Readiness Rounds - Blog , Patient Satisfaction & Experience

Silence That Heals: How Real-Time Noise Monitoring Improves Patient Experience and HCAHPS Scores

Mon, 19 May 2025 15:00:36 -0600

Hospitals are places of healing, yet noise remains one of the most persistent—and underestimated—barriers to patient comfort, recovery, and satisfaction.

In fact, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey explicitly measures patient perceptions of noise levels under the category, "Quietness of Hospital Environment." Yet, according to national HCAHPS data, quietness consistently ranks among the lowest-scoring dimensions, with only around 60% of patients reporting satisfaction with noise levels in their hospital environment (Cambridge Sound Management, 2016).

The Technical Definition of "Too Loud"

The World Health Organization (WHO) has established guidelines recommending that noise levels in hospital wards should not surpass 30 dB L, aiming to maintain an optimal environment for patient recovery. However, actual noise levels within nursing units often significantly exceed these standards, frequently reaching or even surpassing 100 dB—comparable to the sound of a car horn—which dramatically deviates from WHO's recommended guidelines (PubMed Central, 2020).

This statistic signals a significant opportunity for hospitals to directly enhance patient experiences by addressing noise reduction proactively.

Below, we'll examine how hospital noise impacts patient outcomes and satisfaction, and explore how leveraging real-time hospital monitoring technology can effectively reduce noise, support hospital quality initiatives, and ultimately drive improvements in HCAHPS scores.

How Noise Affects Patients: More Than Just Discomfort

Excessive noise in hospital settings isn't merely an annoyance; it significantly influences patient healing and recovery. A study published in Critical Care revealed that over 58.8% of hospitalized patients voted noise as the main factor in sleep disturbance, leading to increased stress, prolonged healing times, and lower overall satisfaction (Critical Care, 2009).

In addition to sleep disruption, noise exposure in clinical settings has been linked to elevated blood pressure, heightened anxiety, and increased pain perception. According to a systematic review in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), reducing noise levels in patient care areas directly correlates with faster healing, fewer medication needs, and higher levels of patient comfort and overall satisfaction (BMJ Quality & Safety).

These physiological and emotional responses illustrate why noise management isn't merely about comfort—it's fundamentally tied to patient health and clinical outcomes.

Noise and HCAHPS Scores: The Direct Link to Reimbursement and Reputation

Patient perceptions captured through HCAHPS scores not only affect a hospital’s reputation but also directly influence reimbursement through the CMS Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) program. Under the VBP program, hospitals with lower patient satisfaction scores, particularly in categories like quietness, may face significant financial penalties.

National data continues to indicate that hospitals that improve their quietness scores typically also improve overall patient satisfaction ratings (CMS Hospital VBP Program). This presents a clear incentive for hospital administrators and quality managers to prioritize noise reduction initiatives.

Real-Time Noise Monitoring: A Proactive Approach to Noise Management

Traditional noise management strategies in hospitals typically rely on reactive approaches, responding to patient complaints or staff observations after disruptions occur. This approach is limited because it addresses noise problems after the damage—poor sleep, patient dissatisfaction, or disturbed recovery—has already happened.

In contrast, real-time noise monitoring solutions provide a proactive, data-driven alternative. Non-intrusive noise monitoring devices, such as Alertify, utilize environmental sensors strategically placed throughout patient care areas to track sound levels continuously. When noise exceeds predefined thresholds, instant alerts are sent to nursing staff or administrators, enabling immediate corrective actions.

This type of proactive noise management significantly reduces disturbances before patients complain or experience discomfort, supporting both short-term patient comfort and long-term patient satisfaction.

Practical Advantages of Real-Time Monitoring for Hospital Staff

Immediate Intervention: Real-time alerts allow staff to quickly identify and address noise issues—such as loud conversations at nursing stations, noisy medical equipment alarms, or disruptive cleaning tasks—before they negatively impact patients.

Trend Analysis and Reporting: Detailed noise logs and analytics provide hospital quality teams with insights into patterns of noise disruptions, pinpointing exactly when, where, and why noise occurs. This supports targeted interventions and continuous quality improvement strategies.

Staff Training and Accountability: Objective data removes guesswork, providing clear evidence for training staff on quiet-care protocols and reinforcing a culture of noise awareness and accountability.

Integrating Real-Time Monitoring with Readiness Rounds and Quality Audits

By using objective noise-level reports, administrators can:

Demonstrate adherence to CMS and Joint Commission environmental standards related to patient comfort and rest.

Showcase proactive steps taken to manage and improve noise levels over time.

Identify areas for further staff education or process improvement initiatives.

Hospital quality leaders—particularly Quality Managers and Chief Nursing Officers—regularly rely on digital rounding platforms such as Readiness Rounds to support compliance monitoring and prepare for accreditation surveys, helping them meet regulatory and performance standards. Real-time noise monitoring data can offer a powerful tool during these rounds, providing documented evidence of proactive environmental management.

Conclusion: Investing in Quiet for Enhanced Patient Experiences

Reducing noise isn't just an issue of patient comfort; it's a strategic imperative linked directly to patient health, clinical outcomes, satisfaction scores, and financial performance. Patient Experience Managers, Quality Managers, and Chief Nursing Officers must recognize noise control as a core component of patient-centered care.

Integrating real-time noise monitoring technologies like Alertify empowers hospital teams to effectively address the noise problem, driving measurable improvements in both patient care and HCAHPS performance. More importantly, proactive noise management underscores a hospital’s commitment to holistic, compassionate patient care—where quiet environments facilitate healing, dignity, and comfort.

As healthcare moves increasingly toward patient-centered, value-based models, hospitals that master environmental factors such as noise will gain a meaningful advantage—in patient loyalty, community reputation, and operational excellence.

Ready to Hear the Difference?

When hospitals reduce noise, patients rest better—and HCAHPS scores rise. Real-time noise monitoring is more than a data point; it's a direct line to patient satisfaction.

✅ See how Readiness Rounds helps teams take immediate action
✅ Improve HCAHPS with less disruption, more rest
✅ Turn every decibel into a quality improvement opportunity

Explore how our solution works in real hospitals like yours. Schedule a Demo here.

10 Reasons for Real Time Data Regarding Patient Experience

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 04:36:21 -0600

1. Service Recovery in Real Time

A key building block to effective Patient Satisfaction and Experience is ensuring the design incorporates the ability to move your organizational culture away from the idea that this is a data collection exercise to be reviewed in a meeting at some later date.

While data collection is part of the exercise, the design must focus on uncovering service failures and executing service recovery in real time.

Done effectively this rounding will uncover patients’ issues.

When you find a patient’s issue, it is critical to resolve it immediately.

Failure to act on issues or complaints adds fuel to the fire.

2. Every Patient Every Day

Ensure your design allows you to get to “every patient every day.”

Accept that there will be hurdles and objections. This is not an effort merely to see what the patient thinks; it’s designed to ensure the best possible patient experience.

In most restaurants, you will get checked on three or four times during the course of a meal. Is once a day too much for a hospital patient?

3. How Long Will All Of This Take?

A well-designed and well-executed process will take 4- 5 minutes per patient.

