we did get with her was quality time.

The secret art of listening

Actually...it's no secret. Listening is one of the best ways you can show someone that you think they are important. Just remember that listening has to do with more than your ears. Actively listening to someone means that you are paying attention to not just what they say, but how they say it through voice intonations and body language. Active listening requires taking in all the verbal and nonverbal cues to understand fully what someone is trying to communicate.

Be genuine

Why? People will trust you more, according to Psychology Today. "We believe [that] those who are true to themselves are also likely to be truer and more honest with us." So embrace your authentic side and show your patients the real you. If authenticity isn't your thing...yet, here's a great poster to help you start practicing it.

Treat others the way THEY want to be treated

"They spoiled me rotten," the patient said in an interview. "They made me feel alive again." Now that's what we want to hear! Everyone is unique in their needs. When you take time to get to know people, that's when you can truly give them those things they need—simply because you understand their needs.

Want to read the other six ways to improve patient satisfaction? Start with part 1: Invest in Your Employees.

4 Ways to Lose Wait

Part 6 of 7: 4 Ways to Lose Wait

7 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction

A common complaint from those receiving care is excessive waiting. Waiting creates a high level of frustration and sends the message that the individual who is waiting is not important.

Countless hours of research have gone into the study of waiting, and it isn't surprising that waiting can produce unhappy customers. Based on the 8 factors that make the wait seem longer from World of Psychology on PsychCentral, here are some tips for making it less painful to wait.

Unavoidable waits

Sometimes waiting is unavoidable. So how do you manage patient expectations without slowing down the process? Here are four tips for dealing with unavoidable waits:

Communicate

The aid was supposed to come at 10 a.m. but now it's almost 10:40 a.m. and the patient is feeling like they've been forgotten. Simply letting the person know that you're running late can greatly reduce waiting anxiety. The most common complaint respondents give is that the agency doesn’t communicate with them what time their aide, therapist or nurse will stop by. Find out if the person has a time conflict that is creating stress for them. Reschedule if needed.

Be present and attentive

The third most common complaint regarding waiting is that when the employee is rushing to get to their next appointment, the patient feels less important or cheated. To avoid this, explain to the patient that you need to take a minute to call the office and let them know you are 30 minutes behind. That way you won’t be rushing in their appointment and the next person will know what to expect. Another thing you can do is let the person know that once you arrive, you will provide them with the best quality of care. This sets the expectation that although you are late, they are important to you.

No excuses

It's no surprise that things don't always work out the way you plan. However, using excuses to justify long wait times can further exacerbate the problem.

Say "Thank you" not "I'm sorry"

When you finally rush in the door, instead of apologizing for running late, thank the patient for their patience. By doing this, it will help you and the patient to transition from the frustration of waiting to the happiness of being assisted. You may want to keep inexpensive but thoughtful items on hand, such as lollipops, to offer to patients as a thank you gift for their patience.

For more ways to improve patient satisfaction, visit part 7: Treat Everyone with Importance.

Exceed Expectations

Part 5 of 7: Exceed expectations

7 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction

To thrive in today's economy, we have to go beyond just delivering what is expected. Being good is not good enough anymore. In a day and age where we can order pizza on our phones and have it delivered to our door, it can be difficult to exceed expectations. Meeting even standard expectations can be difficult when staff is short and budgets are tight. Here are a few simple ways you can move your expectation meter from hmmm to WOW. 

Low-hanging fruit

Look through your survey results and gather up all of the comments associated with scores three and below. Sort the comments into groups based off of level of difficulty to correct issues discussed. Start by focusing on resolving the negative feedback that is easiest to fix. Quick wins can give you stamina to work on harder-to-resolve problems. By saying you should focus on the low-hanging fruit, it isn't to say that you shouldn't put priority on difficult issues. Clearing up complex problems can definitely take your patient's expectations from good to great in a big way and is essential in operating a successful organization.

Under and over

Remember the old adage, "under promise, over deliver." It's far better to surprise and delight your patients with things they aren't expecting than to promise something and not deliver on it. Again, a word of caution: under promising isn't an excuse for not pushing yourself to do your best. Striving for greatness should always be your goal.

