Patient Experience Today and Into the Future
By Megan Chavez, System VP, Cook Children’s Experience, Cook Children’s Health Care System
Evidence shows that health outcomes are directly impacted by how patients perceive their experience, defined by their relationship with the care team. And by “care team”, we mean everyone they interact with and everyone behind the scenes making those moments possible. We are all on one team. Simply put, when patients trust their team and become actively involved in their care, they are safer and healthier physically and mentally. The processes and environment that wrap around our staff to support their work shape how much confidence the patient has in their team. It’s exciting to see nursing and medical schools develop curricula specific to building relationships and understanding the patient’s perspective. A clinician’s most effective tool is their relationship with the patient. Without this, it is incredibly difficult to assess, diagnose and treat effectively.
Technology can be a great enabler of bettering the experience when guided by empathy, ethics and data integrity.
Balance and Collaboration
Patient experience can be understood as part of an ecosystem that co-exists with the staff and physician experience. Staff burnout and well-being have a significant effect on care delivery. We’re able to provide safe, effective, equitable care only when the work environment is supportive and conducive to care. Our ability to best nurture that ecosystem will significantly impact patient experience in the next three to five years.
We see fewer people willing to make the sacrifices to choose a career path as nurses and doctors. We’re already experiencing challenges in access to care and rising costs for higher levels of complex care. Complex care can be tricky for patients to navigate and healthcare teams to coordinate. How smoothly we work together as a team or group of teams greatly impacts patient experience and our staff members’ engagement with the organization. We must remain focused on protecting healthcare professions, finding balance and efficiency in the work environment, and evolving our care models with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
Listening to Learn
Understanding what our people see and feel gives us clarity on what is working well and where we have opportunities. The feedback from patients, families, staff, and physicians gives us the insights needed to make meaningful decisions. We put their input, gathered by surveys, crowdsourcing, and focus groups, in the hands of leaders at every level so that experiences are at the forefront of our decision-making. Using this data, coupled with the conditions that existed when they gave this feedback, and driving insights through analytics, helps us to focus our efforts on what matters most. Additionally, we are doubling down on building social capital with our frontline staff. Our leaders are invested in rounding to see things firsthand and build relationships with their staff. It’s vital to demonstrate to staff that their voices are influencing change.
Leveraging Technology
All patients must have the tools they need to be active participants in their care. Through COVID-19, we saw a sharp increase in patients wanting to know more about their care, treatment options, and what they can do to be healthier. We owe that to them, and their health is better for it. Portals and telemedicine are important tools in this equation. Understanding how we embrace technology to solve real needs for our families and providers is where the sweet spot lies. It’s essential to incorporate technology in ways that don’t unintentionally lead to more burnout and reimbursement challenges for our care providers.
AI and ML will transform the way we deliver healthcare forever. Research is showing that AI can provide more compassionate responses to portal messages and ML is a powerful enabler, as seen in virtual nursing and clinician documentation. Those types of applications solve real-world challenges. Cook Children’s has implemented ambient listening in our medical practices for documentation and is exploring virtual nursing. Even though the opportunity to use these technologies is exciting, we must be thoughtful about how they are developed and applied. Concerns about dehumanizing care, biased models, and unethical applications cannot be ignored. Technology can be a great enabler of bettering the experience when guided by empathy, ethics and data integrity. Those are non-negotiable and cannot be overlooked.
Conclusion
Cook Children’s makes a promise to do everything for the child. It’s a commitment felt in our words, behaviors, and processes. Seeing this commitment in action builds trust, starting with the welcome at the front desk. We can only elevate the patient experience by seeing the world through their eyes, embracing togetherness, and finding moments of magic across every touchpoint. We never lose sight of our promise even as our capabilities become more sophisticated. The decisions we make about growth, hiring, innovation, or investment must always start and end with our true north: Is this best for the child? And is this the right move to protect the well-being of our staff and empower them to provide the best care? These questions guide every decision, every encounter, every time, especially when it comes to technology.
