With so much of our work in healthcare these days focused on making improvements, we can overlook the many good things that are taking place in our organizations—and related opportunities to learn from our own best practices.
TruthPoint’s Kudos Reports, part of our real-time rounding solutions packages, provide healthcare organizations with actionable input from patients and others about who they would like to thank, and why, for delivering a top-notch patient experience.
One of our clients, a small hospital that is part of a large, integrated healthcare system, has leveraged Kudos Reports both to learn from their patients and to recognize staff for providing exceptional service. Patients are invited by Health Unit Coordinators (HUCs) to provide real-time feedback on the second day of their stay, and rounded on by nursing leaders during their stay to ensure their needs are being met. These proactive rounds allow staff and leaders to hear, directly from patients and families, what is going well and where there may be opportunities for improvement.
One question asked during these proactive rounds is whether there are any staff the patient would like to thank for their care and service, and why. Input is captured using TruthPoint software loaded on iPads, and shared with nursing leaders and staff. It’s powerful input. As one nurse manager told us, “The Kudos Report helps me recognize my nursing team and creates a means for nursing staff to recognize each other. It has also created a healthy competition between nurses who want to be unit leaders in patient recognitions.”
Here are some examples of the inputs received and shared:
| Nurse | Who would you like to thank, and why? |
| Ann Johnson | Ann grabbed warm blankets for me and my husband. |
| The nurse went above and beyond the call of duty | |
| Jim Fanning | The male nurse who brought stickers for my daughter. |
| Emily St. Martin | Emily; she took time to explain the discharge instructions. |
| The nurse with the long blonde hair; she was compassionate. | |
| *These are actual examples, but not the real names of the nurses. | |
A focus on the positives of patient care can make a big difference. One nurse at this hospital, who had previously received complaints about her abruptness and bedside manner, and was involved in nurse manager coaching sessions, had become resistant to constructive feedback from her manager. The regular Kudos Reports, though, with their focus on direct, and positive, patient feedback provided her with insights into what mattered most to patients—not just clinical expertise, but kind, compassionate care. As she used these insights to adjust her approach, she began to get more compliments herself.
The hospital realized other benefits as well:
- A 75 percent reduction in one nurse manager’s complaint load—in fact, she received just one complaint over the course of the year in 2016. The ability to use TruthPoint to gain real-time input allowed issues to be addressed immediately, drastically reducing post-discharge service recovery.
- HUCs, through regular rounding with patients, became more actively involved in patient care and more satisfied with their jobs.
- Because of their desire to see their name in Kudos Reports, nursing staff became more motivated and focused on their impact on a positive patient experience
- Patients appreciated an easy way to recognize their nursing team for excellent care and service.
Patient care will always be about people caring for people. But, as this example illustrates, technology can play an important part in the process—simplifying both giving and receiving positive feedback for patients and staff.
Yes, we have plenty of improvements to make in healthcare as we work hard to improve the patient experience. But we’re also doing many things right. Kudos Reports help to shine a light on the tireless and compassionate efforts nurses make each, and every, day.