If you walked into the EW-Emergency Ward-of Bellevue Hospital in New York in the mid-seventies, you would have seen a Declaration from the Nursing Division posted on the bulletin board. It listed 9 things that "In our culture the public has come to expect" and went on to name those patient rights. Nestled comfortably within those rights were the following:
*To be cared for with concern
*To decline and die in reasonable dignity
*To feel that someone cares and that they are not alone in their illness or dying
Bellevue placed importance on the patients emotional well being while correcting, curing, or compensating for their illness. In case you believe those ideals can't possibly compete with the significance of the financial bottom line, let me offer the 2008 statistics for Bellevue Medical Center:
Beds: 809
Clinic Visits: 472,110
ER Visits: 101,792
Births: 2,021
That doesn't happen by concentrating on dollar signs only. When I walked the halls as an employee of Newton General Hospital in 1993, the picture looked grim. Very grim. The hospital was in the red. There was a hold on all salary increases as well as a hiring freeze. The talk around the water cooler was the hospital would be a nursing home within a year and employees began looking elsewhere for work. That didn’t keep James Weadick, the administrator, from concentrating on the quality of patient care. He raised the standard with his “hospitable hospital” program. He determined that it was the responsibility of each employee to go out of their way to be courteous and friendly to not only the patient but their families as well, and went on to lead by example. At a time when most administrators would have pushed for stricter spending or raising the per nurse patient load, Weadick defined success by building on the level of care he offered his patients. The patient came first.
It was no small thing when a sign was pushed into the ground announcing the coming construction on what would be an adjoining 60,000 square foot Physicians Pavilion which accommodated three floors of new medical offices. The attached parking deck may have made greater news, though. This was not the direction of a medical center doomed for nursing home status. When construction was completed in 2001 on a 103,000 square foot Surgical Center that was connected to the main building, it forever silenced the skeptics. The state of the hospital was no longer lamented around the water cooler, but instead, great pride was established in the employees as they witnessed the expansion of success that was initiated by a minor detail-caring for the patient.
Defining success by patient satisfaction is not only admirable, it is required. After all, you can possess the most sophisticated equipment, brag that the best interior designers created the optimal environment to recuperate in, or claim your facility has earned prestigious awards. However, it doesn't mean a thing if the patient isn't satisfied with the care they received from the people they came in contact with. Everyone wants to feel validated, important, of value. That is multiplied in a crisis situation-especially a medical crisis. The people you hire to gingerly care for your patients will make or break the future of your facility. Success is not found in the outer walls-it lies within your employees.
It begins with the leaders. Don't demand, make rules, or otherwise place the burden of your growth on your employees only. Walk the hospital. Get to know the patients as well as your health care workers. Lead by example. Greet your workers in the hall as if they were potential financial contributors-from the laundry worker to the specialized surgeon. Create an environment of smiles, greetings, and genuine appreciation for your employees, and watch how they relate that to their patient care.
Take the advice from Bellevue-respect the patient, and then do as James Weadick did and make your hospital a "hospitable hospital". You can't argue with their results, and isn't a profitable hospital a win-win for everyone?
Nice article Mary. What I look for in a hospital is their rankings compared to other hospitals nationwide, as far as success versus mortality rates, and also I look for patient satisfaction and friendliness of staff. So far in my experiences, I have found teaching hospitals to be stellar in caring along with expertise, and these are huge hospitals. I have less confidence in smaller hospitals. It depends on what you need care for, though, too. That's a big factor. For the most part as a patient I've met wonderful capable people in all hospitals.
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