Yes, some will want more attention. It’s the same in restaurants, shops, and on cruise ships.

Don’t be distracted by the outliers.

With this volume of observations and potential failure points, the ability to respond effectively in real time is crucial.

An organizational question not asked often enough is, "Are we prepared to invest five minutes a day with each one of our patients to ensure they are satisfied with our service?"

4. When You Find IT, Fix IT

Many items can be fixed at the time by the person conducting the visit. That’s really real time!!!

Don’t send someone else to get a newspaper; get it for them immediately. That is service and will be recognized.
Don’t send food service to get a hot cup of coffee; get it for them immediately. That is service and will be recognized and appreciated.

Don’t send a notification on a pain issue; get the nurse and have it attended to immediately. That is service and will be recognized.

Always look back at your discussion from yesterday and be sure that any issue identified stays fixed.

5. Hardwired Service Recovery / Follow Up

Ensure you have identified who is responsible for service recovery.

Do not leave the room looking for phone extensions to call.

Ensure that all parties are aware of their responsibilities.

Spend time with these departments, ensuring they understand the response expectations and the hospital goal of improving patient satisfaction.

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless” — Mother Teresa

6. Paging / Texting

In many situations, notification via email delays the response.

For example, food service, engineering, and housekeeping departments are constantly on the move; and the design cannot assume someone is at a desk or able to regularly check their email.

Incorporate automatic paging or texting to ensure a prompt response.

Housekeeping often has, or should have, a house pager that is transferred from shift to shift to prevent this type of failure.

7. Directable Follow-Up

(The ability to select who should respond to a service failure)

Some situations require a response from different people.

For example, if a patient has questions about discharge, the accountability for the response could be the assigned nurse, social worker, or case manager.

Ensure that when the issue is uncovered, your process can quickly connect the issue to the accountable department(s) for immediate response.

Do not rely on phone messages, or “remembering.” Build the functionality into your process.

This requires fairly sophisticated software and internal process development and is a crucial foundation for effective service recovery. This is discussed further under #9. Seamless Technology, below.

8. Escalation

Design in rapid escalation capability. You cannot ignore items requiring attention.

Typical escalation should ensure that any item not completed in 24 hours is escalated to a senior manager.

Accountability for all individuals is a key component for improving service recovery consistently.

Senior management must walk the talk. If there is not anxiety and pressure to get items resolved quickly, the process will not be sustainable.

9. Seamless Technology

Key considerations when deciding which technology to deploy:

Make sure that the technology you select is easy to use. This type of effort cannot be supported manually. Effective hospital rounding of any type requires a high level of sophistication in the supporting technology. There are many moving parts.
Do not attempt a home grown version. This is not an effort that can be managed in Excel. It is highly unlikely you will get in-house IT effort assigned; and, if you do, you almost certainly will not receive the ongoing maintenance and upgrades that will be required.

Don’t buy the “cheap” version. Look at the low end versions and capability so you are aware of the limitations. It almost certainly will not support your process. Find a supplier who has the software, a thorough understanding of hospitals (ideally specializes in hospitals), and who can demonstrate operational knowledge of patient care rounding.
Stay out of the technology. Patient experience will improve if your focus is on:

Ensuring patient rounds are completed daily.
Ensuring that the staff conducting patient rounds make a thorough, honest assessment.
Ensuring that service failures are corrected immediately.
Initiating Performance Improvement against items with a high-fail rate.

This is a major task and typically involves a significant cultural shift. Don’t take this all on and assume responsibility for technology as well.

10. Reports / Dashboards

Daily Completion: Ensure you have real-time reporting / dashboard capability. The system should give you a daily snapshot and compare that to your targeted contact rates. Many well intentioned efforts fail because no one checks that patient care rounds are actually being done.
Service Recovery: Ensure you have a daily report on any service recovery item not completed the same day. These failures require immediate attention. If your patient has identified an issue and it has not been corrected, you are losing credibility for your efforts.

Weekly / Monthly Summary: This is a consolidated view of all activity showing completion rates, highest failing items, etc.
Department Dashboards: Incorporating these results into individual department dashboards to allow nursing unit managers to track their progress and results is critical. We often hear front line nurse managers say, “We conduct all sorts of checklist and patient rounds, but no one ever gets us the results consistently.”
Performance Improvement: Take advantage of all of the hard work that has been done. Find the issues that are failing at a high rate and use the data to drive the performance improvement team’s focus. The key PI concept is that if you have one item failing at a high rate, it will be a “systematic” issue requiring correction.

Summary

If it’s not Real Time, stop and redesign the approach
Every patient, every day!
Get the resource committed
Hardwire service recovery for same day
Ensure rounds are conducted thoroughly each day

Better Care Equals a Higher CMS Star Rating

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 02:18:35 -0600

Don’t settle for 1, 2 or even 3 stars.

Since the introduction of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2012 the amount of information regarding measuring, considering, improving, transforming, coordinating, and discussing quality of care and patient experience has been immeasurable!

Healthcare professionals have been so intent on improving their numbers they may have forgotten how these measures came to be so important.

Of course, the number one reason is that the government mandates all hospitals and health systems to assess for quality and patient satisfaction.

The Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (Hospital IQR) program was originally mandated by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003.

But they also apply reimbursement penalties to organizations that fail to meet certain expectations.

It has always been a moral imperative for hospitals and health systems to provide a high-quality patient experience, but now that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is tying reimbursements to HCAHPS scores, it's becoming a financial priority, as well.

In addition to being a source of pride for the organization, these numbers help protect revenue.

Improving processes to take care of patients throughout the patient’s entire continuum of care also helps financially.

While the financial benefits of improving the patient experience are harder to analyze than HCAHPS scores, meaningful economic gains are being made. Hospital CFO’s report a definite return on investment and the aversion of hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses by improving value-based purchasing metrics.

Improvements in the quality star rating also increase the rebate percentage, resulting in increases in revenue.

Even a small increase in revenue can be a significant advantage in a competitive market. In certain competitive markets, achieving an extra 1 percent of revenue over competitor organizations may be just enough to offer an extra benefit or lower premium to make an organization more attractive.

A recent Yale School of Medicine study found that hospitals financially penalized under the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program reduced their readmission rates at a higher rate than non-penalized hospitals.

Still, Medicare readmission penalties could surpass $500 million per year with over 2500 hospitals being punished.

And, fewer hospitals receive bonuses from the hospital value-based purchasing program.

In fact, hospitals that earned bonuses in previous years are often docked in current years.

The amount withheld could be 2% of Medicare payments, 22% of which is tied to Patient Experience.

See how to improve Patient Satisfaction without increasing costs in the free ebook here.

Sources

CMS rewards 1,600 hospitals with $1.8 billion for quality care. Modern Healthcare. http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20161101/NEWS/161109986. Published November 1, 2016. Accessed May 19, 2017.

Haefner M. 769 hospitals see Medicare payments cut over high HAC rates: 7 things to know. Becker's Hospital Review. http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/769-hospitals-see-medicare-payments-cut-over-high-hac-rates-7-things-to-know.html. Published December 22, 2016. Accessed May 19, 2017.

