Multiple factors contribute to a positive patient experience, says the new CMO of AdventHealth Altamonte Springs. They include effective communication with patients, the hospital environment, food services, and leadership engagement in patient experience.
The new CMO of AdventHealth Altamonte Springs has a history of raising patient experience scores from single digits to more than 80%.
David Goldman, DO, MBA, became CMO of the Florida hospital in early November. He previously served as vice president and CMO of a smaller AdventHealth hospital, AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach, which is also in The Sunshine State.
When Goldman became CMO of AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach, the hospital was working with a likely-to-recommend patient experience rating that was only in the single digits.
"I went on a five-year journey to improve patient experience," Goldman says. "What we learned along the way is you must have a strong patient- and family-centered focus. You must round with the nursing team every hour, and this rounding must be intentional. You must have great nurse leader visits as well."
The hospital environment and food services were crucial in improving the hospital’s patient experience scores.
"You must have a clean environment—patient rooms must be clean and comfortable," Goldman says. "If you are going to feed patients, the food must be good and nourishing. You need to make sure the room is appropriate for eating. Many hospitals just bring in a food tray and don't think about the room being comfortable for eating."
For cleanliness and the environment of care, the hospital raised its patient experience scores to more than 80%.
Effective communication with patients is also essential to boosting patient experience scores, according to Goldman.
"For physicians, you can buy them computer-on-wheels stations, which allows physicians to show patients imaging such as X-rays as well as laboratory information," Goldman says.
To help ensure good communication with patients and their families, AdventHealth uses the MyChart feature in the Epic EHR, and the health system gives patients and their families iPads to access information in real time
Care providers should also communicate with patients and families at their level, Goldman explains.
"You need to be willing to speak with family members and take phone calls," Goldman says. "Sometimes, it is just a matter of sitting down at the bedside. You need to take the time to spell out what you are doing and make sure patients understand what you are doing."
Care teams should engage families in communication with patients who have delirium or other cognitive impairments in the hospital setting, according to Goldman.
"You need to get authorization and approval to speak with loved ones, so the entire family is involved in communicating care plans to these patients," Goldman says.
Hospital leaders must also be involved in patient experience endeavors, Goldman explains.
"Senior executives must own patient experience just like they own the finances," Goldman says. "Patient experience should be part of senior executives' incentives. If you are experiencing dips in components of patient experience, key departments should be meeting every week about the challenges, understanding what is going on, and working to turn the ship around."
When there are patient experience challenges at a hospital, the CMO and other leaders should tackle them aggressively, according to Goldman. For example, about 70% of the patient rooms at AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach are double occupancy, which makes achieving a positive patient experience difficult.
"We did not make excuses—we owned the issue," Goldman says. "We made sure the rooms were clean. We spent money to paint rooms, installed new curtains, and improved the linens. One of the problems for patients in these rooms was noise, so we got them ear plugs. We got a lounge chair for each of these rooms, so patients could sit when they were not in bed."
David Goldman, DO, MBA, is CMO of AdventHealth Altamonte Springs. Photo courtesy of AdventHealth.
Physician mentorship
Physician mentorship was one of the reasons Goldman became interested in serving as a CMO.
"I look at myself as a coach," Goldman says. "I was a player for 25 years as a doctor—now I am playing a coaching role as a CMO."
Good physician mentors have several primary qualities, according to Goldman.
"As a mentor, you must be willing to listen to doctors, and you must be vulnerable," Goldman says. "You must have sympathy and empathy for doctors. Medicine is changing, and a mentor must support doctors through the rapid pace of change."
Successful physician mentors are like successful college basketball coaches, Goldman explains.
"A great basketball coach does not necessarily teach players how to play the game," Goldman says. "A great basketball coach teaches players how to function as a team and how to reach their potential. Physician mentorship is very similar."
Recruiting and retaining physicians
A CMO should embrace a personal approach when recruiting physicians rather than going through recruitment agencies, according to Goldman.
"I found success in physician recruitment in calling doctors directly," Goldman says. "We would have an honest discussion about the job, the work environment, and the community."
A CMO should be available to physician candidates throughout the recruitment process, Goldman explains.
"This includes giving them your cell phone number, so they can get in touch with you and know that the line of communication is open," Goldman says.
A CMO should be transparent with physician candidates about any negative aspects of a hospital, according to Goldman.
"If there is something at your hospital that is not working well, you should be honest about it and explain what you are doing to address it," Goldman says. "If a physician candidate comes to your hospital and you are all rosy in the interview, but they do a tour of the facility and find out about something negative that you have not shared, that doctor is not going to come to your hospital."
CMOs and other hospital leaders must be focused on physician retention, Goldman explains.
"To boost physician retention, you want physicians to be able to practice medicine at high levels," Goldman says. "You want to provide a safe and caring work environment. You want to make sure that your physicians have the appropriate technology to support their work."
Physician retention is linked to retention of other staff members, according to Goldman.
"If you bring a physician into your organization and their staff turns over or nurses turn over, it can drive the physician away," Goldman says.
There should be multiple touchpoints with doctors to promote physician retention at a hospital, including the CMO sharing their cell phone number with doctors and communicating regularly through email, Goldman explains.
"You should conduct rounding on your doctors," Goldman says. "You can have members of your senior executive team assigned to stay in contact with specific doctors. You can have physician liaisons on your business development team who meet with doctors in their offices and clinics. At AdventHealth Altamonte Springs, we have a medical staff coordinator who serves as a touchpoint for physicians."
Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
To promote a positive patient experience, care team members must be willing to take the time to spell out and make sure patients understand what they are doing.
Good physician mentors have excellent listening skills and the ability to be supportive as doctors cope with the rapid pace of change in medicine.
A CMO should embrace a personal approach when recruiting physicians, such as calling physician candidates directly and giving recruits their cell phone number.