Share your patient experience best practices
One of Penn State Health’s 2024 fiscal year goals is to improve the patient experience score by 2%. The 2024 performance bonuses will be based on meeting the goal. Everyone can directly impact the patient experience, from clinical care and cleanliness to financial guidance and scheduling.
In the coming months, The RITE Stuff will feature patient experience best practices from our medical centers, medical groups and Life Lion LLC. You never know what you can learn from your colleagues!
Patient Experience Feature: Standards of excellence set in Food Services
Who: Lauren Ferline, supervisor lead, Food Services, Hampden Medical Center, and hosts
What: Making each patient feel seen and heard, providing reminders to order meals, supporting food choices and making meals as enjoyable as possible.
How:
- The team places notes of encouragement and fun images on patient trays.
- Hosts make a point to say the patient’s name and make eye contact when they deliver meal trays. They ask patients whether they need anything more while in the room.
- Lauren calls patients if she notices they have not ordered a meal. If a patient orders food that does not match their physician-prescribed diet, staff will help them make the proper selections.
- From the time of order, hosts must deliver meals within 45 minutes to ensure fresh, well-heated food.
- The team celebrates good outcomes with a recognition board, pizza and other treats.
Patient Story: A struggling Hampden Medical Center patient was unhappy upon learning he was restricted to a clear liquid diet. Ferline rallied hosts to provide extra care and positivity, including messages of encouragement. When he moved to a full liquid diet she included a note on his next tray and along with his pudding, provided whipped cream as an extra treat. He was delighted with the special attention. Following his discharge, Lauren and her team received a fruit basket and thank you card from him.
How are you improving the patient experience?
We encourage managers to work with their teams to identify a best practice that, with minimal modification, could be adopted by their colleagues in similar settings. Send a brief description for consideration to news@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.
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