Rethinking Customer Access Services

In the traditional healthcare facility, multiple departments and staff were involved in patient reception, admitting and registration, scheduling, cashiering, insurance verification, and billing, resulting in fragmented customer service and complicated wayfinding. Although many of these departments are located on the first floor of the facility — along with various patient and visitor amenities — only a few staff in each department needed face-to-face interaction with visitors, patients, and their families. The question is: How can a healthcare organization better utilize both its staff and space to potentially enhance operational efficiency and improve customer service?

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Redefining Patient-Centered Care

A lot has changed since the concept of patient-centered care was first introduced several decades ago. The old definition of patient-centered care used to be bringing care of the patient to the bedside. That model ― which included decentralizing diagnostic equipment, pharmacies, and supply rooms to each inpatient floor ― proved too costly both from a facility and labor perspective. Today, the patient-centered care concept has moved to a relationship-based care model focused on orienting a health care organization around the preferences and needs of patients with the intention of improving the patient’s satisfaction with care and improving his or her clinical outcome. Today, the definition has also been expanded to include family members and is often referred to as the patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) model.

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Use of Interactive Technology Boosts Patient Satisfaction

Hospitals within six healthcare systems saw dramatic increases in their patient satisfaction scores when using interactive monitors that allow patients to access information about their care and to communicate with staff. The hospitals provided patients with in-room monitors that allowed them to ask clinicians questions about their care, inquire about food menus, request help with minor tasks, read about their medical condition, and access their post-discharge instructions. Satisfaction with educational materials increased by 42 percent and overall patient satisfaction scores increased by at least 10 percent. The healthcare systems included El Paso Children’s Hospital (El Paso TX), Palisades Medical Centre (North Bergen NJ), and University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center (Cleveland OH).

Source: Fierce Healthcare (www.fiercehealthcare.com).

Hospitals Rethink Spiritual Spaces and Create Meditation Rooms

At least three Northern California hospitals have plans to open meditation rooms — or to expand and update what were once known as chapels — for nondenominational observance. This is in response to the changing needs of hospital staff and the evolving view that the body and soul can heal together. These new meditation rooms do not have pews or religious symbols. Instead they are sanctuaries where families can pray for patients, space for prayer rugs and windows facing east, or a quiet area where doctors can pause for spiritual refreshing. According to a chaplain who manages spiritual care for Kaiser North Valley hospitals “When people are facing the ultimate spiritual and existential crisis, such as illness, they need a quiet place to go. These rooms should meet the needs of all faiths.” Some hospitals do not call the rooms chapels because that label invokes the Judeo-Christian tradition. Hospitals have staff from a wide variety of faith backgrounds including Muslims who need a place to pray five times a day.

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More Hospitals Are Renovating to Accommodate the Obese

Bariatric ChairNovation, a medical supply contracting company, has released its 2010 Bariatric Report, a nationwide survey of about 300 VHA Inc. and University Health System Consortium member hospitals, confirming that the obesity epidemic poses new and significant challenges to U.S. hospitals. According to this survey, over 48 percent of the respondents saw an increase in admissions of morbidly obese patients since 2008 while 13 percent saw a significant increase. Moreover, 28 percent of the respondent hospitals reported having invested in physical renovations of their facilities last year to accommodate the morbidly obese with another 8 percent saying that they planned to do so. Novation reports that hospitals have been buying specialized medical equipment such as bariatric blood pressure cuffs, bariatric beds and mattresses, stretchers, operating room tables, and non-clinical furniture. While the industry has seen an overall decrease in spending on renovations and building improvements due to the still recovering economy, physical renovations to accommodate bariatric patients have increased — such as widening door openings, installing higher-load steel toilets, providing open showers, and purchasing new seating for patients and family members.