Improving the Ambulatory Patient Experience Within an Academic Department of Medicine

Academic departments of medicine (ADOM) can provide an important vehicle to drive the sharing and dissemination of best practices in clinical care delivery. With the increased focus on improving the patient experience, particularly in the ambulatory setting, ADOM also should lead efforts to cultivate improvements in this arena. To address this need, the study ADOM established a Patient Experience Working Group (PEWG) that brought together physician and nonphysician leaders, set improvement goals, and created a structure for sharing and learning. Since initiation, the PEWG has implemented more than 20 performance improvement initiatives, which have resulted in measured positive changes at both the local practice settings and department-wide. Striking the right balance between top-down governance, bottom-up innovation and ownership, and shared goal setting was a key to success. This model is one that could easily be adopted by other ADOM in their own efforts to improve the patient experience.