Harting L. Better HCAHPS Scores Protect Revenue. Better HCAHPS Scores Protect Revenue | HealthLeaders Media. http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/finance/better-hcahps-scores-protect-revenue. Published September 28, 2016. Accessed May 19, 2017.

HCAHPS: The True Impact of Patient Satisfaction. ScribeAmerica. http://scribeamerica.com/blog/hcahps-true-impact-patient-satisfaction/. Published September 9, 2014. Accessed May 19, 2017.

Patient Satisfaction Reporting and Its Implications for Patient Care. The AMA Journal of Ethics. 2015;17(7):616-621. doi:10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.7.ecas3-1507.

Rau J. Medicare’s Readmission Penalties Hit New High. Kaiser Health News. http://khn.org/news/more-than-half-of-hospitals-to-be-penalized-for-excess-readmissions/. Published August 18, 2016. Accessed May 19, 2017.

Rosin T. Patient experience and quality impacts on reimbursement: 5 things to know. Becker's Hospital Review. http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-physician-relationships/patient-experience-and-quality-impacts-on-reimbursement-5-things-to-know.html. Published February 18, 2015. Accessed May 19, 2017.

Rosner C. 14 Hospitals Cited For Infections, Injuries Lose Some Medicare Funding. courant.com. http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-hospital-infection-penalties-20170105-story.html. Published January 5, 2017. Accessed May 19, 2017.

Sun LH. Patient satisfaction, long ignored by health-care industry, now a priority. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/sites-like-yelp-can-be-tough-but-hospitals-embrace-online-reviews/2015/06/03/a07a68b6-fe63-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html. Published June 3, 2015. Accessed May 19, 2017.

Wessels G. How HCAHPS is Impacting Hospitals Financially. RSS2. http://www.totalinnovationgroup.com/blog/how-hcahps-is-impacting-hospitals-financially/. Published December 1, 2015. Accessed May 19, 2017.

Www.cms.gov. center for clinical standards and quality, centers for Medicare & Medicaid services; 2015. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality-initiatives-patient-assessment-instruments/qualitymeasures/downloads/2015-national-impact-assessment-report.pdf. Accessed May 19, 2017.

Xiong A, Amy Xiong Jan 17, 2017. Medicare penalties lead to decline in hospital readmission rates. Yale Daily News Medicare penalties lead to decline in hospital readmission rates Comments. http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/01/17/medicare-penalties-lead-to-decline-in-hospital-readmission-rates/. Published January 17, 2017. Accessed May 19, 2017.

The ROI of High Reliability Series #3: Increasing HCAHPs Ratings

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 01:53:09 -0600

The 5 Key Metrics That Drive High Reliability

In this series, we are exploring 5 key metrics that both drive a hospital towards high reliability but will also give an ROI on performance improvement initiatives beyond the initial financial investments.

Today, we are talking about HCAHPS star ratings, read the first installments of the series here:

#1. Tackling High Readmission Rates (read step 1 here)

#2. Reducing HACs (read step 2 here)

#3. Increasing HCAHPs Ratings:

The HCAHPS program was developed to provide a standardized survey instrument and data collection methodology to measure patients’ perspectives on hospital care.

A patient’s perception of quality of care often isn’t focused on the clinical care – it is assumed that the doctor is treating their illness or condition. Patients often cannot judge the quality of care they receive.

Therefore, patient satisfaction is likely to be based on what they can judge:

Were caregivers kind and did they communicate well?
Did caregivers listen to their concerns?
Was patient waiting time excessive?
Was the environment clean, quiet and pleasant?
Were discharge instructions clear?
Did they feel their complaints were heard?

So, how can your facility improve its HCAHPS?
1. Measure inpatient experience in real time

Allows issues to be corrected for a patient in the moment

Patient experience rounding shows you care

By rounding digitally, you are also collecting data that may be analyzed later to indentify areas needing improvement

2. Ask your outpatients and physician office patients about their visit with an exit survey

It allows the patient to express any concerns and the opportunity for those concerns to be addressed before they leave

Gathering information in real-time is far superior than receiving results from a patient survey weeks after the fact

Digitally tracking patient feedback in real-time improves their experience:

Asking for feedback at the time of check-out improves patient satisfaction:

Utilizing the following five principles will result in an increase in HCAHPS scores:

Inpatient: every patient every day
Outpatient: prior to leaving
Post-discharge calling: extending the continuum of care
Executive leadership: ensuring staff are prepared
Physician practices: real-time feedback

TIP: A digitally-based platform that provides real-time information is the only way to measure the success of performance improvement processes. Also make sure to find a high reliability partner that provides on-going account management and unlimited fine-tuning of your rounding processes so it works for you.

We will continue to explore the ways in which each of these metrics can offer return on investments in upcoming blog posts...

The Remaining Key Metrics That Drive High Reliability:

#4. Improve Value Based Purchasing Scores (read step 4 here)

#5. Improve CMS Star Ratings (read step 5 here)

Patient Satisfaction & Experience: High Touch & High Tech

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 00:07:32 -0600

Google "patient satisfaction" or "patient experience" and you will be presented with an overwhelming volume of information.

The results will range from approaches contending that a focus on patient satisfaction can lead to bad medicine (1) to the recently implemented five-star rating system (2) that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) currently deployed intending to help consumers identify hospitals with a high level of patient satisfaction.

It is about ensuring there are strong, sustainable systems along with a welcoming attitude.

The Systems Approach to Patient Satisfaction & Experience:

It won’t happen by wishing it to be. It won’t happen by sending an email or designing an incentive package. It is also not just about nurses being "nicer" or more responsive to call lights.

Below are three examples of the system you will need to have firmly in place.

1. Discharge Follow Up Calling

An alarming number of hospitals continue to approach discharge calling as a vehicle to ask the patient to score them well to look good in a survey. Instead, the approach should be to take part in the continuum of care. This is what will improve their experience. (High Touch & High Tech)

2. Executive Leadership Rounds

Many executives go on patient rounds with the belief they are improving patient satisfaction. However, no executive can make enough rounds to directly impact the results. Instead, move this effort to meeting on a regular basis with departmental staff (patient and non-patient care) and ensure they have the tools and support to deliver consistent, high-quality service. This is what will improve their experience. (High Touch)

3. Patient Care Rounding

“The volumes are too high.” “We could never staff for that.” “We don’t have time.” These are all valid concerns; however, there is technology and processes that are available to collect real-time feedback from every patient every day. This is what will improve their experience. (High Touch & High Tech)

Sources:

1) Rice, S. (2015, June 4). Bioethicists say patient-satisfaction surveys could lead to bad medicine. Retrieved July 2, 2015.

2) Patient survey (HCAHPS) - Hospital | Data.Medicare.Gov. (n.d.). Retrieved July 2, 2015.

3 Ways You Can Immediately Improve Patient Satisfaction

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 21:50:31 -0600

The fate of the Affordable Care Act, the Joint Commission’s new risk scoring method, attracting new patients, improving patient satisfaction — it’s enough to make your head spin.

