Staff strategies for increasing patient satisfaction

Ophthalmic surgery customer service in today’s world is drastically different than when I first entered the nursing field more than 20 years ago. In 1995, we had only one lens model on the shelf, thankful patients who loved us, and we performed surgery with only a few instruments and a tiny little phaco you could wheel around on an IV pole.

Today, there is a complexity like never before. Patients have many options regarding their surgical care, are more informed (sometimes incorrectly) due to the internet, and read and leave online reviews. It’s never been more important to have stellar patient satisfaction rates.

So what do we do with all of this information? What’s the road map to increasing patient satisfaction? While I can’t guarantee a smooth flight for everyone, I can offer some suggestions to hopefully reduce the turbulence along the way.

Convene Your Team

Nothing happens without buy-in from the staff. Ensure that your team members are engaged and have a strong desire to make the patient experience their focus each and every day for each and every patient.

Look at the area of care throughout the surgical process and plan procedures to improve every aspect in some way. It’s important to actually walk through the entire process, just as a patient would, paying attention to anything that could impact a patient’s impression or attitude. Remember to look for outlier circumstances in patient care, such as language barriers, hearing impairments, or mental capabilities. Brainstorm with your team to develop priorities for providing safe and excellent customer experiences to everyone.

Don’t be afraid to steal ideas from hospitality businesses that already have great systems in place. Consider hiring consultants (such as the Disney or Ritz-Carlton programs) to help with your staff training.

Customer experience doesn’t end at the patient. Focus, too, on what we have dubbed the “Responsible Adult Situation”—that person (family, friend, or other) who is responsible for patient transportation and aftercare. Until driverless cars can safely transport our patients (and CMS deletes the requirement for a responsible adult), surgery centers are not only responsible for taking care of our patients, we are also charged with satisfying their “plus one.”

Here are some customer service focus areas:

Physical environment. What do your patients see when they enter your building or your facility? Make sure directional signs are clear, and there are no tripping hazards. What are you doing to maintain cleanliness?

Include equipment in your review, as well. Do you need more instruments or additional sterilizers to create better efficiency for physicians and patients? How old are your vital monitors and does their appearance make patients feel safe?

Periodic testing of staff on the equipment competency increases efficiency and reduces logjams in the patient flow.

Wait time. The No. 1 item that reduces patient satisfaction in any patient survey I have read in recent years is wait time. Be mindful of the amount of time patients spend in your facility. Everyone desires efficiency, so concentrate on ways to reduce patient wait times.

Patient expectation. Providing premium services can increase patient satisfaction and patient referrals, but only when clinical support staff has clearly outlined the expectations for the patient. This may mean partnering with physicians and their staff to change preoperative clinical processes to ensure that every patient understands their options and acknowledges the realistic goals of surgery.

Richard Branson is one of the most successful businessmen of our time. In addition to being handsome and having a great accent, he also has some great advice: “The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them—preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.” When you review your processes together as a team, look for unexpected ways to exceed your patients’ expectations.

Strategies for Change

I want to share a few of the more impactful changes our team instituted in our center that resulted in better teamwork, patient safety, and patient experience. I hope it inspires your center to work on team communication and to change at least one thing in your current processes to improve the patient experience!

Scratch-The-Surface Changes

• Required all staff to constantly police all areas for cleanliness.
• Scheduled more difficult cases on lighter days, or at the end of the day in order to have a consistent flow and decrease wait times.
• Trained all staff to greet patients properly, introducing themselves and explaining their roles and what they will be doing for the patient during the procedure.

Patient Arrival

• Added free valet parking.
• Added a designated “greeter” with a knack for Southern hospitality, and trained all staff on the importance of greeting the patient with a smile and professionalism.
• Created a private room to discuss monetary concerns or private issues.

Preoperative Care

• Stressed the power of human touch and how something as small as a brief touch to the shoulder can be reassuring for most patients.
• Trained staff to be aware of attire or physical or verbal cues that could mean the patient is a veteran, and to thank them for their service.
• Required staff to write any special notes on the procedural paper that travels with the patient (such as “pt is a veteran” or “pt has a wig, be careful removing hat in post-op”).
• Encouraged staff to use a sense of humor to engage with patients, but only if the patient is receptive.
• Developed a script covering the necessary preoperative items. To avoid patient frustration, we explain that we will be asking some of the same questions each step of the way and why we are doing so.
• Asked our CRNAs to explain their processes clearly and to help our patients better understand their alertness during surgery.

Intraoperative Care

• Required nurses to explain their prep to patients and its importance (this has also helped patients resist the urge to reach up and touch their face just when you’ve taken your glove off).
• Staffed all ORs with a “backfloat” to help the scrub tech set up and to help clean after. This allows the nurse to stay with the patient and provide constant attention.
• Trained staff to explain to the patient the sounds they will hear during surgery and encourage them to speak up if they are uncomfortable in any way.
• Encouraged nurses and technicians to provide reassuring words throughout the procedure if the physician does not.

Postoperative Care

• Asked staff to use a sense of humor to keep the patient smiling (again, only if the patient is receptive). This allows the family member to see the patient sitting up and smiling, which puts them at ease, too.
• For patients who are more comfortable “camping out” for a while after surgery, we allow them to stay as long as necessary in a more private postoperative space.
• Trained staff to always, always, always have the last word with patients: “Thank You!”

Opportunities Abound

I want to challenge all of you to think about the endless opportunities you have to better serve your patients. There are opportunities in everything you say and do for each patient in every moment, because YOU ARE NOW SERVING! ■