RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.  July 13, 2020.  As part one of our Reimagining Healthcare series, our recent webinar discussed how getting better data about your clinician and patient experience and utilizing that data in the right way can help you improve both your organization’s culture and your patient outcomes — even during a pandemic. The webinar panelists Paul Jaglowski, Co-Founder and CEO of Feedtrail, Dr. William Maples, President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Excellence (IHE) and, Dr. West Paul, Chief Clinical Officer at New Hanover Regional Medical Center were moderated by Dr. Jenn Clark, IHE faculty, former CQO at Hillcrest Healthcare System.

• • What getting “better” data really means (it’s not about getting more data)
  • Why you can’t simply ask your patients about their experience — your clinicians matter, too
  • Why better data is key to implementing culture-changing solutions
  • The economic impact of effectively improving your culture

Dr. Clark kicked off the conversation by explaining the status quo in the field of healthcare experience culture, and the impact being felt across the industry from the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Clark pointed out that clinician burnout wasn’t a new concern created by the pandemic; burnout has been a problem for decades because clinician engagement data hasn’t usually been gathered, and when it has, it hasn’t been collected as part of a holistic approach designed to produce better patient outcomes. While the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t create these issues, it has brought them into the light in a way they hadn’t previously been. Feedtrail and IHE want to address these issues through proactively gathering better data and implementing tailored, targeted strategies, so that the healthcare conversation can move from being “around burnout to one around resiliency, and ultimately, thriving.” Here are the challenges  with the status quo discussed by the panelist:

1. • Standardized measurement (surveying) is ineffective for understanding clinician needs and keeping them engaged
   • Years of unactionable data have led to distrust from clinicians, and ultimately burnout 
   • Siloed patient and clinician experience data doesn’t lead to lasting results 

Paul Jaglowski then went on to elaborate on the status quo and share key takeaways and best practices the Feedtrail team has experienced having worked with over 50 health systems, across nearly 3,000 individual hospitals and clinics. He shared: “In order for healthcare organizations to thrive, both from a patient and clinician satisfaction standpoint, it’s paramount that they prioritize building a culture driven by both patient and clinician engagement because one simply will not thrive without the other.”Here are some of the best practices:

1. • More data is distracting, good data is game-changing 
   • Personalized, relevant engagement is critical for informing solutions that last
   • Real-time feedback is necessary to perform service recovery and address issues
   • Context is key — combining patient feedback with clinician feedback allows you to quickly see how improving your clinician experience affects your patient experience and outcomes for the better.

Dr. Maples then shared his experience on the value of pairing actionable data with personalized solutions to drive sustainable results.

• • Patients want to be heard
  • Clinicians also want to be heard, to be validated, to have input on processes and policies
  • Culture is linked to efficiency, safety, clinical outcomes, and experience
  • Strong teamwork improves everything — not just HCAHPS, but clinical outcomes

Finally, Dr. Paul shared his experiences from 15 years in the field of Healthcare Quality and Clinical leadership…

• • Making culture changes must start with good, actionable data — otherwise, you’ll lose credibility with your clinicians
  • The bottom-line, financial case for changing your culture is easy to make — value-based purchasing means millions and millions of dollars for your organization

Cultural change doesn’t happen overnight. It is hard. And you have to be on top of these changes every day to make sure things are headed in the right direction. The only way to do that is to gather good data on your patient and clinician experiences and use that data to make good strategic decisions. You must do that, and you must keep your eye on building teamwork and on recognizing your staff when they do good work and do it well. If you can do that, you’ll see your clinicians become happier and your staff turnover rate drops. Not only that, but you’ll also see your HCAHPS go up, but you’ll also enhance your financial position, and your patient outcomes will improve.

To watch the entire webinar, please click here.

 

About IHE

The Institute for Healthcare Excellence partners with healthcare organizations to nurture the relational skills necessary to create a culture that embraces trust, respect, compassion, and teamwork – creating an environment where quality, safety, and efficiency can flourish. Through this work, physicians, nurses, and the caregiver team reconnect to purpose and restore joy to the practice of medicine. The result of the culture-transformation work is a restoration of humanity to medicine. To learn more visit www.healthcareexcellence.org

About Feedtrail

Feedtrail provides the technology, advanced analytics and prescriptive insights needed to deliver exceptional, human-centered experiences in the service of better health outcomes for patients, providers, payers, and their respective communities. Feedtrail is based in Raleigh, NC, with offices in Los Angeles, CA, and Helsinki, Finland, and serves more than 50+ health systems across 4,000 different sites in 14 different countries. To schedule a demo or learn more email us at us@feedtrail.com