Create "WOW" moments

Simply thinking about simple ways you can do more for your patients than they are expecting is sometimes all it takes. For instance, remembering a patient's birthday or bringing along a sympathy card to a patient who has recently lost a pet.

A family member of a patient said this about her father's nurse, "One nurse knows Dad likes patriotic songs and has downloaded, 'God Bless America' on her cell phone. When he's upset, she hands it to him and it calms him right down."

These are the types of simple opportunities you can take to go beyond your patient's expectations and provide them with a special experience.

For more ways to improve patient satisfaction, visit part 6: Lose Wait.

Invest in Your Employees

Part 1 of 7: Invest in your employees

7 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction

Employee satisfaction is directly related to customer satisfaction. When your employees are happy at work, your customers can tell. Here are a few tips for improving employee morale:

Recognizing a job well done

When was the last time you let your employees know they were doing a great job? According to Forbes, "Recognition is most effective when it's given in the context of a larger [business-related] goal." You can provide recognition for things your employees are doing to help further company goals.

We can help you identify which employees are making a difference through our interview process. When customers mention employees who have performed outstanding work, we make sure you know about it. When a customer mentions an employee, we include that in the Customer Satisfaction Interview so you can see it.

You can easily print employee recognition certificates on My.Pinnacle. Visit the My.Pinnacle dashboard and click on Resources. To generate a customized certificate, just fill out the simple form with your organization's name, the employee's name, and your name. Then press print.

Ask for employee feedback

In addition to gathering customer feedback, surveying your employees can also help you invest in them. Gathering feedback and following up on it shows your employee that you care about them and value their experience. Open-ended questions can help you understand where your employees are succeeding and struggling. You can provide better care for your patients by knowing your employees. You can also find out which employees your staff feels are rock stars. Which, by the way, is another great way to find employees to recognize.

For more ways to improve patient satisfaction, visit part 2: Make Lemonade from Lemons.

Explain (to the fourth)

Part 4 of 7: Explain (to the fourth)

7 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction

Usually it's not enough to explain things one time—especially in senior care. To ensure adequate communication, we need to explain what we are going to do, what we are doing, what we did and what to expect once the care provider has left.

It may sound like overkill, but if done correctly, it can make a huge difference in a patient's experience. Without sufficient explanation, patients can feel insecure, scared, or uncomfortable. Here's a patient's experience with not being told enough:

“There was one thing that concerned me. They had to do an inspection to see if I had bedsores or anything. That really bothered me because there were about five of them in there. They were looking all over my body and didn't explain anything.”

In this person's situation, the employees did not explain what was going to happen and it created a negative customer experience.

Here's a similar situation that was handled differently and produced a much more positive outcome:

"I have a wound on my backside that just won't heal. The nurse came over today to check on it. I was feeling apprehensive before she came over because it's kind of embarrassing to have a wound there. However, the way she handled it was so nice! When she arrived, she walked me through how she was going to clean the wound. Then as she cleaned it, she told me what she was doing. I knew what to expect as she cleaned it because she had told me beforehand. It took away a lot of my fear. When she was done, she said that it looked like my wound was improving based off the notes from my doctor. Before she left, she explained what I should do until she comes back. I'm so glad she's my nurse!"

Instead of looking at explaining to the fourth as repeating yourself four times, see it as an opportunity to journey with the patient through an experience.

Please share in the comments below an experience of not explaining or explaining to the fourth.

For more ways to improve patient satisfaction, visit part 5: Exceed Expectations.

Bragging Right

Part 3 of 7: Bragging right

7 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction

Celebrate successes internally, but don't focus on bragging externally. Focus on improving the customer experience and your customers will do the bragging for you.

Promote your successes internally

Your employees make your brand what it is. If they buy into your brand and its messaging, it's far more likely that your patients will experience what you tout your brand to be.

Make sure your employees know what their purpose is. If they feel they are doing worthwhile work and are making a difference, they will be better workers. Create a culture focused on success. Reward success.

Promote success, acknowledge shortcomings, build trust

When you communicate externally, it's important to acknowledge your shortcomings as well as promote your successes. Being authentic and transparent builds trust.