You know the healthcare industry is constantly evolving, and if you’re like most Americans, you’re likely paying close attention to the current political climate and how it could affect your facility.

Patient satisfaction scores affect everything from how your hospital is reimbursed to how prospective patients view your facility and its staff, and while it may not seem like it, it is possible improve patient satisfaction without breaking the bank.

Think of it this way: Most patients don’t judge the quality of their medical care. Instead, they pay close attention to the environment in which they’re treated. Is it clean and quiet? Are staff members — everyone from the parking attendant, to nurses, gift shop workers and physicians — respectful?

Here are three ways you can improve patient satisfaction immediately.

1. Do Things in Real-Time:

Every hospital gathers data. However, most hospitals file away the data they collect, and if they remember, will look at it later. Make it a point to examine the data you gather in real-time. Doing so can allow you to easily address an issue impacting patient experience.

For example, you and your staff might be aware that patients often have issues understanding medication instructions. Instead of waiting to address the issue, make changes as soon as it’s made known. This kind of proactive approach not only improves patient satisfaction, it also reduces readmissions.

2. Reduce the Noise:

Patients need rest, but this can be hard to get in a hospital where they may have their vital signs taken several times during the night or be exposed to noises from staff and machines. Remedy this by eliminating staff breaks in public spaces, not using overhead paging and encouraging staff to keep their voices low.

3. Improve Patient Communication:

In addition to not getting enough rest, a lack of clear communication from physicians and nurses is among the most common patient complaints. One study found physicians interrupted patients 77 percent of the time.

One way to improve communication between both parties: The use of patient whiteboards. Make sure the board is in the patient’s direct line of sight and includes the names of the patient’s care team, a pain rating scale and goals for the day.

Make sure all boards are readable and have enough dry erase markers available. Remember, when a communication board is well presented, your patient and his or her family and friends will feel confident they are being checked on regularly.

Patient satisfaction efforts don’t have to be costly. Taking a look at real-time data, educating staff about how to improve communication with patients and families and making small fixes to reduce the noise in your facility can all dramatically (and easily) improve patient satisfaction.

Get more insight into how you can continuously improve patient satisfaction in an ever-changing healthcare landscape in this free guide.

Patient Satisfaction & Experience – 8 Fundamentals Often Ignored

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 05:34:49 -0600

Understanding a few fundamentals of patient experience and patient satisfaction is an important component of implementing a successful and sustainable approach.

Patient Satisfaction & Experience

1. There is No Silver Bullet

There is no single strategy, program or approach that will magically produce scores in the top quartile. Often we hear, "We are going to focus on doing this one thing (rounding, food, communication boards etc etc) well and we will be successful".

Indeed that area needs to be done well, along with many others. For a long term successful and sustainable approach, the recognition that many parts of the organization are going to need overhaul and improvement is a “critical” first step. Develop a total vision for your approach then prioritize efforts to implement.

"You cannot improve one thing by 1000%, but you can improve 1,000 things by 1%" – Jan Carlzon

2. If It's Not Real Time, Don't Do It

Huge amounts of effort in healthcare are taken up gathering data. Don’t make your effort about gathering data to look at later; there is too much of that going on now.

Make the effort about identifying and correcting issues in real time.
It helps you to know historically that patients are having issues with understanding medication. It improves a patient's satisfaction and experience if you identify and correct the medication issue while they are in the continuum of care. This type of proactive approach can play out in reducing readmissions.

Move away from data analysis as the primary function and move focus to taking action on issues.

If the banking industry processed data at the speed of healthcare, an ATM transaction would take a day.

3. It's Not Just a Nursing Responsibility

Often we hear accountability for satisfaction is the sole responsibility of nursing. Yes, nursing plays a critical role, as do physicians, accountants, engineers, and executives. Ensure your strategy gets management of all areas consistently and proactively involved in patient satisfaction and experience efforts. The benefits in having all managers directly involved in patient satisfaction are multiple.

Nursing feels that not everything is their accountability.
You access a resource that ensures daily “customer service” interaction with patients.
Managers who are not involved in direct care (accountants, HR etc) get consistent exposure to the reality of front line customer service and end up much more effective in their assigned role with this knowledge.
It truly feels like a team effort.

When you want something you have never had, do something you have never done.

4. Service Recovery

Service failures will occur. Patients will be unhappy about their food. Visitors will complain about communication boards being out of date. Treatment times will be delayed. Stuff will go wrong. Yes, keep working and redesigning systems and training to make everything error free but have a very robust service recovery process in place.

On finding an issue, the response must be “I will get that taken care of now.”
It cannot be “It's not my job.”
Don’t overlook the power of "Sorry" followed by immediate correction. Most people will respond positively if you immediately acknowledge a mistake and take action.

It’s not that you won’t have service failures, you will. The question is, do you find them and respond immediately?

5. HCAHPS Is Just the Scoreboard

Many hospitals are watching their HCAHPS scores obsessively.

Yes, the HCAHPS score is important;
Yes, there are financial implications;
Yes, there are reputation implications in the scores.

Always keep in mind it is just a scoreboard. If you take a quick glance and you are ahead, be happy but keep focused on playing the game well and improving. If you take a quick glance and you are behind, it's simply a reminder you need to play the whole game more consistently and better.

If you play tennis by just watching the scoreboard, you will know the score and certainly lose the game. Focus on playing the game well.

6. Excellence in All Operations

Expanding on #1: There No Silver Bullet...

Every aspect of daily operations needs to work well. Here are some examples that demonstrate everyone impacts patient experience and satisfaction.

Is the billing understandable?
Are the bathrooms spotless and check cleaned?
Are the ceiling tiles free of stains? (How much time do patients spend looking at the ceiling?)
Is the education material user-friendly?
Are outpatient wait times tracked and managed daily?
Is patient feedback gathered daily and reviewed?
Is the food great ?
Is navigating the building intuitive?
Etc., etc.

7. Inside the Continuum Of Care

There seems to be a continuing desire inside healthcare to collect historical data on patient satisfaction. While there is some limited benefit from this information (outside of required HCAHPS scores) the vast majority of effort needs to be directed inside the continuum of care. If you cannot correct an issue at the time of discovery, it is too late. Do not make the contact about “How did we do?” Make the contact about “How are you doing?” Some key elements of this are:

Meet with every inpatient every day (use all managers not just nursing).
Collect feedback from outpatients as they leave. Review and correct any issues uncovered before they leave.
Make outpatient discharge calls (live calls, not auto dialing) to outpatients the following day. Schedule at a time when you are most likely to make contact.
Make inpatient post discharge calls (live calls, not auto dialing) on day 2 or 3 after discharge.
Ensure that the senior management team is connected with the front line department staff (executive rounding) on a scheduled basis to ensure that they have all of the resources and support needed to deliver high-quality care.

8. Keep Learning

Real time response to service failures will improve your patient experience and satisfaction results. Analysis and correction of systematic failures surfacing from this feedback will drive further improvements. Importantly, keep learning, responding, and watching changes in a real time environment.

“It’s what you learn after you think you know it all that really matters.”

