The approach to improving patient experience at children's hospitals: a primer for pediatric radiologists

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Advocacy
• Pediatric Healthcare

Background:

• Growing emphasis on improving patient experience in healthcare settings.
• Children's hospitals commonly establish patient experience offices or teams.
• These teams are crucial for championing, measuring, and optimizing patient experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline the specific activities of a patient experience team within a pediatric health system.
• To detail a framework for advocating for, measuring, and improving patient and family experiences.
• To differentiate between proactive and reactive strategies for patient experience enhancement.

Main Methods:

• Describing the operational framework of a patient experience team in a pediatric setting.
• Highlighting proactive initiatives aimed at enhancing overall patient experience.
• Detailing reactive strategies, focusing on patient complaint and grievance management.
• Emphasizing early intervention to prevent patient complaints from escalating.

Main Results:

• The proposed framework integrates both proactive and reactive approaches to patient experience management.
• Reactive strategies are particularly focused on effective complaint and grievance resolution.
• Early intervention in patient concerns is identified as a key component of reactive management.

Conclusions:

• A structured approach involving dedicated teams is essential for improving patient experience in pediatric healthcare.
• A combination of proactive and reactive strategies, including robust complaint management, optimizes patient and family satisfaction.
• Effective patient experience management contributes to overall quality of care in children's hospitals.