When was the last time you helped patients navigate our hallways? Did you look them in the eye when you talked to them? Did you greet them with a smile and a friendly handshake?
Patient and family experience at Texas Children’s is more than the medical care we provide at the bedside. It’s a reflection of how we treat our patients and their families from the moment they call us to schedule an appointment to the moment they leave our care.
Recently, Texas Children’s employees and staff at the Pavilion for Women got a chance to put themselves in the shoes of their patients by walking into the Galleries of Parallel Truths. Two rooms, named Gallery A and Gallery B, were decked out with posters, statistics and compelling stories, one showing the positives and one the negatives of patient experience at Texas Children’s.
“The galleries were organized by our nursing leadership in collaboration with Ambulatory Services,” said Kim Holt, assistant director of nursing at Texas Children’s Cancer Center The Woodlands campus and the project’s team leader. “We felt it was necessary to re-engage our staff around the importance of consistently creating a positive patient experience, which will help to improve our Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores at Texas Children’s.”
When staff entered Gallery A, the atmosphere was cold and uninviting. The walls were plastered with shocking statistics and disturbing complaints from patient families and employees who had left the organization.
“It looked like we were walking into a dungeon of the unknown,” Felicia Cruise said. ”There was trash everywhere and employee badges were scattered on the floor. It was dark and a place that I didn’t want to be in.”
“The phone was ringing constantly,” Delores Metoyer recalled. “I wanted to say, “Somebody get the phone! Get the phone!”
Next door in Gallery B, the atmosphere was bright and inviting. A red carpet was rolled out onto the floor symbolizing superior customer service we deliver to our patients and their families. The walls were decorated with pictures of happy employees and volumes of awards, recognitions and stories showcasing outstanding employee achievements in patient care and patient experience.
“The purpose of the galleries was for employees to remember the impact and the experience they felt going through the negative and the positive room,” said Oluwakemi Orogbemi, one of the nurses who helped organize the event. “Employee engagement is very important to positive patient experience. We want our employees to know their happiness, their positive experience here at Texas Children’s will translate into a positive experience for our patients and their families.”
The employee feedback gathered from these sessions will be sent to the Patient Experience Committee where staff will collaborate on strategies to resolve the issues raised by employees and patient families.
The Galleries of Parallel Truths started in January 2016 and has been presented to employees at the Pavilion for Women, West Campus, and several of the health centers in the community.
To find out when the next Galleries of Parallel Truths will be presented, contact Kim Holt at Ext. 8-9265 or kpholt@texaschildrens.org.
Patient Experience Week
Employees, patients and their families will also get a chance this week to learn more about Texas Children’s efforts to make the patient and family experience here the best it can be. Events will be held at Main and West campuses. Click here for a schedule of events.