Measure to improve—not impress

Your purpose in measuring and tracking what your patients think about you should not be to impress others. Seeing how your company is performing provides you with a valuable resource to enable you to improve. All companies have weaknesses and strengths; each company is unique. Celebrate what you do well and look at your weaknesses as opportunities for improvement.

Consumers trust other consumers more than advertising

Don't take it from us, all you have to do is look on Amazon to see this is true. Consumers want to hear from other consumers what their experiences have been in interacting with a brand. If consumer reviews are low, your brand will have a much harder time attracting customers.

Encourage patients, family members, and employees to post reviews on Google and in other review venues that your potential patients search. The reviews show up on the right-hand side of the web page when someone searches your company name on Google.

Hospitals are also a key contributor to referrals. More and more, hospitals depend on star ratings to determine which companies to refer patients to. Working to improve your star rating and then promoting it to your hospital referral sources is important.

Promote honestly

Remember that more than your potential patients are listening to the messages you are sharing externally. Make sure that the messages you're telling potential patients are in line with the messages you're telling your employees. For instance, if you tell patients that they are your number one priority and you tell your employees that they need to focus on financial aspects of the company, your employees are going to see a mixed message. Dissonance in your messaging can injure your employee relationship, and it eventually makes its way to your potential patients.

For more ways to improve patient satisfaction, visit part 4: Explain (to the fourth).

Lemonade May Be Easier to Make Than You Think

Part 2 of 7: Make lemonade from lemons

7 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction

Negative situations can sure leave a bad taste in your mouth. However, the way you deal with these situations can change your patients' and their families' perception of what happened. What may have started as a horrible experience can be converted into a good one if you handle things right.

What to do when things get sour

Embrace negative feedback.

• What this looks like: Instead of focusing on placing blame or covering up process problems, take courage and open up communication. Invite those in your company who can affect change to be part of the conversation. Identify what success looks like and where the process may be breaking down. Make an action plan to address issues and plan for follow up. 
• What this does: By embracing negative feedback, you can begin to build renewed trust with your patients.

Acknowledge problems, then work to fix them.

Patients do not expect perfection, but they do want you to acknowledge fault and to take steps to correct it from happening again.

• What this looks like: Making mistakes is part of the human condition. However, before you can stop repeating a mistake, you first must come to the realization that something didn't go right. Regardless of who is to blame, it is essential to sincerely face the fact that the patient or family member experienced something that caused them to feel unhappy with the situation.
• What this does: When you are able to acknowledge that something went wrong, regardless of who is to blame, you can begin to change the situation. By acknowledging that something went wrong, you help to validate their feelings. It also helps you to be able to move the experience aside and begin cleaning up any unresolved concerns and problems.

Adopt a problem-solving attitude.

Remember, no one receives perfect scores all the time. One reason for the customer satisfaction survey is to measure improvement, not to impress.

• What this looks like: The process to perfection is a bumpy one. Those who have an attitude that they are still learning are the ones who typically find greater levels of success because they continue to problem solve.
• What this does: By creating a problem-solving attitude, you can find solutions to issues you may not think are solvable. 

Look for underlying problems if the same issue keeps showing up.

• What this looks like: Finding and resolving the root problem in a complex issue is not always easy to do. Receiving negative feedback about an issue you're aware of but so far have been unsuccessful at resolving can be frustrating, especially if your compensation is directly connected with the survey feedback.
• What you can do: First of all, take a moment to give yourself some positive feedback and encouragement. Complex problems don't go away overnight. Typically, they also require the cooperation and brainpower of more than one person. If you're stumped on how to get going to resolve a problem, take a moment to look at these great problem solving tips for complex business problems from the CBS Money Watch website. In addition to this, please remember that we are always here to help you. If you have questions about your reports, please let us know.

Finding solutions to sour situations is possible. This is especially the case when you're willing to recognize problems, transparently discuss them with you patients and their family members, have a problem-solving attitude, and when you work with others to resolve complex issues. As you work toward these solutions, you'll find that lemons can truly be turned into lemonade.

For more ways to improve patient satisfaction, visit part 3: Bragging Right.