I had an amazing time at the Cleveland Clinic Innovation and Empathy Summit! I came back to Chicago more inspired than ever, after sharing so many best practices with hospitals from around the country. It was great catching up with some of you and hearing about challenges and successes you are currently experiencing. Here are the top five things I learned:
1. Fear and Love do not coexist. When caregivers come into the room of a patient and exude confidence and compassion and expose their own personal character, it sucks the fear out of the room and allows love to enter. In order for a caregiver to do this effectively, they must make the choice to be present, positive and connected.
2. Many cultural transformations begin when patients tell their doctors that they don’t like them – and the doctors listen. Simple things like scrub uniformity, scripting, eye contact, and customer complaint resolution with staff empowerment go a long way toward making a cultural change.
3. What works? Purposeful hourly rounding, responding immediately to call lights, keeping things quiet at night, effective service recovery and universal scripting. Set regular goals as a team and celebrate when they are reached and exceeded.
4. Having the right people in the right seats on the bus is key. Define the need, match the roles and find the resources. Start by hiring to match your culture. Positive changes can also be made by observing employees in action and using them as examples when they’re in alignment with the vision of the organization. Write thank you notes!
5. Every organization has their own acronyms – but one kept popping up in multiple situations: CARE.
How does your hospital teach its staff to CARE? How can we help? At Errand Solutions one of our core values is Empathy Squared, and we truly believe it is the key to understanding and improving the patient and employee experience. Let’s continue the conversation! We look forward to hearing from you!
