Enhancing the Patient Experience
We offer several services to help hospitals enhance the patient and family member experience, as well as improve the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) patient satisfaction survey scores.
Motivational Presentations – Barbara Lewis’ powerful presentation, Exceeding Patient Expectations, uses vignettes to tell Joan’s Story about the last two weeks of her sister’s life, most of which was spent in the Intensive Care Unit. From her marketing perspective, Barbara recounts her observations of the healthcare personnel who interacted with her sister and describes opportunities for improvement, which could impact patient satisfaction surveys. The presentation, which has received Continuing Medical Education credit, can be 30 minutes to two hours in length or given as a day-long workshop. It is based on stories, which research shows help people to learn better.
Hospital Communication – As a professional journalist, who wrote articles in hundreds of publications from the Ladies Home Journal to The Wall Street Journal, Barbara Lewis writes articles for internal hospital publications about the patient and family member experience – the good, the bad and the ugly. The goal is to tell the patient’s or family member’s story for the purpose of teaching healthcare professionals about the positive and negative impact of their actions in the hospital room.
Her articles include research results to help healthcare professionals understand the patient perspective. For example, HCAHPS survey results indicate that two groups – the young and the highly educated – generally, score communication lower than other groups. Knowing this information helps healthcare professionals identify those who may require additional communication. She ghost writes articles for national publication on behalf of others.
Research – Based on her years of experience as a journalist, coupled with her research skills, Barbara helps organizations research topics around the patient experience. For example, she received a grant from The Beryl Institute to research medical school courses that enhance the patient experience.