- John Wooden

High Reliability and Staff Transparency

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 06:30:21 -0600

Sharing Hospital Rounding Data

A huge tool for improving HCAHPS scores is regularly sharing data with staff and patients.

If the results are posted in every department every month so staff can see how their unit is trending over time, they will realize how they are affecting the quality of care and patient experience.

They will be more proactive in looking for ways to improve.

Sharing data with staff lets them know how important this is to the organization and how seriously everyone needs to take it.

Also, patients and family members will see this patient experience information as well.

You can't be afraid to share the data.

Put it in an open place for patients and families to see. It will be a motivator for staff to say, “If the scores are not what I want, then I have the ability to do something about it.” “If we are embarrassed by the data, we are in control of it, and we can fix it."

Quicker Response

Receiving data from the HCAHPS survey as quickly as possible is another important factor in making patient care improvements. Many voluntary surveys are long and are often answered many weeks after the hospital experience. There may be selection and recall bias in the responses of those with very positive or very negative experiences.

Some hospitals have switched to a phone survey instead of the mailed survey to get a faster response and a quicker turnaround. While most likely better, this is still not as effective as addressing problems while the patient is still in the facility.

For instance, it has been proven that a patients’ perception of a hospital’s cleanliness can have a major impact on their overall care and hospital experience. The data shows correlations between patients’ perceptions of room cleanliness and three important categories: the risk of hospital-acquired infections; a hospital’s score on the HCAHPS survey; and scores on the HCAHPS teamwork indicators. Therefore, responding to a patient’s expression of “needs cleaning” quickly can positively affect the hospital’s HCAHPS score.

This could also be said of complaints about food, noise, lights, communication, and more.

Read more here: 10 Reasons for real-time data regarding patient experience.

Executive Leadership Rounds: 9 Steps to Improve HCAHPS + Staff Engagement & Retention

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 02:25:40 -0600

In hospitals, where patient experience is important and quality of care is non-negotiable, a subtle yet profound practice has emerged as a catalyst for positive change: Executive Leadership Rounds.

This powerful initiative, often overlooked amidst the hustle and bustle of hospital operations, holds the potential to support the transformation of HCAHPS patient experience scores, breathing new life into the patient relationship while driving operational excellence.

In this post, we delve into the critical importance of how sustained leadership rounds positively impact HCAHPS scores and patient satisfaction, improve staff satisfaction & retention, and contribute to improving care outcomes.

The Significance of Executive Leadership Rounds in Hospitals:

Executive Leadership Rounding is a purposeful approach, allowing senior leaders to connect directly with staff.

Through meaningful interactions, these rounds encourage open communication, empathy, and accountability, leading to improved staff satisfaction and retention along with a clear and objective understanding of staff improvement priorities.

What You Can Expect to Takeaway from this Blog Post:

We will navigate the multifaceted landscape of Executive Leadership Rounds by covering the following:

Unpacking Leadership Rounds: We'll discuss the core concept of Senior Leadership Rounds, explaining its underlying principles and shedding light on how it bridges the gap between leadership, staff, and patients.
The HCAHPS Connection: Discover how Leadership Rounds align with and positively influence HCAHPS scores, enriching patient satisfaction and experience indicators.

9 Strategies for Effective Implementation: We'll provide actionable insights on how to effectively institute Leadership Rounds, offering practical steps and best practices to ensure seamless integration into your hospital setting.
What Not To Do: Crucially, we’ll also provide valuable insights on what to avoid while planning and implementing Executive Leadership Rounds in your hospital.

Unpacking Leadership Rounds:

Leadership Rounds is a dynamic practice in hospitals that brings leaders, staff, and together.

Leadership Rounds are designed to create a space for open conversations between leadership and staff, shared understanding, and everyone taking responsibility.

The primary objective of consistently having executives receive direct feedback from staff is to ensure that the staff has the tools and support needed to deliver exceptional patient care and provide a high-quality patient experience.

The HCAHPS Connection:

Leadership Rounds involve leaders talking to staff directly, on a routine basis.

When leaders engage with staff in a caring way, it boosts their morale and engagement.

By understanding this link, healthcare professionals can see how Leadership Rounds contribute to better patient care and higher HCAHPS scores.

It is unlikely to consistently improve and sustain patient experience without hardwiring the Executive Leadership Rounds process.

9 Strategies for Effective Implementation:

In this section, we'll give you clear and practical advice on how to make Leadership Rounds work well in your hospital setting.

We'll break down the steps you need to take and share the best ways to do it. By following these strategies, you can make sure that Leadership Rounds become a natural and seamless part of how your healthcare team operates.

Our goal is to help you turn this idea into a successful reality that benefits both your staff and your patients.

1. Get Unified Support

Picture a workforce that stands united, firmly supported by your leadership team.

The practice of leadership rounding, a responsibility primarily shouldered by senior leaders, proves to be a pivotal driving force in establishing this cohesive support network.

The participation of key figures such as the CEO, COO, CNO, CMO, CFO, and leaders from HR, Finance, and IT is indispensable.

Delegating this task is not an option. While some executives will initially resist, it's important to be clear about the substantial returns from an engaged staff.

The key outcome is to be sure that frontline staff have everything they need to deliver superior care and experience.

2. Visit All Staff & All Departments

Leadership rounds extend far beyond the realm of nurses and physicians. It's imperative that the practice encompasses all departments, from housekeepers to security officers, accountants and beyond. Allow all employees to be heard.

The scope of rounding should encompass not only patient care areas, but also non-patient departments, and outpatient locations. This acknowledges the value of all staff to the hospital mission.

This inclusivity is fundamental to cultivating dedicated staff who consistently contribute to an unparalleled patient experience, exceptional quality of care, and a heightened commitment to safety.

3. Create Time Allocation

“We are seriously stretched for resources, how much time are we talking about here?”

Have your senior leaders allocate 45 minutes each week.

Build it into their calendars.

One department per week.

Now, when you involve five leaders, you're looking at reaching 20 departments in a month. Naturally, this figure will shift based on the size of your hospital, but you catch the drift.

A crucial point to emphasize is the completion of all assigned rounds. It's imperative to ensure that this commitment is met.

To streamline the process, pre-assign the departments and establish a well-structured schedule. It's worth considering automation to avoid any scheduling hiccups.

Make sure to incorporate nights, evenings, and weekends into the rounds as well.

4. Leverage Technology

Incorporating technology is a non-negotiable aspect of this endeavor.

Utilize smartphones for optimal convenience, eradicating any "I don't have the necessary materials" excuses.

Implement automated scheduling, follow-up procedures, and reporting mechanisms.

The advantages of full automation are substantial, especially when presenting the concept to senior executives.

Partial automation leaves the process susceptible to breakdown due to a lack of transparent effort tracking, potentially succumbing to an overwhelming influx of paperwork.

5. Create a Structured Process for all Senior Leaders to Follow

Speaking generally, effective initiatives often falter due to a lack of structure. For this reason, to ensure a lasting impact for your executive leadership rounding, creating a structured process is imperative.

Our recommended Executive Leadership Rounding process is a structured methodology that embodies the essence of MBWA (Management by Wandering About), but adds an element of organization to it.

