After a much appreciated vacation and break, I am back to my blog. Lately I have been spending a lot of time discussing patient satisfaction with many different groups of people ranging from front-line team members, to managers, to other hospital executives and consultants. Everyone has a theory on how to improve it, but no one has quite been able to put all of the pieces together into a concise package.
All of these talks and my recent vacation with the family to Disney World has brought my memory back to a book written by Fred Lee entitled, "If Disney Ran Your Hosptial: 9-1/2 Things You Would Do Differently." What Fred discusses in his book however is not a focus on patient satisfaction, but on patient loyalty. Having never been to Disney World before this trip, it was hard to relate to what Fred was writing about. After this trip though, I now understand the message that he was trying to convey. What Disney does so well is that it is not just another theme park, but a complete experience that surrounds their guests from the moment they step on property. Everything from the hotel registration process and meals, to the parks themselves are focused on creating a "magical" experience for all to enjoy. My boys enjoyed the rides at the parks, but I was amazed at the amount of intricate detail and thought that is put into every attraction that a guest encounters. We also took a 3-day cruise on the Disney Cruise Line and there too everything was a notch above the ordinary fare right on down to their "Disney-fied" lagoon on their private Castaway Cay island, complete with the Flying Duthman ship from Pirates of the Caribbean and an underwater Mickey and Minnie Mouse aboard the sunken ships that can be seen while snorkeling. I have to say that I am a now a convert and can understand why Disney has been a destination that so many people flock to each year and keep going back for more.
As it relates to the hospital then, the question I have is how to create that same experience for our patients? While most of our patients (and payors) hope that our guests don't have return visits, our goal should certainly be to create that same loyalty and experience that people know, trust, and seek out in their time of need. "Patient Satisfaction" is one of the hospitals' "Pillar Goals" and has been a key focus area for our organization for years - in fact it should be seen as one of our core competencies. While we have made good progress in attaining this goal, we must realize that patient satisfaction is both a continuous journey as well as a series of individual events. Every aspect of care that a patient touches adds to the complete experiecne we provide. The question is how do we shape our culture to attain that high level of desirability by our patients? More to come on this topic...
If Disney ran our hospital?
What a difference a few months can make! On Saturday I had the pleasure to attend the dedication of our Team Member Joy's new home that I wrote about back in February. Through the hundreds of hours of volunteer service of Joy and all of the Habitat for Humanity volunteers, what was a demolished shell of a house just a few months ago is now a beautiful home for Joy and her son JaShawn. 
