Patient-Centered Care
During the summer of 2013, Nathan Hunkins had reached a pinnacle in his life. He had a great job, his wife was almost nine months pregnant, and they had just closed on their first house. As Hunkins was packing to move, he missed the bottom stair, lunged forward, and put his right hand through a glass window. After more than six hours of surgery, he woke up and asked his surgeon what happened. His surgeon delivered the good and bad news—the surgeons made a full repair, but such injuries can result in limited functionality. Hunkins lost it emotionally, a scene that repeated at...
Nathan Wilson, a self-identified “qualitologist,” said that “nothing will agitate a group of physicians more than introducing patient experience surveys into their practice,” despite the benefits of incorporating the patient voice. When patient experience surveys were initially piloted, the results were positive. But, when the program expanded, Wilson found that physicians experienced the “four stages of grieving:” denial, fear, anger, and acceptance. Wilson’s group used the data, and the physicians with the worst patient satisfaction scores...
Health care providers and systems often overlook the patient perspective when designing and implementing strategies to improve care. Patients have an experience of the health care system that no other health care stakeholder has. By listening, health care providers can learn important lessons about how to improve care and patient health outcomes.
The sixteen Aligning Forces communities are working on projects that promote patient-centered care such as establishing partnerships between patients and providers, including patient and families in key decision-making activities, and deploying surveys to evaluate the experiences of patients in the health care system. Read More.
Read three case studies showcasing practices in the Aligning forces Greater Boston, Minnesota, Wisconsin Alliances who have planned, implemented, studied and acted on their patient experience goals. Patient-centered care means patients should feel comfortable in the care environment and leave satisfied with an understanding of their diagnosis and treatment regimen. Medical practices are facing increasing pressure to improve patient experience. Through initiatives like Aligning Forces, communities are engaging practices to use a validated survey tool called CAHPS Clinical & Group (CG-CAHPS) to measure and publicly report rates of patient experience.
Patients highly value communication and other aspects of the provider-patient relationship, and the health care landscape reflects a growing emphasis on patient-centeredness as a core element of quality. Measuring, reporting and improving patient experience of care are explicit expectations of the Aligning Forces for Quality program. This brief outlines the clinical and business benefits of measuring and addressing patient experience of care, and offers messages for conveying this information to stakeholders.