Creating a uniform rounding structure prevents the variance of individual questions and observations. Without structure Senior Leaders will stick to their comfort zones.

Begin with Closed-Ended Questions to Generate Open-Ended Discussions

Mandatory conclusions derived from observations and discussions should be an outcome of these rounds. The starting point is to get to a Yes/No or Pass/Fail conclusion. Study #7 The “If Yes” Technique below to see how this generates meaningful open-ended discussion.

Lastly, do not avoid known difficult issues in the process. Questions about staffing levels and availability of necessary tools should not be shied away from.

Here is a Sample of the Executive Leadership Checklist to give you an idea of the process.

6. Use All Staff & All Department

Educational support plays a crucial role in optimizing the outcomes of senior executive rounding, a facet often underestimated.

Contrary to common belief, many hospital executive leaders lack the requisite training or coaching for this type of rounding.

While individual styles may vary significantly, fostering a shared understanding through structured guidelines significantly amplifies the potential impact of rounding efforts.

Below is a list of leadership guidelines and coaching tips:

Make sure everyone understands the frequency with which they are expected to conduct rounds—weekly for 45 minutes.

Start on time and finish on time.
Don’t cancel or reschedule. Canceling or rescheduling transmits to staff that their time is not valuable.
Include evenings, nights and weekends.
Decide whether managers should participate or whether the staff would feel freer to speak without their manager being present. Ideally meet with staff without the manager present.
Review the last two or three visits to see what previous items have been discussed. See if they come up again as a recurring item for this department.
Provide feedback on any changes or solutions that were developed based on previous rounds.
Don’t lecture. Don’t be condescending. Check your ego at the door.
The leader should take up no more than 20% of the talking time.
Keep meetings small. More than 10 employees in a meeting and you will not get any meaningful interactions.
If employee numbers are an issue, insist that the department manager figure out how to rotate staff through the meeting. Have all attendees participate. Some staff will be intimidated and will need gentle coaxing to join the discussion. For staff who are reluctant to participate, ask them an easy question (e.g. John, are there any obstacles to doing your job?).
Don’t be afraid to take notes. Without taking notes you will never be able to follow-up on items that are discussed.
Finish all write-ups of meetings before you leave the department or unit. Ideally, you have the technology to enter into a rounding tool on your smartphone or tablet that will automatically generate follow-up actions for identified issues. If you leave the department without doing so, the accuracy of what you produce will drop at least 50% and you are in real danger of not getting items taken care of at all.
Secure unanimous commitment from the senior team to initiate performance improvement initiatives targeting areas identified with high failure rates.
Conduct a group training session for executives to discuss, enhance, and agree on approach.
Have a “coach” go with each leader on their first meeting and then at least once a year

7. The “If Yes” Technique

Engaging in meaningful discussions with staff is the cornerstone of effective rounding. A powerful approach to foster these discussions involves expanding conversations when staff feedback indicates that everything is “fine”.

Example of “If Yes” Technique in Use:

Original Question: “Are our communication methods effective?”

Staff Response: “Yes.”

Rather than simply moving on to the next topic if the answer is “yes”, the “If Yes” approach encourages further probing:

Follow-Up Question: "Excellent. Could you elaborate on the communication method you find most useful? I’d like to hear more about that."

Tips on Using the “If Yes” Technique:

Steer clear of any form of interrogation or testing.
Encourage open conversations. You may uncover issues that did not initially surface. Or you may get strong reinforcement of existing approaches. Either way the information is incredibly valuable.
To leverage the “If Yes” approach, be prepared with exploration questions for instances when the staff response is "Yes, everything is fine."
Make sure you have scripted follow-up questions to support the process. Through the “If Yes” technique, you can potentially uncover underlying issues that staff might not have been initially ready to discuss. Conversely, if effective communication methods are confirmed, this approach further reinforces the value of good communication practices.

8. Effective Follow-Up

An automated follow-up mechanism must be seamlessly integrated into the broader process.

A lack of proper follow-up will harm morale and yield unfavorable outcomes.

Avoid placing the responsibility on executives to manually draft emails or notes for matters requiring follow-up, as this consistency is unlikely to be achieved. Make it digitally automated.

9. Sustainable Performance Improvement

Ensure the Senior Team is committed to taking PI action on the results of their efforts. Without effective PI efforts at least 50% of the benefit of this approach is lost.

Performance Improvement hinges upon the unwavering commitment of the senior leadership team to initiate improvement endeavors against identified issues.

Ensure the Senior team has and is coached on their findings and possible PI priorities. Ensure Department Managers have full access to their department results.

While sharing anecdotal accounts and swiftly addressing departmental concerns holds value, their impact remains short-lived. Anecdotes cannot fuel enduring performance enhancement. Tracking and using PI data is where the long-term improvements are made.

While some challenges will have straightforward solutions, others may prove intricate. An objective yardstick rooted in staff feedback and a method to prioritize endeavors becomes essential to prevent overwhelming the team and encountering setbacks.

Be sure you have a strong process and supporting technology in place to deploy effective performance improvement.

4 Approaches that Will Almost Certainly Ensure Failure:

1. Lack Of Executive Commitment

Gaining initial senior leadership agreement is a clear step, yet sustaining the process is the challenge.

Ensure an established schedule for reviewing completions and always show a rolling 12-month record of individual completions.

Reinforce with the senior team that deviating from the schedule strongly signals to staff a lack of appreciation.

2. Not Automating the Process

Without automation the process will most likely collapse under the volume of the data. Manual production of schedules, checklists, follow-up and data analysis for PI quickly become overwhelming tasks that cannot be sustained

over time.

See how we support our hospital clients with all-digital, all-automated performance improvement.

3. No Performance Improvement Efforts

Unless the rounding results are used to implement meaningful, measurable and visible performance improvement it is difficult to keep senior leaders engaged over time.

4. Executives Rounding As a Team

Do not conduct in teams, instead assign individual leaders to departments. Rounding as a team intimidates the staff, significantly reduces coverage, and creates endless scheduling issues and excuses.

Key Takeaways:

Elevating HCAHPS Scores Through Leadership Rounds:
Implementing structured Leadership Rounds can significantly impact HCAHPS scores by fostering open communication, empathy, and accountability between leadership, and staff. Remember if senior staff want to visit patients, that can be worthwhile for their engagement but it will not improve patient experience. The volume and daily effort required is simply beyond their personal bandwidth. The senior leader's task is to ensure that staff have the tools and support they need to consistently deliver high quality care and experience.
The Power of Structured Approach:
A well-structured approach to Leadership Rounds is vital for sustainability and success. Senior executives should allocate time, engage all departments, and ensure automated processes for scheduling, follow-up, and reporting.
Inclusive Engagement:
Extend Leadership Rounds beyond clinical staff to include housekeepers, security officers, and non-patient areas. In other words: everyone. Use the “If Yes” technique to prompt meaningful discussions.
Training and Technology Integration:
Provide formal training for senior leaders on effective rounding techniques. Incorporate technology for automated follow-up and reporting processes to ensure accountability and continuous improvement.
Driving Performance Improvement:
Gain senior leadership commitment to launch improvement efforts based on identified issues. Objective measures, prioritization, and supporting technology are crucial for driving sustainable performance improvement. Without ongoing, meaningful performance improvement it is unlikely the process will be sustainable.
Engagement and Empowerment:
Leadership Rounds create a positive environment, build enthusiasm, and foster trust among staff, contributing to a patient-centered and quality-focused healthcare.

