a staff meeting of how many patients they failed to properly warm
over the past month.
"When you share leading metrics instead of lagging metrics," says Ms.
Decker, "you provide information they can use to improve patient care."
Staff engagement
Ms. Sastry says improving the surgical experience for patients
demands ensuring exceptional daily experiences occur for everyone
in your facility.
Notice she didn't say every patient.
"It's essential to establish a positive workplace culture for your med-
ical staff, clinical team and nonclinical workers," says Ms. Sastry.
"Engaged employees drive the engagement of patients."
Refocus your staff before every shift on the importance of providing
patient-centered care, says Ms. Decker. "We huddle for 5 minutes to
reemphasize patients' needs," she says. "We also ask staff about barriers
they might face in making sure patients have an excellent experience."
When you expect delays, constantly inform patients about their status.
"Be transparent, check in with them regularly and make the down time
as comfortable as possible," says Ms. Decker.
Of course, no matter how prepared your team is for a day of sur-
gery, patients will be frustrated by some aspect of their care. That's
why it's important to train staff on proper ways to communicate with
dissatisfied patients, says Ms. Craig. A simple strategy: Paraphrase
patients' concerns back to them: It sounds like you're very frustrated
because of the wait times.
"It's a disarming gesture that validates a legitimate concern before
you issue an apology, if one is warranted, for not meeting your facili-
ty's standard of care," says Ms. Craig. "Apologies sound trite if they're
given before you take the time to understand the underlying reason
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