Readiness Rounds supports our clients through their Executive Leadership Rounding processes and their performance improvement initiatives. We would be delighted to be a partner in your patient satisfaction improvement journey. We’re here to chat anytime.

Schedule a consultation

Curious to see the rest of the Readiness Rounds Patient Satisfaction Approach looks like?

At Readiness Rounds, we’ve developed a proven approach to improving Patient Satisfaction and Experience. We call it the 9 Approaches. Watch the short video series here.

We’ve also put together a free 24-page step-by-step proven approach to improving patient satisfaction. You can get your free copy of the 17 Proven Strategies to Improve Patient Satisfaction here.

How Effective Patient Communication Boards Improve Safety & HCAHPS Scores

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 01:27:10 -0600

Patient communication boards play a pivotal role in enhancing both patient satisfaction and a hospital's HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) score and star rating. These boards serve as instrumental tools in fostering effective and patient-centered communication within healthcare settings.

Here is a comprehensive list of DOs and DON'Ts that will be invaluable when devising an effective patient communication board process for your hospital.

Outline of today’s blog post:

Introduction: Patient Communication Boards

Patient communication boards have become a well-established standard practice in hospitals and considered an integral part of patient centered care. However, despite their widespread use, many questions still surround their effectiveness and impact. This blog aims to address these uncertainties and provide insights into optimizing the use of patient communication boards.

→ Do you ever question the effectiveness of your hospital's communication boards?

→ Are you unsure whether they genuinely contribute to patient safety and enhance the overall patient experience?

With the constant pressures faced by healthcare professionals, it's natural to wonder if these boards are just another form of "busy" work.

Ensuring consistent utilization of communication boards poses its own challenges. How can you be certain that this valuable tool is being utilized consistently across your hospital?

In this blog post, we will explore these questions and provide a structured approach to achieving effective utilization of patient communication boards, improving HCAHPS star results and assisting in building a patient centered care model.

Join us on this journey as we delve into the world of patient communication boards and unlock their potential for improving communication, patient safety, and the overall healthcare experience

Why Patient Communication Boards are Important

Patient communication boards is a multifaceted approach that serves many purposes such as patient safety, patient satisfaction, and as a byproduct, the hospital’s reputation and ratings.

PATIENT SAFETY:

Patient communication boards improve patient safety in hospitals in several ways:

Enhance Communication Between Patient and Care Team:

These boards enhance communication between patients, nurses, doctors and other hospital staff by providing a consistent visual and accessible means of conveying important information. Patients can use the boards to express their needs, concerns, enabling healthcare professionals to address them promptly.

Bridge Language Barriers:

Patient communication boards help overcome language barriers, ensuring that patients with limited English proficiency can still effectively communicate their needs.

Visual Safety Reminders:

These boards serve as a constant reminder of important safety protocols and procedures, such as fall prevention, thereby promoting adherence to best practices and reducing the risk of preventable accidents.

Empower Patient’s Engagement:

Patient communication boards facilitate engagement and participation in the care process, empowering patients to actively participate in their own care and safety by providing feedback, reporting concerns, or asking questions.

Improve Continuity of Care:

These boards improve the continuity of care by allowing different healthcare providers to communicate and share relevant information about the patient, ensuring a comprehensive and coordinated approach to care.

PATIENT SATISFACTION:

Patient satisfaction plays a crucial role in ensuring a positive healthcare experience. Patient communication boards serve as a powerful tool to contribute to improved patient satisfaction.

Empowering Patients:

These boards provide patients with a platform to actively engage in their care, enabling them to express their needs, preferences, and concerns, thus fostering a positive and personalized experience.

Effective Communication:

By facilitating clear interactions between patients and healthcare staff, these boards reduce misunderstandings and ensure patients have a complete understanding of their care plan, leading to more informed decision-making and enhanced satisfaction.

Visual Reminders:

Patient communication boards display vital information such as the names and roles of care team members, upcoming procedures, and important reminders, helping patients stay informed, organized, and reassured throughout their hospital stay.

Reassurance to Families and Friends:

These boards offer transparency and valuable information to loved ones, enabling them to access essential details about the patient's care plan, progress, or specific instructions, fostering trust and comfort in the quality of care provided.

REPUTATION & RATINGS (HCAHPS Scores & Star Ratings):

Communication Domain:

HCAHPS includes a communication domain, which evaluates how well healthcare providers communicate with patients. Patient communication boards directly contribute to this domain by demonstrating the hospital's commitment to effective communication practices.

Responsiveness of Hospital Staff:

The "responsiveness" domain of HCAHPS assesses how promptly hospital staff respond to patient needs. By utilizing communication boards, healthcare providers can address patient concerns more efficiently, leading to improved HCAHPS scores.

Hospital Environment:

Patient communication boards contribute to the overall hospital environment, which is a crucial factor affecting HCAHPS scores. A well-organized and patient-oriented environment, facilitated by the presence of communication boards, positively influences patients' perceptions of the hospital's care quality.

Care Transitions:

Effective communication boards can also enhance the coordination of care during transitions, such as shift changes or transfer to different units. Improved care transitions are associated with higher HCAHPS scores and contribute to a hospital's overall star rating.

As you can see, patient communication boards play a significant role in promoting patient satisfaction by empowering patients, enhancing communication, and fostering transparency.

Moreover, their implementation positively impacts a hospital's HCAHPS score and star rating by contributing to key domains such as communication, responsiveness, hospital environment, and care transitions.

As hospitals continue to prioritize patient-centered care, communication boards remain an indispensable tool in achieving these objectives while bolstering overall patient experience and organizational performance.

#The 8 Dos of a Successful Patient Communication Board

1. Make it Readable

Patient communication boards can become excessively cluttered, making them unusable. It is crucial to choose which specific pieces of content will be displayed on the board.

Ask:

→ “Does it hold significance for the patient, their family, and friends?”

→ “Does it provide value to the hospital care team, nurses, physicians, therapists, and other support staff?"

The board must be positioned directly within the patient's line of sight.

2. Design it to be Updated

Change is an inherent law of the universe. Don’t assume after countless meetings, you will agree on a perfect communication board template. Instead, it is essential to create a board design that allows for easy updates and modifications. By employing an insert-based approach, information can be swiftly and cheaply revised whenever needed.

This framework also facilitates tailoring boards to meet the unique requirements of specialty units.

3. Attach the Pen to the Board

It is imperative to secure a dry erase marker permanently to the board. Regrettably, as a patient myself, I have witnessed well-intentioned staff members bypassing the communication board due to the unavailability of a pen.

4. Tackle the Appointments List Last

Maintaining an up-to-date list of appointments can prove challenging as it remains subject to frequent changes. There is a likelihood that the list may either fall out of sync or remain blank, leading to potential frustrations.

There is huge value in making the appointments list work. However, consider incorporating this feature once all other aspects of your communication boards have been adequately addressed and implemented.

5. Include Hourly Rounding Tracking

Communication boards should include the tracking of hourly rounding. (Probably every two hours during the night.) Consistently conducting this activity can prove challenging.

However, it holds significant benefits as it instills a sense of comfort in the patient, their family, and friends, knowing that regular check-ins are taking place.

Conversely, if this practice is neglected, it may lead to complaints about perceived indifference. Patients tend to observe their surroundings closely, and the presence or absence of board usage can influence their perceptions of the hospital experience.

Therefore, documenting hourly rounding anywhere other than on the communication board is discouraged as it can be time-consuming and unnecessary. A simple checkmark on the board suffices to mark the completion of the task.

Read our latest blog post on Improving Patient Satisfaction with the 5 Ps of Proactive & Purposeful Hourly Rounding

6. Check During Nurse Leader Rounds

As part of the daily nurse leader rounds (Care Check - Inpatient) process, it is imperative to include a standard question to the patient concerning the status of their communication board. It has been observed that certain patients may express satisfaction with its content even when it has not been appropriately filled out.

Watch this brief 2-minute video that exemplifies the philosophy of “Don't Stop at Yes," emphasizing the importance of thorough inquiry and follow-up beyond initial affirmations.

7. Independently Assess the Effectiveness of the Board Apart from the Patient

During the routine nurse leader inpatient rounds (Care Check), it is essential to incorporate an independent evaluation of the communication board's effectiveness as part of your assessment. You may find that observation scores significantly differ from patient feedback. This variance underscores the inherent challenges in obtaining accurate feedback from patients during their inpatient stay.

The nurse leader should evaluate the completeness of the board as an easy way to identify improvement and education needs for staff responsible for updating.

An easy way to assure communication boards are consistently updated is the foundation of the sustainability of the approach over time.

8. Updated the Board Early Every Morning

It is crucial to incorporate into the nursing team's routine the responsibility of updating the entire communication board promptly each morning.

Out-of-date information on the board can convey a lack of attentiveness to the patient and significantly impact their perception of the quality of care they receive. For instance, displaying "Thursday" on the board when it is, in fact, "Friday" is unacceptable and must be avoided.

Well executed communication board use has an enormous impact on patient satisfaction. We’ve summarized these 8 key components in this brief 4-minute video:

Want to see the rest of the videos in this series? There are 8 more short-form videos from our series called The 9 Approaches to Patient Satisfaction, watch them here, for free.

The 6 Don’ts to Avoid Common Communication Board Pitfalls

Note: While considering the DON'TS, there can be a case made for including them on the patient communication board. However it is essential to carefully evaluate their relevance. In practice, maintaining the current status of such information can be challenging.

Therefore, it is crucial to establish a robust basic approach and a well-defined nursing routine before considering the expansion of the process. This ensures a solid foundation for effective implementation.

1. Avoid Including Positions Beyond the Essential Care Team

It is advisable not to expand the number of positions displayed for the care team on the communication board beyond essential roles such as a nurse, a doctor, and a patient care technician. While incorporating the respiratory therapist and social worker could be beneficial, the challenge lies in maintaining the accuracy of the additional team members' information. Realistically, the likelihood of achieving this consistently is not high.

1. Avoid Including Positions Beyond the Essential Care Team

2. Avoid Including Ambulation and a Turning Wheel

The incorporation of ambulation and a turning wheel into the system holds great potential provided it is actively utilized and kept up-to-date. However, a pertinent question arises: what is the likelihood of this implementation becoming a reality in practice?

3. Carefully Consider Including Patient Goals

Having a dedicated "patient goals" section on the communication board can be highly advantageous if consistently updated every day. For instance, a key question to include could be, "What is the most important thing we can do for you today?" However, it is important to acknowledge that maintaining daily updates for this section can be quite challenging. Once a goal is documented on the board, it becomes imperative to ensure its fulfillment, adding to the complexity of its daily upkeep.

4. Avoid Including Hand Hygiene

Certain boards and wall posters display the message, "Make sure we wash our hands." Such communication can inadvertently imply to patients that it is their responsibility to ensure healthcare providers fulfill their duties correctly and maintain safety protocols. While the importance of hand washing cannot be overstated, it is vital to recognize that the onus for this practice does not lie with the patients; rather, it is the responsibility of the healthcare providers to uphold these standards diligently.

5. Avoid Including ID Prompts

Similarly, wall posters include the message, "Make sure we ask your name and date of birth." However, one might question the appropriateness of such a statement. Undeniably, verifying a patient's identity is of utmost importance. Nevertheless, it is crucial to emphasize that this responsibility falls squarely on the healthcare providers and not on the patients. Patients should not be burdened with ensuring this verification; rather, it is the duty of the healthcare professionals to execute this process diligently and accurately.

6. Avoid Including Appointment Lists

While it may be tempting to include today's appointments on communication boards, it is crucial to assess the nursing staff's ability to maintain accuracy consistently. Incorporating appointments can be advantageous if the staff is confident in their capability to keep the information up-to-date, as schedules tend to undergo frequent changes. However, if appointments are included on the board but not kept accurate, it may have a detrimental impact on the perception of care, outweighing any potential benefits. Thoughtful consideration should be given before making such additions.

Key Takeaways:

1) Proven Strategy

Numerous studies have consistently confirmed the significant value of effectively employing communication boards to enhance patient-staff communication. Even without considering these studies, the benefits are self-evident.

2) Check for Consistency

As part of best practices, check to ensure the consistent use of the patient communication board. This can be achieved without additional resources by including in nurse leader daily rounding process.

3) Simple Design

A carefully designed communication board template should be established and subsequently streamlined for optimal effectiveness.

4) Patient Perception

Actively seeking feedback from patients regarding their perception of the communication board's utility is essential. This inclusive approach allows for continuous improvement and ensures that the communication boards cater to the specific needs and preferences of the patients.

5) Patient Satisfaction

By promoting transparent and open communication, these boards foster trust and collaboration between patients and healthcare providers, leading to a positive patient-provider relationship and ultimately higher levels of satisfaction

Get More Support

Readiness Rounds walks our hospital clients through this process and a wide variety of other safety and performance improvement strategies. We would be honored to be a partner in your patient satisfaction improvement journey. We’re here to chat anytime.

Schedule Your Free Consultation

Continue Learning

At Readiness Rounds, we’ve developed a proven approach to improving Patient Satisfaction and Experience. We call it the 9 Approaches. Watch the short video series here.

We’ve also put together a free 24-page step-by-step proven approach to improving patient satisfaction. You can get your free copy of the 17 Proven Strategies to Improve Patient Satisfaction here.

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Do Bedside Visual Tools Improve Patient and Caregiver Satisfaction? A Systematic Review of the Literature. Goyal AA, Tur K, Mann J, Townsend W, Flanders SA, Chopra V. J Hosp Med. 2017 Nov;12(11):930-936. doi: 10.12788/jhm.2871. PMID: 29091982 Review.
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